Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-12-06
The House Vote on Repeal.

LSSt vi CAIdLSu1B C4lC cl6llI-SHbL1 aAASAAO-
ment since it had been placed in the
Constitution, the House on that date
voting 227 to 1877 against discharging
the judiciary Committee from further
confederation of the Beck-Lintiicum
re5olut:on for modification of tbs
eighteenth amendment.
The vote in the House yesterday on
the Garner reso' ution for unqualified
repeal of the eighteenth amendment
was 272 to IA, just six votes shy OF the
necessary two-thirds majority.
The House that voted yesterday wa
the same House that voted eight months
ago, and the remarkable display of wet
strength yesterday on this most drastic
of wet proposals reflects the growing
wet sentiment that showed itself 1irst
in the party conventions and later III
the national election.
The question now is whether the wet
votes yesterday marked the high point
of food tide, to be followed by an ebb
or whether the sweep Of the wet cur
rent registered yesterday was merely
indicative of new highs to be reached
in the next Congress. 1t might be &C
cepted as an Of -ious fact that if a
Congress which W. dry six months age
has become so We now that mere six
votes in the House prevented passage
of a naked repeal resolution, the same
resolution will be passed by the new
and much wetter Congress without a
struggle.
But there are other considerations
which cast doubt on such an assump-
ton. A part of the strategy of House
leaders yesterday was to take advan-
tage of the momentum already gained
by growing wet sentiment and to test
the strength of that sentiment before
any contrary reaction had time to as
sert itself. Furthermore, passage by
the House of the Garner resolution yes
terday would merely have transferred
the fight to the Senate, where such a
resolution would have had even less
chance of passage than in the House,
but where such chances would have
been increased by favorable House
action.
Failure of the resolution in the House
means, IN all probability, failure of sub
mission to the States of new
amendment during the short session
That failure has been already inter.
preted as rendering inevitable specia
session after March. The interim will
provide the dry forces, stunned tenn
porarily by the decisive defeats suffered
all down the line since the Republican
National Convention, the needed oppor-
tunity to close ranks and embark on q
new fight.
The nature of that fight remains to
be determined. But in his speech last
night in The Stars National Radio
Forum Senator Capper's refrain was
his opposition to the return of the
saloon and his assertion that the re-
peal of the eighteenth amendment meant
the return of the saloon. That is the
refrain of others who, not sharing al
of Senator Capper'S convictions, still
believe that naked repeal of the eight
zenith amendment means the return OF
the saloon. That is the refrain that
will be heard in the Senate, when il
resumes consideration of the Glas;
amendment for repeal Of the eighteenth
amendment, coupled with constitutional
guarantee against the return Of the
saloon. That theory will be empha.
sized between now and March ever
more strongly than up to this time, fol
up to this time the rush of the wet tor.
rent has served to drown out everything
else. The House has provided the dry
with a welcome breathing spell.
| In the meantime, it has been demon
strated that had House leaders beer
disposed to compromise with those whit
! believe that the prevention of the sa
loon and the protection of dry States
! promised through different agencies o
enforcement in both political platforms
and by both the victorious and the de-
feated Presidential candidates, shoulc
| be written into the Constitution
revision of the eighteenth amendmen
would now be on its way. And the vot
yesterday indicated the difficulties o
passing a Volstead act modification owe
the Presidents veto, should he receiv
bill from Congress which may b
challenged strongly on constitutions
grounds.