Evening star., 1932-06-21
Mills and Brown Reply
Cabinet Members Declare Senator BOrdh Is Wrong
in Saying They Are in Favor
of Repeal.

The cleft which Senator Borah OF
Idaho raised yesterday between himself
and the Republican administration
yawned wider today as two cabinet OH
GERS openly challenged his assertions
that they favored repeal Of the eight
eenth amendment.
In outspoken language Postmaster
General Brown and Secretary Mills re-
pudiated the beliefs credited to them by
Borah.
They spoke out in statements just a
few hours after the 1928 campaign
leader for President Hoover had told
the Senate he would not support the
Chief Executive for reelection. attacked
bitterly t.,e Republican platform adopt
ed at Chicago ind drawn the two cabi-
net officers into his line of fire.
Referring to the Republican prohibi-
tion plank. BoIah said:
1T is perfectly clear and just to say
that those who voted for the plank as 1t
was adopted. as 1t finally became part OF
the platform. did SO to large extent
as sheer political expediency."
He said the two men who had most
to do with drafting the plank. Brown
and Mills were openly and uncOm-
promisingly for repeal
Mills Statement.
Secretary Mills statement follows:
Il am informed that in the course OF
his discussion of the prohibition plank
adopted by the Republican convention
Senator Borah stated that for the last
six wears had been in favor of the re-
peal of the eighteenth amendment
Since the Senator has referred to my
position. | feel called upon to make a
brief statement of my personal views
The Senator has evidently misunder-
stood my position. While I have not
been an advocate OF the eighteenth
amendment. I have not believed that
mere repeal Is the solution. On the
contrary. have become more and more
convinced that the true remedy Is to be
found in modifying the eighteenth
amendment so as to prevent a return
Of the conditions which existed prior to
the eighteenth amendment. and at the
same time stamp out the undeniable
evils that exist today.
AS I stated to the convention. there
are two extreme points OF view On
the one hand there are those who
would retain the eighteenth amend
ment and the Volstead law unamended.
This, as I understand 1t, is the posi-
tion of Senator Borah. At the other
extreme. there are those who would
repeal the eighteenth amendment with
out substituting anything therefore.
This, as 1 understand 1t. Is the posi-
tion of Dr. Nichols Murray Butler.
Il do not believe that the American
people should be limited to the choice
Of either retaining the existing system
or of returning to all Of the evils Of the
liquor trafic. I do not believe that the
American people should be limited in
their choice to the speakeasy or the
saloon.
American craftsmanship should be
equal to the task of developing q new
system which will preserve us from
the evils which existed under unlimited
State control, and at the same time
free us from the grevious difficulties
which have arisen under an inflexible
prohibitory provision embodied in the
Federal Constitution. The plank adopted
by the Republican National Convention
lays down the broad principles upon
which such a solution can be based.
Provides For Corrections.
I'm the first place, it provides, cor
rection for the two main weaknesses
of the present system; that is its inf1ex-
ibility and its departure from one OF
the fundamental principles of Ameri-
can form Of government. namely, the
right of local initiative and determine
tion carrying with it a very definite
sense of local responsibility In the
second place, it would provide protec-
ton for those States electing to re-
main dry And third, it would retair
in the Federal Government power ade-
quate to prevent the return of 'the
saloon and its attendant evils in those
States whose citizens determine to
permit the manufacture and sale of in
toxicating beverages.
1T is said that the plank is indefi.
mite. Quite contrary. Its important
provisions are set out in clear and un.
ambiguous language. What are they?
First: Submission by the Congress