Evening star., 1932-06-28

and prey upon peace-loving and law
abiding citizens.
Pending the repeal Of the eighteenth
amendment all these beneficial results
would be promoted by such liberaliza-
ton of the Volstead act as the eight
eenth amendment permits so as TO al
low the manufacture Of light wines and
Of beer.
And so my position on the eight
eenth amendment is now as 1t always
has been I think it was a mistake,
mistake to put it in the Constitution
at all. 1 believe the welfare of the
people and the cause of temperance,
and the cause of love, and the cause
of order, and the cause of national self
respect, and the cause of national de-
fense will all be served by rectify1ng
this mistake, and I hope, and indeed
I am confident, this national conven-
ton meeting in Chicago today will take
a clear-cut, a definite and unmistakable
stand on the question; and 1 am con-
hdent, too, that that definite, clear, un-
mistakable stand is going to be the
stand for the repeal of the eighteenth
amendment, and for taking it out OF
the Constitution, where it never should
have been, and thus returning the
whole subject back to the States.
These are, briefly, my views on this,
one of the important issues which con-
fronts the American people, and which
confronts the Democratic convention
in Chicago. If you believe as do that
the welfare of the Nation or the inter
est Of the Nation, if you prefer to put
1t that way, depends upon the 1mmedl-
ate adoption of these principles OF local
self government which have outlined,
AaJ
carried into effect by those who pro-
pose them and who believe in them and
whom will insist upon them If they
have the opportunity, then you can
make your convictions help by commu-
nicating at once with the delegates OF
your States with the National Demo-
cratic Convention here assembled.
Urges Public to Act.
Those delegates, as your representa-
tives, are about to vote on this question
as embodied either in the platform or
in the candidate, or both. They are
your representatives, these delegates In
Chicago. at least, they are the repre-
sentatives of ali who belong to the
Democratic party.
"All Democrats ought to let them
know, if they have not already done
So what their sentiment in their COM
munities is upon this question. You
can telephone them, you can telegraph
them. You have right to do it. And
they want to hear your expression OF
opinion on the eve of bauoting. 1t Is
sure to be given real consideration.
'I appeal to the American people
you, the American people-to do your
part telling the delegates from your
State that you are watching the pro-
ceedings, and that you. look to this
convention to see that the Democratic
party will go into the campaign fully
equipped upon this issue, and deserving,
as I think it will be, the victory OF
next November.
What is needed in one final word, I
think, governmentally, is new birth Of
the spirit of our historic Union. We
have gone too far on the lines Of lib
eralization, of which this question of
prohibition is the most outstanding one.
We need to go back to some OF the
fine, old spirit of old-fashioned Ameri-
caniSm. We all like to be called liberal
and belong to the iberalistic movement.
Liberalism doesn't necessarily mean,
however, rushing headlong into new
ideas and new ways and forms of gov
ernment. Liberalism, true liberalism,
very we'll means going back to those
harbors which are safe and from
whence never are we safe. This, ad-
nit, calls for strong central govern
ment; the times need that. But the
central government can only be endur-
ingly strong If it gives expression to the
true spirit of the American Union, and
to true Americanism, and to true de-
mocracy. 1t can only show effective
strength If it is composed of States
which are strong for their rights and
of States which are strong for their re-
sponsibilities and their obligations, and
strong for the Federal Union as our
fathers conceived it."