Imperial Valley press., 1942-06-22
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

Forces trying to shove through
Congress the so-called Sheppard
,ill, which. would prohibit all kinds
If beer, wine, liquor and vice at
,r within a reasonable distance
If any Army, Navy, Marine or air
base, have had to revise their
strategy and the likelihood that
will be done about this
oill for some months is rather re-
note.
The stage had been all set for a
public hearing in the caucus room
Of the Senate Office building, on
June %. Senator Theodore Gil
more (the Nam Bilbo of Poplar
vile, Miss, was the name around
which this hearing was to rally, and
Jhe invitations went out on sta
tionery of the Senate Committee
On Agriculture and Forestry, OF
which Bilbo is member, although
the Sheppard bill is before the COM
nittee on Military Affairs and,
logically, any hearings should have
been called By this latter commit
tee.
In other words, there has
been more to this crusade to
dry up the camps than meets
the eye. 1t was BilbO whose
name was used to call the
hearing, and it was Bilbo who
issued the statement calling 1t
off. 1t was BiibO political advice
which dictated this strategy
of a delaying action on the
grounds that with the Congress
now going into a twO-mOnths'
series of recesses, it would be
a mistake to stir up the animals,
only to have the effects wear
off, like a hangover, before
Congress would be in any posi-
ton to do something about the
Sheppard bill, even if it had
mind to.
That was the public reason Per-
haps much more important was tht
simple fact that the drys in Con-
greSS haven't the strength to pusf
this one over. The most optimistic
count dry leaders can make as tt
the number of congressman who art
personal drrs or vote dry is a mere
100, and they have trouble think
ing of the names after they reacf
so. 1t is doubtful if there are
more than so in the entire or,
bloc of both houses.
MEET THE CAPTAIN :.
While Bilbo and Pappy ODanie
of TeXaS-What pair!-With Ed
win C. johnson of Craig, Colo.
have been the principal Senate
hackers of the bill since Senator
Sheppards death, and while Con
gressmen Joseph r. Bryson o.
Greenville, S. c., and U. S. Gyel
of Kansas City, Kan, have beer
the hackers in the House, the rea
agitator for the Sheppard bill to-
day is Edward Page CASTOR, who
has been known to greet perfect
by pulling piece Of
candy from his pocket, profferine
it with big, friendly smile ane
saying, Have sWeet?'
CASTOR probably would like
to be known as Public Pro-
hibitionist Number One, but
somehow he just misses. His
printed literature about HIM
self refers to him as Captain
CASTOR, but his military SER
vice fas Confined to 1918, when
he was captain in the New
York National Guard reserve.
The Captain also likes to refer
in handouts, to the fact that
who's Who has carried Captain
Gaston's biographical entry fol
many years" A checkup on Who's
Who, however, shows that the Cap
tain has been among those absent
since Volume II, published in 1882
The entry is interesting in other
ways, for it reveals the Captain
Popocatepetl in Mexico
and made reconnaissance OF bat
tlefields of Belgium, recovering ef-
fects of the dead" That adds to
his military stature.
MAN OF AFFAIRS
Captain CASTOR now makes his
in rooming house
on Rhode Island avenue in Wash
ingtpn, and from this headquarters
runs his World Prohibition FEEDER
alton, founded in 1909 but seldom
head of since, and his Patriot
Guard of America, of more recent
vintage. The Patriot Guard, says
the Captain, now has committees
in 40 states. with about 25 on each
committee, which would give 1t a
top membership of 1000 Among
other things, the Guard stands for
starting more public works in a
relief policy of No Work-No Pay
for able bodied persons" and grad
lal suppression of legali2ed liquor
traffic"
In backing the Sheppard bill,
Castor says he is doing il mot
as q prohibition matter, but
purely to increase the efiici-
ency of the armed forces. So
Wet Russia, says the Captain,
is far more efficient than the
United States on this point.
for in the Red army only the
soldiers subjected to cold wea-
ther get vodka.
Captain CASTOR has been a pro-
~ ;,t oil hi "a w horn
% it (in Henry, Ill) he says, from
/ long line of Huguenot ancestors.
he has never been drunk himself,