Evening star., 1932-06-09
The text of william Gibbs McAdoo's

| submission to the States OF What is
| now the eighteenth amendment to the
Constitution was On its passage through
the Congress, had an interesting con-
yersation with President Wilson about
| the matter. While 1t Is not incumbent
upon the president to approve or dis
approve such resolution, he was deep
| ~ concerned about it.
president Wilson thought it unWise
| to incorporate the prohibition in the
! amendment itself. He was convinced
that it would be better to give Congress
the power to regulate or to prohibit
the traffic. He said:
| The amendment is an attempt by
! law to change long established haplts
! Of a people. No one can tell, IN ad-
| vance, how 1t will work. / anticipate
great difficulty in its enforcement un-
: less public opinion strongly supports it.
| If this fails it may become necessary
to change the law, but this will be i'm
possible under an inflexible provision in
| the Constitution. If the power to deal
with the subject is conf1ded to the Con-
/ gress. the law can be made responsive
| to public opinion-the ultimate au-
! thOrity in a democracy. l fear that
the inf1eXible provision may. in the
| end defeat the whole prohibition move
| ment.'
Favored Local Option.
Il was in full accord with President
| Wilson's views.
President Wilson was sincere ad-
vOcate of temperance. In the early
days he favored local option by com
munities When this proved impractl-
cable he favored Statewide option
After the eighteenth amendment
was ratified he said that the whole
power of the Government should be
put behind its enforcement. 1t has
been said that he vetoed the Volstead
act because he was opposed to the
eighteenth amendment. This is not
true. In his veto of the Volstead act
he said:
"'I object to and cannot approve
that part of this legislation with refer
ence to wartime prohibition. 1t has
| to do with the enforcement of an act
| which was passed by reason of the
emergencies Of the war, and whose OBJ
| jects have been satisfied in the de-
mobilization of the Army and the Navy,
and whose repeal l have already
sought at the hands of Congress,
Where the purposes of particular legls-
laton arising out of war emergency
have been satisfied, sound public policy
makes clear the reason and necessity OF
repeal
ION January 16, 1920, the eighteenth
amendment went into effect. In the
succeeding II years the Federal Gov
ernment has exhibited amazing feeble
ness in dealing with the problem. 1t
has failed even to secure essential CO.
operation from some Of the most i'm
portant States. During this period Or
ganiZed crime has grown to such pro-
portions that 1t is serious menace to
society. Constant agitation about pro-
hibition has subordinated economic and
social problems of first importance. and
has distracted the minds Of the people
from measures which might have
ameliorated our present economic dis
treSs.
Both Parties Divided.
Each of the major political parties
is hopelessly divided on this question
1t is not, and should not be. partisan
issue. yet it has been persistently kept
to the front in the political arena
Scmething should be done at once to
divorce this issue from party politics;
something should be done to force il
into a non-partisan forum, where pub
lie opinion may have free play and
where decision may be reached by the
voters themSelves-uninfiuen by
other issues CT by personal candidates.
for public office.
us there any way by which a direct
vote of the people can be had upon the
question as to whether or not the
eighteenth amendment should be re-
pealed or as to whether or not it should
be amended to give Congress the power
to regulate or to prohibit the liquor
traffic?
There is way, and that is by a
national referendum of an advisc\
character. The Congress has. in M
opinion, the power to order such a ref
erendum. BY article l, section s, Of the
Constitution, specific power is conferred
upon the Congress to provide for the
general welfare of the United States
Clearly, the general welfare Of the
United States would be promoted il
Congress would provide the means for
ascertaining. as guide to its delibera-
ton, the will of the people upcn this
vital issue. No right of the States would
be invaded by such action, because none
OF the powers reserved to the States
would be encroached upon.
People Should Vote.
Instead OF such, popular referen-
dun, resubmission, repeal or modifica-
ton of the eighteenth amendment is
urged by many But a two-thirds vote
of each branch of Congress and the
ratification thereafter by three-fourths
CT the States, through their Legisla-
lures or through special conventions
called for the purpose, will be required
to do this, if it can be done at all. At
best it will take years to complete that
procedure. Meanwhile, the endless talk
and futile discussion and existing de-
| mOra1iZaticn will continue Moreover
the constitutional procedure for resub-
mission or repeal Of the amendment
does not permit the people to vote
directly upon the question. The people
themselves should be given the oppor-
tunity to vote through a national refer
endum authorized by act of Congress.
Suppose that a special session were
called by the new President shortly after
his Inauguration March 4. 1888, and
that the President was empowered to