The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-02-27
DU POINT TEARS
HUGE HOLES IN
DRY DEFENSE
Prohibition Has Nothing to
Do With Prosperity,
Says Witness.
REPEAL is DEMANDED
Business Men Who Drink
and Deny Liquor to
Workers Raped.
BIZ United Pyess

BIZ United Press
WASHINGTON. Feb. 27.-Prohi-
bition has nothing TO do with pros
perity, Pierre S. Du Pont, who has
been head Of two Of the nations
great industrial organizations, told
the house Judiciary committee at to-
days prohibition hearing.
Du PoDt, chairman of the board Of
e. I. Du Pont de Nemours and former
chairman Of the board of the Cen
eraI Motors Corporation, took direct
issue with Henry Ford and Alfred P.
Sloan, president of General Motors,
that prohibition and prosperity OPP
crate hand in hand.
Tn my opinion" he told the
committee, prohibition has nothing
TO do with prosperity"
Il was in the Du Pont plant for
years and never found the liquor
question a serious one among our
employees" Du Point, who in 1928
resigned the craftsmanship of Cen
eral Motors in order to back Alfred
e. Smith, said in reviewing his stand
ou JIle HQuOI question.
Business Men Inconsistent
Many of the big business men who
believe the dry law is good for the
labor they hire drink themselves, he
added. and demanded the repeal of
the eighteenth amendment.
you don't mean to place Sloan
and Ford in that category?' Rep
resentative Kitchener, dry Michigan
congressman asked.
well, they Will have to answer
for themselves" Du Pont said. t
recently had a man at dinner and
he was arguing for prohibition. But
when the liquor was passed he took
a large one. while I did not happen
to want any"
Du Points testimony was outstand-
ing among that given at the morn
ing session of the closing day of
the wet case. Other anti-prohibi-
tionists will appear later in the day
to back proposals now before the
committee to repeal or modify the
dry law. The drys' side of the case
will be heard, beginning next
Wednesday.
Others Back Du POnt
The statements of Du Pont were
back today by two other officials
of the association against the pro-
hibition amendment. Henry H.
Curran, president of the organiza-
ton, called prohibition the great
American mistake" while John C.
Gebhardt pointed out that even
shotgun enforcement has OF been
able to stem the tide of liquor law
violations.
We will not quit until the law is
repealed" Curran declared.
In demanding repeal of the dry
law. Du Pont urged establishment
Of q government commission, like
the interstate commerce commits
sion," to supervise liquor dis
tribution. He said he believed high
minded citizens in the various states
could operate the business under
government supervision.
Our men were sober before pro-
hibition and have been since" the
industrialist said in pressing his
point that prohibition is not re-
Sponsible for prosperity. The auto
mobile brought different economic
age, he said, but the dry law had
nothing to do with it.
Enforcement continually has
slumped, growing worse and worse
since 1920" Du Pont asserted. 1T
was very good right after the law
was passed, because, in any business,
when a source Of supply is cut off,
new sources take time to be opened
up"
Wants Real Supervisor
Repeal of the Volstead act alone
was opposed by Du Pont. He said
the United States was accustomed
to strong drink and had not been
educated to light wines and beers,
and therefore mo one will be salts
fed with light wines and beers"
The liquor traffic should be
turned over to good hands" s>.1
Du Pont. THE old innkeeper was q
respected citizen in the old days,
but since then the liquor business
has been degraded until now it is
in the hands of the criminal
classes
The financier said he sent a
QUESTIONABLE to 100000 voters of
Delaware. which, he said, was a
representative state having an
equal balance of labor and Negro
voters. He received 40 per cent Of
replies and 90 per cent of these re-
plies lodged protests against prohi-
oition.
More recently, he said. he sent
out 10000 questionnaires on repeal
Of the Delaware state enforcement
law. showing 80 per cent in favor of