The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-02-12
MIR. HOOVER'S POSITION

441SS INV XIV ~ l. VIZ AAO4N
Gentlemen who make it their bust.
ness to play politics with prohibition
are coming forward with comments
upon the Wickersham report and upor
President Hoover's message, said the
Washington Post in leading edi
torial published on Thursday of last
week. Among others, the Post con.
tinues, Chairman Shouse Of the Dem
ocratic national executive committee
kindly interprets Mr.. Hoover's
thoughts Mr.. Hoover's disadvan.
tage, of course. Mr.. Shouse in q
rambling statement insists at one
point that the President is bound to
accept the commissions conclusions
while at another he suggests that the
commission was intended to be sub
servient to the President. Take your
choice.
Mr.. Shouse is among the politicians
who try to make the public believe
that the Presidents objections to the
proposal to empower, Congress to reg
ulate the liquor traffic stamp him as
a petrifed bone dry who insists that
the eighteenth amendment and the
Volstead act shall remain as they are
in perpetuity, without any effort to
improve conditions. It is a silly at
tempt to mislead the public as to Mr..
Hoover's position.
The President emphasized three
matters in his message. He cited the
commissions finding that enforce
nnent is unsatisfactory, in spite Of i'm
provement in Federal administration
of the prohibition law, and that it is
imperatively necessary that citizens,
the State and local government must
discharge their several responsible
ties if enforcement is to be successful.
He approves of the recommendations
for improvements in Federal admins
trative methods. Secondly, the Pres
ident agrees with the commission in
the conclusion that repeal of the
eighteenth amendment is not a solu-
ton of the national problem, and he
adds:
/ am in unity with the spirit
of the report in seeking construc-
tive steps to advance the national
ideal of eradication of the social
and economic and political evils
of this traffic, to preserve the
gains which have been made, and
to eliminate the abuses which ex-
list, at the same time facing with
an open mind the difficulties
which have arisen under this ex-
pertinent.
Thirdly, Mr.. Hoover specifically OBJ
jected to the plan proposed for revis-
ion of the eighteenth amendment
whereby Congress would be empow-
cred to regulate or prohibit the liquor
traffic. He stated that there were
SERIOUS objections" to this plan, but
he made it plain that he kept his
mind open to proposals for solving
the national problem. The fact that
he rejects the specific proposal to give
Congress power to regulate or pro-
hibit the liquor traffic makes it clear
that he is seeking constructive
steps" that will lead to a solution of
the problem.
What are the objections to the pro-
posal to give Congress power to reg
ulate or prohibit the liquor traffic /?
They are innumerable. The primary
objection is, of course, that the Unit
ed States under that plan would be
in continual turmoil, both during po-
litical campaigns and during sessions
of Congress. A national system adopt
ed in one year might be torn down in
the next. Congress could restore the
saloon; it could make wet States dry
and dry States wet; it could legalize
distilleries and breweries and then
in response to gust of popular pas
sion, it could sweep away millions OF
dollars worth of property without
compensation; it could create an army
of Federal police to harass the States
and then abolish all Federal regula-
ton of the liquor traffic. Political
campaigns would be debauched and
members of Congress would be chosen
solely upon the liquor issue. The pur-
chaser as well as the seller of liquor
would be felon or immune from
punishment, according to the annual
whim of Congress. The Nations bus
mess and the affairs of government
would be subordinated to the never.
ending battle over the liquor issue.
Of all the proposed solutions" Of
the liquor problem, the commission
plan to throw the issue into the arena