The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-11-08
THE DEED IS DONE.

Yesterday National Prohibition, mortally i'll now for weeks. died The wet majority polled Ill ono Pennsylvania and Utah brought about its long, delayed and not-to- be-regretted demise. Whatever Kentucky may have done, and it probably voted TOT repeal will not affect the status of repeal The Kentucky vote will not be known until Thursday since the vote is not counted until 24 hours after the polls close in that State Thirty-three States had already ratified the repeal resolution before yesterday The three which did it then brought the total to 36 the required threefourths necessary to validate repeal. The two Carolinas went into the Dry column, the first to occupy a place in It since Congress authorized the vote.
 On December G. the interment of the Eighteenth Amendment will take place and that great flaw Tn our Constitutional structure relegated to the limbo of the forgotten. But it will be many years before the Nation forget it. It will be as many years before it can rid itself of the poisonous growths the leecherous organisms that fastened themselves on the body polite because of that mistake. It can never recover the hundreds of millions of dollars that were wasted in futile efforts at enforcement It cannot restore life to those victims of poison liquor of flaming guns of Government agents ana racketeers to the agents themselves who died Valny It cannot make good the waste of men, money and materials that were swallowed in the maw of the monster to gratfy the vanity and salve the intoler- ance of a minority that dominated the Government for more than 13 tragic years. It cannot restore to the people of the country the revenue that was cast aside when liquor made an outlaw and which instead of going into Government cofers was paid tribute to criminal rings and their political aids and abettors. That has been the history of National Prohibition to the shame of the country.
 But as costly the experience is, it may be one of real value to the country. It ought to con- vince us that again should we permit the adoption of any amendment to the Federal Con- Stit that aff customs and long established procedure of the ndi- viduals that comprise the population without 1t IS first ratified by State Conventions directly elected by the people for that purpose. Alfred E. smith as Governor of New York, decade ago urged that step. Now is the time to take it.
 Now that have repeal, will have as soon the necessary ratifyng conventions have been held what going to do about it? Are we going to do nothing and let the old conditions renew themselves? Are we going to put tax burden liquor that will shoot the price sky ward? Are going to permit the trade to be operated for private profit it was before the Eighteenth Amendment?
 If we do we shall have failed to keep faith with millions of voters who cast their ballots for repeal because they were convinced that it was the one way in which to end the bootleg racket, and other plunderbunds that had their roots in Prohibition Not too many regulations, but strong and effective needed. Complete separation of the dis tillng end from the selling end both wholesale and retail is necessary. Limitation of private profits to legitimate return on the money invested must be had. Reasonable taxation to the end that legitimate purveyors whether they be State agencies, semi-offcial agencies private interests, can sell their at prices that the bootlegger cannot meet is the first essential If that is not done, bootegging will not disappear, and with it will continue to exist the other rackets that is fosered during the Prohibition epoch. And the good work now completed will be almost wholly wasted effort.