Evening star., 1932-04-14
CHARGES DRY LAW
FINANCES CRIMES
Mrs. Sabin TeStifies at Sen
ate Hearing With Bingham
and WadsWorth.
ny the Associated Press.

ny the Associated Press.
The charge that the eighteenth
amendment has financed crime" and
'is poisoning our national life." was
made today before Senate Judiciary
Subcommittee by Mrs. Charles H. Sabin,
head of the Womens Organization for
National Prohibition Reform.
She joined James w Wadsworth,
former Senator from New York, in urg-
ing repeal Senator Bingham, Repub-
lican, Connecticut, another witness, ad-
vocated return of liquor control to the
States
Bingham advanced the opinion that
It is Impossible to make the descend
ents of generations Of temperate drink
ers believe there is anything morally
wrong in drinking"
First Witness Called.
AS the author OF legislation to legal
iZe beer and for a State liquor control
amendment, he was the first witness
at the start of hearings on a number OF
proposals for change of the dry laws.
He was followed by WadSworth, who
represented the Association Against the
Prohibition Amendment. He said de
velopments of the last few years led
the organization to believe its goal OF
prohibition repeal is in sight
In her testimony Mrs. Sabin said pro-
hibition has made our Government
authorities, Federal State and local,
powerless to control the liquor trafIlc
by license and regulation"
1T has deprived the Federal Gov
eminent of hundreds of millions OF DOL
lars of needed revenue" she said, and
diverted; these funds into illegal chan
nels, through which crime Of all kinds
has been enabled to organize and
finance itself on a scale hitherto un-
known in the history of the world
Sees ''UnhoIy Alliance"
She said the prohibition amend.
ment, however noble in purpose, hes
failed"
Those churches and the Temperance
organizations which still support it,
she added, have become, all uneon-
sciously, the chief allies and friends OF
the outlaw classes, and the time has
come to end this unholy alliance"
The hearings began before an audi
ence mostly women, which packed one
of the largest committee rooms IN the
Senate Office Building.
Most of the women were delegates
attending the meeting of the organiza-
ton headed by Mrs. Sabin.
Chairman Blaine of the committee
said there were so many bills and
resolutions to be considered that
the general subject Of prohibition
would be discussed. Those favoring
a prohibition change, he added, would
be heard first and those favoring pro-
hibltion next.
Bingham said prohibitioniSts argued
during the war the liquor issue was mot
the temperance ISSUE" but was needed
as war measure.
1T is not the temperance issue now,
he said. 1T is an economic issue to
fight the depression"
Bingham said the prohibition law
had increaced intoXication and that the
amount of drinking in the smaller
places was alarming. He cited the
number Of arrests in Medford, Mass,
for drunkenness as en- example. In
1914, he said. there were only los
arrests for drunkenness while in 1880
there were 419.
Other cities he mentioned included
Vicksburg, Mise; Little. Rock, Ark;
Oak Park, Ill; Davenport, Iowa; Minot,
N. OAK; Denver, Idaho Falls. Idaho;
Albuquerque. II. Mex; Ogden Falls.
Utah, and Seattle.
Youth Drinking Cited.
This he said, showed that drinking
had increased, particularly among the
young.
In st. Louis and other cities with
great brewing interests, Bingham con-
tended, prohibition had vastly increased
drinking.
Nothing that I can say, however"
he added, will change the ardent drys
but the making OF alcohol In any
kitchen is easy"
He urged turning the "whole question
back to the States" and added that
financial experts estimated If the tax
on liquor had increased in proportion
to tobacco taxes, it would yield $l,28O,-
600 900 year.
Wadsworth said his organization had
come to believe prohibitions evils"
could not be cured until TIE error of
1918 is corrected by the repeal OF the
amendment"
Sees 81, ,00o, ,00g, ,000 Revenue.
Having regard for developments of
last few years" he said, I'VE believe our
objective is in sight"
the great question involved in the
eighteenth amendment" he added, lis
one of Government and not of drink"
He said If the liquor taxes Of 1919
"had been undisturbed and had the rate
of consumption per capita remained
exactly the same, the Federal Govern
ment would have received slightly over
81 coo, ,000.000 Of revenue in 1891"
The bootlegger, he added, has picked
that huge sum up and put 1t in his
pocket"