Evening star., 1934-01-03

tCOntlnued From FIRST Page)
in the Capital Of the Nation, it is OBJ
vlouS that it should be sold under such
adequate regulations will give
maximum OF protection to youth. en-
courage temperance, reduce temptation
to a minimum. avoid the evils of the
saloon. protect the public against un-
desirable places and prevent sale in
residential areas.
2. The License System: Under the
bill. as drawn. liquor may be sold in
any drug store or grocery store, in
bottles, thus necessarily inviting the
purchase Of liquor by young people
who frequent such stores If the Gov
ernment is to permit the sale of liquor
in the Nations Capital, it should be
sold only IN limited number of stores
operated or strictly supervised by the
Government. If the State of Pennsyl-
vania is able to work out plan of strict
governmental control there is no rea
son why the Federal Government
should not be able to do the same thing
for the District Of Columbia.
Find Bill Defective
3. Basic Restrictions: The proposed
bill is defective in not imposing GER
tain basic restrictions. II is wrong in
principal to leave to the discretion of
the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board
the question whether liquor shall be
sold to minors, or near a church OF
school. Even under the cid saloon sys-
tenn is was customary to prohibit sales
to minors, O. near churches or schools
Liquor should never be sold within any
area near a school that can be con-
veniently reached during the school
of
missioners in their proposed bill fail
to protect the public in this matter,
what assurance have We that a Liquor
Board. appointed by them, would give
such protection? These basic principles
should be incorporated definitely in
the bill and not left to the discretion
of any person or board
a. Manufacture of liquor in the Dis
trict Of Columbia: This being primarily
residential city and the seat of Gov
ernment, it is the unanimous feeling of
this committee that the manufacture
of spurious liquors should not be per-
mltted in the District Of Columbia,
Attack Saloons Return.
5. Return of the saloon: In a recent
public statement President Roosevelt
repeated statement in previous proc
lamatiCn in which he asked specially
that no State shall by law or otherwise
authorize the return of the saloon.
either in its cid form or in some mod
ern guise." We do not contend that
under this bill every grocery store and
drug store would necessarily be sa-
loon. but We do contend that the pro-
miscuous distribution of liquor in these
hundreds of stores will be impossible
to adequately police, and that many of
the stores will be Saloons in modern
guise-" One of the worst features of
the liquor problem is due to the huge
profits to the liquor interests.
6. Buying from bootleggerS: Bootleg
gers could not sell liquor if nobody
would buy it. Persons purchasing from
bootleggers are quite as responsible for
Guiding kidnapping and racketeering) as
are the bootleggers themselves. The re-
sponsibility is still greater under repeal
because the person who buys from a
bootlegger is cheating his Government.
atty. both the sale and purchase of
Illicit liquor.
The bill as proposed by the Commits
sioners is inadequate 1t fails to pro-
tect the public. 1t gives far less protec
ton than is given under the laws of
many States. and in some respects even
less protection than was given under
the old saloon system. 1t would cause
a promiscuouS distribution of liquor
which could not possibly be policed
adequately In legislating for the Dis
trict of Columbia in this vitally impor-
tant matter Congress should not cater
to the desires of prospective liquor SELL
ers but should aim at protecting the
public interest by setting standard
so high that it would constitute an eX-
ample for the Nation.