Evening star., 1932-03-02
Wets Force a Vote.


Of the House. 145 Representatives. have
signed a petition to bring before the
House the Heck-Linthicum resolution
proposing to rectore control of the
LIQUOR traffic to the States. 1t would
REQUIRE two-thirds of vie House mem
bership to propose this amendment to
the Constitution although the motion
to bring the resolution before the body
needs only a majority vote to be
adopted The resolution is before the
Judiciary Committee of the House,
which earlier declined to report it back
to the House for consideration and
action. Under the rules of the House
a petition signed by 145 members au-
tomatically gives the House an oppor-
tunity to vote on a motion to discharge
a committee from further considera-
ton of bill or resolution and to bring
it directly to the House just as though
it had been reported out by the COM
mittee.
Thus on the eve of national election
campaign the question of resubmlssion
of the prohibition amendment to the
Constitution comes before the House for
a vote. And many of the members may
plaintively complain. Why bring that
up?" With wet sentiment fiourishing In
congressional districts, along with dry
sentiment. a vote either way might lose
J, ranOrp1in tinn
reelection, when If the prohibition is
sue could be avoided the member might
again ride safely to victory at the polls.
But the wet-dry issue has thrust itself
to the fore, particularly since the de-
preston began. The drys have claimed
in the past that great prosperity was
due to prohibition. The vets now retort
that we have no prosperity now, but we
still have prohibition. With increased
taxes on all kinds of business impend-
ing to meet the expenses Of Govern
ment, the vets propose licensed sale Of
liquor, and suggest that it would be bet
ers than to have all the profit 60 to the
-moonshiners and the boo.leggers.
The vets have still a long road to
travel before they can hope for q
restore liquor control to the States. The
vet leaders of the House are not hopeful
Of getting q majority to vote to bring
their resolution before the House. A
~ To e.
submit the eighteenth amendment as
now proposed represents a much higher
hurdle for the vets to jump. The
avowed purpose of the vets has been to
put on record in this vote in he House
all members, so that their constituents
may have their stand on prohibition
before them when they come TO the
primary elections and to the general
election. This vote is expeated to be
taken In the House on March a. Then
unless members undertake 70 sidestep
the Issue by absenting themselves, or
voting present" they must stand up
and be counted.
Twenty-six States are represented by
districts in the list of las signers Of
the petition to have the Beck-Lintht-
cum resolution laid. before the House.
Four of these States, Texas, Louisiana,
South Carolina and Virginia, are in
the South, which has been held to be
as solidly dry as Democratic. The
great majority of the signers of the
petition, however hail from the States
of the North and East and from Illinois
and Wisconsin. New York alone has
sl signers.
Notwithstanding the fact that the
Republican party has been dubbed the
champion Of prohibition and the DEM
ecratic party is claimed by the vets,
Te of the signers of the wet petition
are Republicans and SO are Democrats.
The vets in the G. O. p. will urge
. more strongly than ever that rssub-
. mission plank be written into their
national platform this year, while tbs
drys in the Democratic party, in an
effort to prevent wet plank in their
platform and to halt the nomination
for President OF an opponsnt of ma
tienal prohibition will point te the
small showing made by the vets
among the Democratic members Of the
= House.