Evening star., 1933-05-22
SENATOR HARRY BYRD A DRY,
BUT WILL VOTE FOR REPEAL
Cast Ballot in Opposition to
Beer Measure as Un-
constitutional.
Insists Beverage Being Sold
Now Is in Fact Intoxi-
eating.
BY GRACE HENDRICK EUsTEs,

BY GRACE HENDRICK EUSTES,
Senator Harry Flood Byrd of Vir-
ginia, who succeeded Claude A. Swan
son, when the latter became Secretary
of the Navy, is an unusual dry.
He does not drink, he is opposed to
the return of ths saloon, he voted
against the beer bill because he felt
it to be contrary to the Constitution.
but he is going to vote for the repeal
of the eighteenth amendment.
He explained his opposition to the
bee- bill as follows:
The bill as passed provides that
beer, ale, porter, wine, fermented malt
or vinous liquor or fruit juices may be
sold with an alcoholic content Of 3,2 PEI
cent by weight or per cent by volume.
This is of equal or even greater strength
than the average pre-War beer and Is
of the same strength as the beer now
sold in Germany or England.
Few will deny that pre-war beer
was Intoxicating. I am therefore con-
vinced that the beer authorized by this
bill is in fact intoxicating, certainly to
those accustomed to stimulants.
Cites Constitution.
'I therefore voted against the beer
bill as the Constitution of the United
States prohibits the sale of intoxicating
beverages. I would not be faithful to
my oath of Office as Senator If voted
for law which in my conception Is
contrary to the Constitution"
His feeling about the repeal OF the
eighteenth amendment he wrote to
constituent: When the question OF re-
peal of the eighteenth amendment is
submitted to the people of Virginia,
it is my expectation to vote as citl-
zen for its repeal But it is matter
which must be determined by every
voter, freely and according to his or
her own conscience" BY this. he re-
ferred to the submission to the people
of this issue, by national referendum,
State wide and separate from other is
sues" solution which he advocated
last year.
He continued, my reason for this
action is practical one. All OF us
must recognize that no law Is stronger
than the public sentiment to sustain
it. The country today is confronted
with the stubborn fact that in many
States public sentiment Is opposed to
national prohibition. In those States
no effort will be made to enforce the
prohibition laws either by State or ma
tional authorities As any law will fail
if not enforced. I will cast my vote
fol repeal of the eighteenth amend
ment in the hope that in Virginia and
elsewhere the cause of real temperance
will be promoted by the adoption of
such plans as may be approved by the
individual States of the Union and
sustained by public sentiment which
will compel the enforcement OF the laws
adopted"
Has Every Qualification.
Senator Byrd has every qualification
to represent his State. When there was
indecision as to whether Senator Glass
would accept the Treasury portfolio or
Senator Swanson become Secretary of
the Navy, no one doubted Byrd would
fill the vacated seat. His inheritance
from his father, the brilliant Speaker
OF the House of Delegates, and from his
ancestors, who, dating from the build
Ell of Westover, Col William Byrd. have
been associated with Virginia politics,
the Nationwide publicity that had been
given his family through his pole-fly-
ing brother, his own energetic tenn
pefament ana MS extraordinary record
as Governor, make him impegnable to
confusion.
He began to whittle out his career
at the age Of Is when he took over
and made a success of the Winchest
Star. Five years later he founded Il e
Martinsburg Evening Journal. In 1906
he became interested in apple orchards
and began to experiment with ten.
Now he is one of the biggest orchardists
east of the Mississippi.
If he had had it in his mind to be-
come Senator eventually, he could not
have chosen his occupations with wiser
diversification. For 10 years he was
president of the Valley Turnpike Co.
He was president of the Winchester
Cold Storage Co. He was director of
the Farmers and Merchants National
Bank in Winchester, and of the Nation
al Fruit Products Co. During the war