Evening star., 1933-12-26
Butler Declares Bootlegging
And Hypocrisy Brought Repeal
Corruption, Cowardice and Decisions of
Supreme Court Also Emphasized byWet
Leader as Bringing About Change.

By the Associated Press
NEW YORK, December 26.-Dr.
Nicholas Murray Butler, whose ag-
gressive participation in the long fight
against the eighteenth amendment
brought him a strange mixture of
praise, death threats and epithets, vul-
gar and obscene, looked back over the
historic struggle today and declared
the moving influence which haStened
repeal" were:
l. Nationwide bootlegging
2. "Cowardice, hypocrisy and cor
ruption' of officials.
3. A warning against the amend
ments effects, uttered in 1920 by Elihu
Root
4. Two decisions of the Supreme
Court.
One of the decisions he said, denied
to persons in vehicles the constitutional
guarantees against unwarranted search
and lied to about ITO murders by Of
ficers of the Government
The other, he declared, upheld Fed
eral officials in violating the laws of &
State in the quest for evidence. These
decisions. he said, brought revulsion
and revolt"
Issues Statement.
DR.. Butler, president of Columbia
University and a figure in the Repub-
lican party for years, said in a state
ment:
"On a dull, dark day in March, 1920.
1t was my fortune. through the courtesy
of the Chief Justice. to sit in the
Supreme Court of the United States
and listen to the closing arguments
of Elihu Root against the validity of
the eighteenth amendment The hour
Of 4:30, when the court would rise,
was rapidly approaching. Drawing
himself up to his full height and
pointing his finger at the Chief Jus
tice, with the eyes Of the whole bench
| fixed upon him, Mr.. Root. speaking
with the deepest feeling, concluded his
argument with these memorable words.
which burned themselves forever into
my memory:
"Hf your honors shall find a way
to uphold the validity Of this amend
ment, the Government Of the United
States, as We have known it, will have
ceased to exist. Your honors will have
found a legislative authority hitherto
unknown to the Constitution and un-
trammeled by any of its limitations.
Your honorS will have decided that
two-thirds of a quorum in each House
ma ajority of a quorum in each House
| of the Legislatures of three-fourths of
| the States, may enact any law relating
| to the life or liberty or property of the
citizen, to the form and fabric Of this
Government, or to the bill Of rights IT.
self, without recourse and without
| appeal. In that case, your honors,
John Marshall need never have sat
| upon your BENCH"
The clock was at 4:30 and the court
rose.
"As I passed out of that room I de-
termined that, so far as God gave me
strength, every ounce of it should be
| devoted to getting that amendment out
of the Constitution were the court to
uphold it.
First Public Speech.
MY first public speech in opposition
| to the amendment was made in Cali
fornia in July, 1920. Knowing Amer
| ican public opinion, I realized that it
would be impatient of any attempt to
| repeal the amendment until reason
able time had been given to observe its
| effects. Therefore, I waited nearly
| three years. My next argument was
delivered before the Ohio State Bar AS
| sociation at Columbus, whose invitation
| gladly accepted because 1 desired to
| put the argument on constitutional and
legal grounds. Moreover, wanted to
| be sure that the Anti-Saloon League,
/ whose headquarters were in the neigh
borhood, at Westerville, Ohio should
hear what I said. They heard.
My next important appeal was be-
| fore the Missouri Society of New York
in April, 1924. 1t was that speech
which created the greatest sensation
and which called out the largest amount
of criticism and abuse. Some $4,000
letters from all parts of the land were
received in comment. About 1900 of
them were commendatory and about
5000 of them were not only in oppo-
sition, but, for the most part, abusive
in high degree.
Several hundred of them were pro-
fame. and many of them so obscene or
so shockingly vulgar as to be unmail-
able under the law. The worst Of them
came from women and from so-called
ministers of religion, often written on
the official paper of the church where
| these creatures served. Some of these
| letters are most amazing. One from
Philadelphia the City of Brotherly
Love, read: You have three months in
which to change your ideas to decent
OIleS. 1Ou DclOllS W Tie llllIly hog
| type. but no doubt this is because you
are afflicted just now. Three men are
dead who did not take the warning of
the writer. and unless you work for
a clean, decent America from now on
| you will not last one year
Declared Literary GEN.
From Charlotte, N. c., came this
| literary gem: My Dear Bolshevik
From your stand on prohibition proves
you unfit to be college president to
| teach the youth to disobey the law
| sending their souls to hell. Why il
you do not wish to obey our laws, why
in hell don't you go to Russia where
| you belong. You are working for the
devil, but he has damned poor ma
| terial. Your picture in the papers
! classes you with apes and monkeys
Another from Tennessee read: 'Soon-
| er than you destroy my sons with rum
I have decided to kill you at my first
opportunity The signature read. a
| father of Southern blood who upholds
the laws of his country Whatever his
virtues may have been, he obviously
| lacked a sense of humor. The worst