Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-12
CANNON SAYS DRYS
BUOYED BY HOOVER
Accepts President as "True
+ Friend" and Supporter
+ of Prohibition.
Nv the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
BALTIMORE, october 12.-In copy
righted interview by H. l.. Mencken the
Baltimore Evening Sun today quotes
Bishop James Cannon as saying the
West and South drys no longer doubt
that prohibition can and Will De en-
forced.
prohibition" the Southern Metho-
dist churchman is quoted as saying, is
now in its third stage. In its first stage
the vets said they can't enforce 1t: In
its second stage they said they snan
enforce It, but now, in It's third stage,
we dryS are doing the talking and Wnat
we say is we will enforce it..
Never before had I seen sucn en-
+husiasm as 1 encountered lately in the
South and Far West I know, OF course,
that I was among Methodists. but that
is irnnaterial. They represented 1alriy
the general body of drys. The OLD
doubts and heSitations are gone.
Hoover Turns Tide.
The thrill" the drys experienced at
President Hoover's message to Congress
with the Wickersham report ana the
"heayv and defiant" drinking OF the
rich the bishop said, accounted for the
change. 1.-THE Presidents message
fIIrned the tide" he said, adding: he
declared plainly that he was agalnSS
repealing the eighteenth amenoTneu.C
and against amending the Volsteao aCV'
In other words, he came out aS ~, ti%
footed and Incorporating profllo4-
zionist. ed
end needed The wavering drys now
saw they had true friend IN the W M
House. and they bucked up at once. 10
day they are full Of steam"
Declaring himself a lifelong Democ[Sa,I az
the bishop said he hoped tnat nls
church would not have to supporI MI
Hoover in 1882. or that there Woulo az oe
what Mencken calls "holy war IN 1Lle
south with drums rolling in the IaneF-
nacies and a watchflre over the NIL.
Hopes for Dry Platform.
"Mv hope" he commended, lis that
the Democrats will nominate dry mex
year. don't ask them to ADOPT q ory
"All I ask for is a declaration for law
enforcement, but hope for dry can
didate-say william G. McAdoo or COR
dell Hull. II either is nominated tnen
prohibition will drop out as an ISSUE
and the campaign can be fought on
some other ground-say the record OF
the Hoover administration. II this comes
to pass I'll vote for the dry DemocraC
and against Hoover" .,. ~.
churchnan said: Let the vets take
him. We don't trust him"
The bishop said he was strongly In
favor of making the buyer equally guilty
with the seller" in liquor transactions.
Puzzled Over Wine.
"sone of our people believe it would
be imprudent to amend the Volstead act
tn that effect, but am against them"
He added he would "have to ask Mrs.
mabel Walker) Willebrandt" about the
Governments support of the California
grape growers, whose juice concen-
trates are finding their way to the pub
lie stores. Beer, the bishop added, was
IAN unpalatable and sickening drink,
'I tried 1t once" he said, "in Eng
land. / won't say I drank 1t, but
certainly slipped it. 1t tasted awfully
sour and unpleasant. I don't think
it is a good thing to give people sucn
things to drink"
Bishop Cannon told Mencken that
with prohibition safe and the drys flll
Of enough steam to carry them for
a while he was turning his attention
to the apparent decay of marriage
Turning to Marriage.
"In such matters" he said, II am
almost a Catholic. believe it IS fair
and decent to grant divorces for de-
sertion, for infldelity and for drunk
enness, but beyond that we should
not 60. If we do so we shall do grave
damage to the family, and the family
is at the bottom of all Christian in
stitutions."
He added that incompatible" couples
should not be divorced. "They should
have been more careful" he said, add
ing, 1T believe it would be a good thing
to make marriage somewhat more diff
ficult-that is, to force people to look
before they leap.
The whole problem is very difficult.
give it great deal Of thought, but
am still in doubt about the solution"