Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-14
ny WILLIAM HARD.


The march through the desert to the
slightly damp oasis provided by the
prospect Of 4 per cent beer Is beset
with dragons. That IS the conclusion
which seems apparent at the end Of q
week devoted in Washington largely
to the 4 per cent mystery thriller.
This thriller has been running as q
Summer serial in successive chapters
contributed by an artistic collaboration
between three classes Of ingenious au-
thorS. namely:
/. Newspaper correspondents who
miss the Inspiration of the Senate and
are now inspired by the weather.
2. Statesmen who always can asSuaSe
the thirst of their wet constituents
much more encouragingly when the
Congress is not in session than when
1t Is.
3. Ultra-rich Federal income tax
payers who perceive that because Of the
deficit in the United States Treasury
their income taxes may be raised by the
next Congress and who thereupon are
increasingly multitudinously converted
to the saving vision Of a vast Federal
revenue to be derived instead from a
happy and hilarious tax upon gladden.
ing beverages consumed at all cross
roads and street-corners by cheered
and cheering populace.
These three influences between them
will continue to paint the per cent
oasis upon the desert sky with undated
alluringness and CONTINGENCIES till the
Congress meets in December. Then a
solid fact will become clear.
ErocfAAnf mill ~
not-and emphasize not-recommend
per cent beer or per cent beer or
even two point rs per cent beer to the
Congress in his annual message or in any
other communication from him to the
Federal legislative body. The President
was not one bit inspored or Illuminated
by the 4 per cent Grafton delivered to
him the other day by Representative
Dyer Of Missouri. The fact was that the
President did not hear much Of it.
y + +
Representative Dyer dashed into the
Presidents ONCE and dashed out again
with an elapsed time of about minute
Part Of this time presumably was spent
in exchanges of greeting and farewell
Only part Of it could have been given
to 4 per cent eloquence and education
What did you say to him?" inquired
VAC 44CWORGRCA Correspondents DO N1A
Dyer hastily emerged from the busy
presidential presence.
"Ohi" said Mr.. Dyer, and produced
from his pocket five pages Of typewriter
conversation.
That he could have read per cent
Of 1t to the President would seem like
an exaggeration of the elasticity of time.
The Presidents knowledge of Mr.. Dyer'S
arguments must have been gained prin-
cipally from the newspapers.
X ~
It Is sometimes felt at the White
House that visitors who wish to say q
word to the President and then on the
Presidents doorstep say an grafton to
the electorate would crafty the Presi-
dent by leaving him out Of their cal
Arlington Cemetery and telling 1t first
to the Unknown Soldier The IN
known Soldier would be just as recep-
tive and just as communicative
especially regarding per cent beer.
In any case, the plans for the Pres
tdent'S reelection campaign next year
are based integrally upon the support
Of dry elements and organizations to
which any per cent higher than one
half Of 1 per cent is q fatal lapse
into unforgivahle sin. This writer has
sought diligently for flags of truce and
distress signals among the leaders of
the dry forces in the midst of the wet
storm beating upon them. No such
tokens Of possible compromise and ac-
commodation exist. The dry forces are
starting out upon the most vehement
and extensive efforts in their whole
history, and the one undivided objective
OF all those efforts Is to keep the Vol
stead law as well as the eighteenth
amendment completely and uncorrupt-
edly intact.
The President could not breathe the
thought of the slightest disruption of
the Volstead law without sirnuItane-
ously diSrupting the total structure of
the interconnected and rapidly revolv-
ing driers that are now furnishing the
chief wind for blowing him back into
ONCE In 1892.
The 7th Of next December win come.
therefore, with all hope shattered for
per cent heer by presidential pres
sure. On that same day, with the meet
ing OF the Congress, there win be an
equal shattering Of all hope for 4 Der
cent beer by congressional action dur
ing the next Winter.
In the Senate Of the Congress next
Winter there will be 81 Senators who
received mandates from the people last
year. They received, that is to saw,
the peoples latest mandates. OF these
50 Senators, only were elected wet,
Thirty-two were elected dry.
1t Is true that among these 80 there
are who would love to vote wet Il
their constituents would let them. THAT
fact about them is clear to all who
know them on even casual terms. THE
remaining % of the 80 are politically
dry enough to stay politically dry till
wetness among their constituents not
only permits them to vote wet but
propelS them into so doing.
Last years elections, accordingly
cannot be regarded after all, as having
given any great impetus to the wei