The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-05-06
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SATURDAY. MAY s. 1888.
THE BEER CIRCUS

COMMON sense Hoosiers are daily growing
~ more amused over the 80 per cent medi-
cine show.
On the one hand there are the drys, of
which President William Lowe Bryan of In
diana university is at present the most audible
leader. He now is threatening to ride herd on
Bloomington restaurant keepers who sell beer
to his students. Although his sincerity is be-
yond question, the sight of the good doctor
in full cry after honest merchants engaged
in legitimate business is not an edfying one
The university has envable reputation,
to which President Bryans efforts have added
in the past. Administration of this institu-
ton should be full-time job That is what
the taxpayers employ him to do and not to
spend his time riding a bone-dry hobby, no
matter how laudable he honestly may be-
lieve it is.
The president of a state university is a
public servant. If DR.. Bryan will the
voting returns of last November, he will see
that good many Indiana people, whose taxes
contribute to his salary, do not see eye to eye
with him on prohibition. He will find no one,
however. who viii disagree with a whole
hearted application of his ample gifts di-
rectly to the university.
No man as preoccupied with an avocation
as DIR. Bryan is with his can continue to dis
charge his public duties in the manner which
the harassed taxpayers have a right to ex-
pect.
The ordinary mortal finds he has to work
ten or twelve hours day in these hard times.
He looks askance at Office holders who do not
do likewise. Giving young people a liberal
education may not be nearly as exciting as
cantering about the state in pursuit of beer
sellers and bootleggers, but the former is a
mighty important proposition. So let's go
back to work, doctor.
On the other hand there are the vets. In
diana voters turned over the control of the
state to the Democratic party. The national
Democratic organization is distinctly wet, is
committed to beer for the poor man, and has
been opposed to protective tariffs for genera
lions.
Democratic congress and President have
decreed by due process of law that 80 per
cent beverages are Intoxicating and there
fore legal. Incidentally, this statute was
promulgated in exactly the same legal manner
as the Volstead act, which the drys argued
for years should be supported because it was
the law of the land.
The Indiana Democratic party calmly has
ignored the plain Interpretation of congress
and has proceeded to foist upon the citizens
system of beer regulation so monstrous that
it is downright funny. Governor McNutt and
the legislators have claimed the legal right to
act as they have on the ground that the state
has wide police power over intoxicants.
With straight faces, they declare that they
must prevent return of the old-time saloon.
Even the most naive know that to have a
saloon there must be Intoxicating liquor And
congress solemnly has decreed that 80 per
cent beer is not Intoxicating.
The shenanigans of the McNutt admins
tration have succeeded only in making beer so
expensive that the poor man can not afford it,
in fastening upon the community horde of
political drones in the guise of regulatory of
fcials. and in setting up what is, in effect
a protective tariff around Indiana breweries
whose product is not yet even on the market
Without taking much thought, it is posi-
BILE to conjecture good deal more about the
motive behind all this pettifogging regulation
II Indianas beer consumption equals that of
1919 when a good many lusty beer drinkers
still were in the army, some millions of dol
lars will flow into the Golfers of the politically
appointed beer importers, who don't have to do
a tap of work to earn them.
Even million dollars is quite a sum these
days for a political party to use as war
chest.
Superior Judge Virgil S. Reiter injected
the first bit of cold logic into the situation
Thursday, when he declared the whole beer
law entirely outside the Constitution. His
pointed decision set forth that the statute set
up special privilege, since man who is re-
fused a permit to handle beer is not allowed
any recourse to the courts
This newspaper has contended for weeks
that beer is a wholesome food and that the
state therefore has no special police power
over it. Thus the Indiana beer law is so much
political claptrap.
The great and patient public which views
this hurly-burly with perplexity, should re-
member that the spring always is circus time.
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