The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-01-19
DRY LAW IS BLAMED
FOR ILLS SHOWING
Up NLAST DECADE
New Jersey Man Says 18th
Amendment Is 'Intemper-
ate in Principle
SAY enforcement IS JOKE'
Government Control, With
Prices Low Enough to Com
bat B~ootlegger, Urged
SAY ENFORCEMENT is JOKE'
BY BRUCE CATION
(NEA Service Writcr)

BY BRUCE CATION
(NEA Service WRITER
A feeling that the prohibition
amendment is proving fundamentally
unavoidable and a belief that it has
fostered crime and corruption to such
an extent as to outweigh it's benefits
are the reasons for repeal most fire.
Quently cited by editors Of news
papers which oppose the dry law.
This develops from a scrutiny Of re-
plies received in the nationwide sur
vey of newspaper attitudes toward
prohibition, conducted by NEA Serv-
ice on the lines outlined by the fed
eral prohibition bureau, which an
nounced such a survey last fall and
then Cancelled it for fear that its pur-
pose might be misunderstood.
Drys Have Majority
The NEA survey showed that 389
American dailies uphold the dry law.
while 345 favor repeal. In addition,
80 uphold the amendment but want
the Volstead act modified, while 81
have adopted a neutral position.
A fair sample of the statements
made by anti-prohibition editors is
the following, from the editor Of a
small-city paper in Indiana:
we believe the prohibition law can
never be enforced and that since the
law became operative there has been
more crime than ever before in the
same period. Besides, the law Gre
ated bootleggerS and grafters of all
kinds, many of them getting i'm
mensely wealthy; and it now takes
millions to keep down the traffic while
the government is losing millions in
revenue, losing on both ends"
From Virginia comes the following:
Our newspapers advocate some
such solution of the prohibition ques-
ton as the dispensary system because
we believe that the present prohibi-
ton enactsnents have definitely been
proved unavoidable and while they
have resulted in some good are doing
the nation preponderantly more harm
than good"
Points to Corruption
An editor in a big city in the state
Of Washington said that he opposes
prohibition:
Because anyone who is not blind
IAN see the corruption. graft, crime
and general disrespect for law, even
among those who are supposed to
enforce it, that are resulting under
the present law. Liquor is now being
taken to the home and consumed by
young as well as old, and the rotten
stuff that is drunk does 10 times
more harm than would good liquor"
A New Jersey editor expresses him
self thus:
Enforcement has been a failure.
Prohibition is mainly responsible for
increase in crime and many of the
new types of 'rackets' that have
sprung up. With the dry laws has
come the speakeasy. which is much
worse than the old type of saloon"
Another New Jersey editor re-
marks heatedly:
prohibition is Incorporate in prin-
ciple, unwarranted in policy, unen-
forceable in practice and unsuccess-
full in performance"
Some editors tell Of a change of
attitude since 1920. A Vermont editor
writes as follows
Am a total abstainer and earnestly
supported the 18th amendment and
the Volstead act, but they have
proved q calamity worse than war.
No liquor control law is a success, but
what we have now is so awful that
we should try again"
He Changed His Mind
And a Pennsylvania editor says:
Always an advocate of liquor re-
form and. at first, a supporter IT
prohibition, this newspaper opposes
18th amendment, Volstead and Jones |
laws because of very apparent cor
ruption Of law agencies. openness of
violations and creation Of a drinking
smartness that is giving liquor a new
and undreamed-of smartness. In
every test which this newspaper has
applied to prohibition the result has
always been the same. 1t is impossi-
bic of enforcement and always will
be-"
From the editor OF a big New York
newspaper comes this: !
Federal prohibition is a constitu-
tional anomaly. It's purpose is un-
desirable and it is unavoidable in
practice. The evils 1t has produced
are greater than those which it was
designed to remedy
The traditional southern doctrine
Of states rights is cited by a South
Carolina editor in the following:
Prohibition should be a state af-
fair. This is the old and correct at
titude OF the south. The south went
back on its own doctrine in the vote
N the 18th northumberland the !
18th also. If q majority Of voters IN
South Carolina, my state, vote for
prohibition I would cheerfully &C
Quiesce. In fact. I always supported