Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-06-16
The Future Issue Is Drawn.

The Republican prohibition plank, as
finally ratified by the convention,
squarely draws the future issue on this
question between substitution" and
repeal" The process of sitting Ian
guage has disposed of the more confus-
ing and rather meaningless catch words,
such as Submission" ''resubmission
and referendum" A new order Of vets
and drys henceforth will fight it out
over the question whether new amend
ment to the Constitution, sometime to
be submitted to the people, will modify
the eighteenth amendment by retaining
National control over manufacture and
transportation Of intoxicants, leaving the
degree of prohibition to the individual
choice of the States, and protecting the
dry States against the Wet States and
the people of all of the States against
the return of the saloon, or whether the
eighteenth amendment is to be thrown
out, bag and baggage, the whole liquor
problem thus reverting to its status pre-
vIous to adoption of the eighteenth
amendment.
Between whom is this battle to be
fought? Its Importance as a partisan
issue may be determined by the Demo-
cratic plank. 1t has been taken for
granted that whatever the Republicans
did, the effort Of the Democrats would
be to go them one better on the wet
side. If the Democrats wish to make
this a partisan issue, practically the
only way to do it is to take the minority
proposal rejected by the Republican
convention and champion straight out
and-out repeal. But making a partisan
issue Of this question is easier said than
done. The Republican plank foresees
that possibility and guards against the
contingency by granting that mem
bers of the Republican party hold diff
ferent opinions with respect to it (pro-
hibition) and no public official or men,
Der of the 'party should be pledged or
forced to choose between his party, af-
fliations and his honest convictions
upon this question" In other words,
candidates may be extreme vets or ex-
IRENE drys and still be extremely good
Republicans, regardless of the party
platform.
In the end, the fight will be between
advocates of substitution and of repeal
and the battle will be carried out ir-
respective Of parties. The advocates of
substitution will be composed of a
great body of moderate vets and drys
VINO seek to improve the application Of
theory that they regard as sound,
rather than to destroy the theory be-
cause the application up to this point
has not been successful.
The advocates Of repeal, strangely
enough, will probably come from the
extremists in both wet and dry camps.
The extreme vets will seek to do away
with the whole business, in which
they never believed in the first place.
Some extreme drys will prefer to have
the question Of repeal, rather than Of
modifying substitution, submitted to
tllC pCOp1C 1OI 1llldl OcSISIOIl Icy
doubtless believe that it will be many
years before the people of this country,
represented by three-fourths of the
States, are willing to accept the
solution Of the liquor problem that
lies in out-and-out repeal of the
eighteenth amendment, and that the
best way to leave the eighteenth
amendment unchanged is to submit to
the people the question whether they
prefer the eighteenth amendment or
nothing.
But all Of the extreme drys will pre-
fer the platform plank's contention
that while repeal or revision of the
eighteenth amendment is pending, the
Constitution, including the eighteenth
amendment and the laws enacted to
make the amendment practically opera
tive, shall be obeyed and enforced and
not disobeyed and nullifed.