Evening star., 1933-10-19
The Political Mil
By G. Gould Lincoln.

taV0 StH4A1AttCc III 0hoo8CuuoCtto ~
signed to draft . liquor control law
for the Commonwealth has knocked the
brass rail out Of the old saloon. called
the residue tavern" and Is about to
propose that "taverns" be allowed to
sell hard liquor by the glass or drink,
to be consumed on the premises.
It has beesl reported that che com
! mittee stood to IN favor Of the
| tavern. What the Legislature itself
will do about the proposed taverns
when 1t meets in special session In No
vember to put through . liquor con-
troll act for Massachusetts, remains to
be seen.
That there will be strong opposition
to the tavern, on the ground that 1t
loon. seems inevitable But whether
that opposition will prevail TN this
State, where the sentiment Is strongly
wet" remains to be seen.
When national prohibition seemed to
be written into the Federal Constitution
SO firmly that it would require years Of
hard work to pry it loose, the opponents
of prohibition expressed entire willing
ness to take almost any kind of strict
control of the liquor trafdc-n only the
liquor trafiic could be legal again. They
were willing to take anything
the sale Of liquor only by Government
agencies, with a quota allotment to the
individual. What they wanted was to
get the nose of the camelEnot q dry
cameEunder the tent. They have
been successful and 30 quickly a. to
make the vets almost lose their breath.
In fact, the camel Is about to kick the
| Wh0lo tent ovor M 1nn0or IN IL nAr.
essary to discuss the need Of repeating
the eighteenth amendment; that Is
practically accomplished. No longer Is
it necessary to declare that the repeal
Of the prohibition amendment Is vital
in order to get rid Of the bootlegger
and the speakeasy.
A new problem is brought forward
by the vets themselves. How Is it to
be arranged so that the bootlegger and
the speakeasy shall not flourish after
the eighteenth amendment has been
laid on the shelf, superseded by the
twenty-first? It seems that something
more than the repeal Of the eighteenth
amendment Is needed-n you believe
some Of the vets nowadays.
To prevent the continued operation
Of the speakeasy and Of the bootlegger,
first, liquor must be sold legally at low
prices, and second, Q man must be per-
mitted to sit down and take a drink
either by himself or with his fellows,
have too high taxes levied against 1t by
the Federal Government and the State
governments, or the price. 1t Is argued,
will 60 so high that the bootlegger,
already we'll established, will have no
difficulty continuing to sell all kinds
of liquor.
And now the tavern" has been de-
vised, by the ingenious vets who wish
to prevent q continuance Of the speak
easy, blind pig or whatnot. Yet any
one with humane intelligence must
reality the old saloon. The only diff
ference in the tavern as proposed in
Massachusetts hes in the fact that the
guests must sit down at tables. There
will be no brass rail, no "bar" at which
the thirsty guests may line up and
take their liquor on their feet, so
to speak.
The vets who favor the tavern in
sist they are trying to do away with the
speakeasy and so prevent violations OF
the law If their plan is adopted,
probably there will be no speakeasies-
or not SO many. any way. But it
seems quite clear that the old-time
drinking. with plenty Of treating"
will again be in operation IN the tav-
ern. And when they provide seats for
the drinkers, they may Just mger the
| longer.
The control of the liquor trafnc In
Massachusetts, Is under the tentative
draft of the Legislative Committee, to
be placed in the hands OF State COM
mission. All licenses for taverns and
other places for sale Of liquor must be
passed upon by the commission. This
takes the liquor question out OF local
politics-or local politics out of the
| liquor question. But it throws the
LIQUOR question into State politics with
a vengeance A kind Of local option
is to be revived, with communities en-
powered to determine whether they
wish the tavern and bottle sale OF
| liquor. However. no one has yet ex.
planned how this local option proposal
can operate in time for the repeal OF
the eighteenth amendment, which looms
on December 5 next.
So far as Boston Is concerned, the
proposed draft bill allows 200 taverns,
or places where the liquor may be sold
by the glass and consumed on the
premises. In the old days Boston had
900 saloons It Is easy to see that II
It took 1000 saloons to satisfy the
thirst of the Bostonese 13 years ago,
any man who gets a license Tor one
of the 200 "taverns" should do large
and lucrative business. The scramble
for a tavern license is likely to be great
Boston. and presumably the State
Liquor Control Commission will be
located In the capital city. maybe m the
! state House itself. What chance Tor
liquor IN politics once again!
| +
| Drv examinations, since the sudden
unpopularity Of the eighteenth amend
ment, have lost their grip. They are
planning to oppose the return OF the
saloon. and to make another drive for
national prohibition. But they are not
potent right now. The friends OF the
tavern-who are parading as the enc
mics Of the speakeasy-are likely to be
too strong for the dry organizations:
However. q militant organization OF
anti-prohibition women. headed by Mrs.
Robert Iovett, Is attacking the tavern
proposal and may be more effective.
MRS. Lovett says women OF the wet
ranks will never stand for the tavern,
which she dubs the old saloon.
Local politics, city politics. has the
spotlight this year. For the time being
the national political game has been
showed into the background. The Re
publicans have been afraid for the most
part to attack the Democratic admini-
istration, believing that their attacks
would be construed as efforts to prevent
recovery"
The local city governments In many
cases are under attack just as the Fed
eral Government under Herbert Hoover
and the Republicans was under attack
q year ago, with hard times and heavy
taxes as the leading cause of revolt.
| Boston Is staging its mayoralty con-
test along with . lot Of other New
England cities. The Democrats have
big majority in normal times in the
Hub Of the Universe" The mayoralty
contest here, however, Is supposed to be
conducted on non-partisan lines. Candi-
| dateS do rant Dennocrats RepIh.