The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1931-05-01


shall not be supported.
REPEAL BILL WOULD STRIKE AT
FUNDAMENTAL UNITY OF Ma
TIONAL GOVERNMENT
Tt is quite evident to me that the repeal
of these acts is not mere gesture of dis
approval of prohibition, as some would
have it appear, but tends to strike at the
fundamental unity of national govern
ment under the federal constitution. am
not for notification. Destructive princi-
pies which do not protect the lives and
homes of all our citizens will not afford
the solution of the liquor problem. do
not believe that such a serious step as the
complete repeal of state regulation should
be taken without the unequivocal and I'M
derstanding approval of the voters of the
state, expressed after full consideration OF
all of the consequences.
It was frequently asserted during the
tendency of this bill in the legislature,
and has been urged since its passage, that
there is mandate from the people de-
manding its enactment. At the election on
November 4, 1880, three questions of pub
lie policy were submitted to the voters
repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment,
modification of the Volstead act, and re-
peal of the Illinois prohibition act. The
vote on these questions was approximately
one nlllllOn LOT ana SOuleIfllIlS ONeT Il Ildl
million against.
Taken at its face value this vote seems
to indicate an overwhelming majority in
favor of the repeal of the Illinois Prohibi-
ton act. OF course, it is to be remembered
that the number of votes in favor of the
repeal of the Prohibition act was less than
a majority of all those who voted in the
election by some 900 and that it is only
about one-tfird of the total number of
voters in Illinois who voted in the presi-
dental election in November, 1928 1t is
true also that the leader of the organiza-
ton which assumes the authority to speak
for the dry voters of the state, through
what I believe was mistaken Judgment,
urged those opposed to these public policy
questions not to vote, and doubtless many
were influenced by this advice and did not
vote on the questions
INDIVIDUAL DISREGARD FOR LAW
CANNOT BE CURED BY DISREGARD
FOR FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
1t is not my purpose, however, to quib-
BILE over whether or not this public policy
referendum was a true expression of the
so-ealled wet and dry sentiment of the
state. In my opinion, a majority of the
thinking people of this state are dissatiS-
fed With the conditions in this country
which have followed the Eighteenth
ment and the enforcement acts under 1t.
But an equally satisfied that the An,eri-
can people do not 11aRt and ioiH not at
tempt the correction of these eUilS By nip
ing oat all regulatory liquor regulations.
This is anthinkable but it is the principle
OF this repeal bill If the Eighteenth
Amendment and its attendant legislation
through ineffectiveness produced the boot
logger, the speakeasy and the illicit still,
surely these and other evils cannot be de-
stroyed by wiping out all state restraint.
We cannot cure individual disregard for
laiU by state disregard for the federal con-
Stitution.
No sincere advocate of this bill holds
this opinion. 1t has only one purpose.
That is to hinder and thwart and make
impossible the efforts of the federal gov
eminent to execute the Eighteenth Amend
ment and thereby compel the substitution
for it of some other system. This is not
the orderly and legal method for securing
this change. Tt smacks more of lawleSs-
ness and rebellion. The million voters of
Illinois who favored the public policy
questions expressed their dissatisfaction