Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-06-16
STATE SALE SEEN
NEXT REFORM STEP
Democrats Expected to Join
Republicans in Opposing
Return. of Saloon.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

CHICAGO. June 16-The vets. or
more accurately the spokesman of the
vets, say that the plank on prohibition
as written by the moderate ma jority of
the Committee on Resolutions Is unsat-
isfactory to them. yet the fact Is that
when the wet delegates started for this
convention the only thing they wanted
was the right of State to let its citi-
zens have access to liquor whenever
majority OF the voters OF such a State
say they want this condition The plat
form written by the committee confers
this right. True, the right is limited
by the right Of Congress to determine
or to put restrictions on the method OF
distributing liquor. When the wet lead
ers object to this they are Directing not
mainly as vets but rather in the role
OF persons having a concern for the
Constitution.
What the average wet voter and the
wet drinker wanted was right of access
to an alcoholic drink without being put
in the position OF laWbreaker. The
plank written by the moderate majority
on the Committee ON Resolutions con-
fers this right, at the same time it
keeps a strong hand on the fundamen-
tai objective OF prohibition sentiment,
namely, the method of distribution.
New Status FOreSeen.
BY the action OF the Republican Nation
al Convention 1t is certain that prohibit
ton Is launched III modified dlrec-
ton. The ultimate destination, the
status OF liquor and the control Of it,
two or three or more years from now.
can be partially foreseen. The pres
ent method is clearly fated for change,
though not for reversal. The action OF
the Republicans is the first step. The
Democrats two weeks from now Will
take step in the same general direc-
ton. After the two conventions are
over 1t will be clear to everybody that
prohibition Is headed for a new status.
The present status has one Charac-
terstic that has created difficulty. in
Spired opposition and nacessitated
change. That characteristic is the as
sertion of right and duty III the
Federal Government to forbid and pre-
vent sale Of liquor in any and every
State regardless Of whether the State
wants it or not. That is the thing that is
about to be eliminated The new phase
OF prohibition when ii is attained and by
whatever path it is reached, will include
the right Of any State TO have liquor
sold within its borders. whenever
Majority Of the voters OF such State
want that done This broad condi-
ton Is certain TO come. There may
be some qualifications to 1t. One group
at the Republican convention wanted
this right of the States to be subject
to withdrawal by Congress.
Practically all groups wanted Con-
gresS TO have at all times enough super
vision of liquor within a wet State to
be able to insure that none of it shall
be shipped legally into a dry State
That the Federal Government shall
have the duty and power to protect dry
States in their dryneSS was demanded
by dryS and moderates Of every degree
and was not seriously resisted by vets
These qualifications and shadings of
the kind and degree of power to be re-
tanned by the Federal Government will
be the subject OF much refinement of
debate. That will not reduce the CEN
trail fact that in the new status of pro-
hibition State shall have the right if
1t chooses TO permit the sale Of liquor
within its borders.
State Sale Probable.
So much is clear. Another surmise
about the new phase of prohibition
when it comes is less certain but looks
probable. Close scrutiny of the de-
ton would seem to suggest that wheth-
er the arguers pro and con realize it or
not We are headed toward a status in
which the manufacture and sale of
liquor shall be a State monopoly Of
the sort that has existed in Canada.
Sweden and third of century ago
for brief period in South Carolina
Manufacture and sale of liquor as
private industry carried on for profit is
tacitly banned by many Of the argu-
ments made by the wettest Of the vets.
and as a matter Of course it is banned
by the dryS. Wet Dr. Nicholas MURRAY
Butler was careful to say in all his
arguments at Chicago that he and the
vets for whom he spoke are opposed to
the return of the saloon.
The Democrats. when they meet here
in two weeks. will say the same, no
matter how far they go in wetness Ex-
Gov. Alfred T. Smith has already said
that what he w.. is without the old
evil of the saloon The principal evil
of the saloon was mainly the stimula-