Evening star., 1933-11-08
ROOSEVELT CALLS
PARLEY ON LIQUOR
Conference viii Study Fed.
eral Regulation Neces-
sary After Repeal.
Continued From First Page.)

December S will signal the formal APP
proval of repeal, inasmuch as the Ken
lucky convention meets along with that
of Texas on November 2T.
If Kentucky upholds the present set
UP, then the Maine Convention De-
cennber 6 will be the thirty-sixth and
provide the repeal finale.
Thus. in somewhat less than year,
the dry cause has seen swept away the
major bulwark that crowned the many
score years of its striving And one
of the last contributory States to the
sweep, ironically enough, is Ohio. where
such militant organizations as the Anti
Saloon League and the w. G. 4. U. had
their inception and flouished from late
in the last century onward.
Laws Varied
Moreover. today finds the country
facing a definitely new era IN liquor
control but without any sign of uni
form approach to the problem by the
States.
New regulatory machinery has been,
or is being, set up in few States,
others are falling back on the laws IN
force prior to the national law: ana
still others-more than half-will re-
main dry under their own laws
RESPONSIBILITIES of the Federal Gov
eminent will revert to those OF pre-
war times, protecting dry States from
shipments of liquor. raising OF rev.
enue by taxation and the tariff curo
on imports, etc.
Mistakes of the past have been re-
viewed with an eye to profting thereby
on such questions as how much revenue
can be obtained from liquor without
at the same time giving bootleggers q
continued lease on their Illicit busi-
ness.
Estimates of the amounts the Gov
eminent can or should attempt to get
from LIQUOR taxes range from $780,
600 600 to more than half billion
dollars. All that can be said to date
Is that nothing has been decided or
is likely to be at once. Congressional
committees have started their research
too, and the outcome depends to a
great extent on eXigencies found by
Congress
Immediate attention dwells on what
Is to happen between now and early
December, at which time liquor can
legally be sold in States allowing it in
view of Attorney General Cummings
ruling that repeal takes effect when
the thirty-sixth convention has COM
pleted action.
Liquor Trade Prepares.
Liquor interests long have been busy
accumulating and cutting" their sup
plies to be in readiness. All in all up
ward of 75,ooo,ooo gallons of domestic
hard LIQUOR are expected to be available
for ready marketing, besides the mil
lions of gallons being held in Canada
end abroad for ei,iy,r,aenf here and great
supplies of wines.
On all sides there is an awareness of
the sweep backward from the rush
which carried the eighteenth amend
ment into the Constitution. with ulti-
mate ratification by all the States save
Rhode Island and Connecticut
Indications today were that the
roughly 3-to-1 repeal margin In the
previous 80 State votes was not i'm
paired by yesterdays voting. despite the
Carolinas' actions.
Accompanying this realization is one
that what happens affecting liquor in
the weeks and months just ahead is
liable to make a consequential imprint
on public opinion. Leaders Of organi-
cations on both sides Of the regulation
question are counseling moves for tenn
perance and opposition to return OF the
old.time saloon.
Plans of the Anti-Saloon League to
start campaigning again for constitu-
tional prohibition are not lost on the
politically minded. In its prime, the
league was accredited with being most
powerful factor behind the eighteenth
amendment through such work in the
local communities. counties and States"
as F. Scott Mcbride said today would
be renewed.
Shifts Are Possible.
If abuses are allowed to crop up, it is
conceded that swing back to national
prohibition comparable to that now
away from it would not be out OF the
question.
North Carolina, it is remembered,
only last year elected Senator Reynolds,
an avowed repealist Yesterday his
own district as well as the State went
against his position.
1t had been expected that repeal
would enhance the political prestige of
Postmaster General Farley, in view of
his militant advocacy OF 1t in the
months since taking off. However, the
La Guardia victory over Farley's choice,
Joseph Mckee, in the New York may
oral election now may tend to min
imize the advantage
The speed with which the repeal
movement proceeded in the past year
has never ceased to astonish even the
friends Of the cause,
Il confess I did not expect such
prompt unanimity," said former Sena-
tor Blaine of Wisconsin today, predict
ing greater temperance He was au-
thor of the amendment which Congress
submitted 10 the States in February
If ratified December 5, the twenty
first amendment will equal the record
for speed for ratification. The present
mark, 9 months and 13 days. is held by
the twelfth amendment. providing means
for choosing President and Vice Presi-
dent, accepted September Is, 1904.
The eighteenth amendment took /
year 90 days, ratification being by Legis-
lature, as with all up to now.
Nine States have yet to vote on re-
pesl-Georgia. Kansas, Louisiana, Mis-
sissippi Montana, Nebraska, North Da-
kota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.