Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-03
Drys All Wet?

World, 1t has been part Of the
American dream to create a
paradise here on earth through
law. This has taken the forms
of statutes outlawing baths on
Sunday, the use of tobacco,
and even affection between
husband and wives.
Most of this died of its own
irrationality and has long &C.
cupied it's proper resting place
among the amusing vignettes
of our long history. One phase
of this effort to bring para
disc to earth through law,
however, stubbornly refuses to
die. This effort centers in the
field of alcohol and its use.
At present we are witnessing
a new dry campaign in the
guise of protecting" our chill
dren from the evil influence Of
liquor by banning all adver-
Using of alcoholic beverages.
The objective is not simply
to ban advertising of liquor
alone. It's ultimate aim is to
contribute to the piecemeal
battle of the prohibitionists to
make prohibition once more
the law of the land,
Prohibition, or forced alb
stinence from alcoholic bev-
erages through law, has proved
thoroughly unavoidable on the
practical level and is demon
strably false on the philosoph-
ical level.
One has only to review the
sordid history of the noble ex-
pertinent of the twenties. At
no time in our history was law
so f1agrantly disregarded. The
clandestine atmosphere of the
liquor trade encouraged rack
eteering and caused huge for
tunes to flow into the Golfers
of mobsters who dominated
the trade. This unsavory sit
uation caused many to doubt
the old saw about crime not
paying, and it became popular
to faunt ones disregard of the
law. BY 1888 people were
quite ready for an end to the
farce of prohibition.
On the local level, prohibi-
ton has continued to give con-
vincing proof of its utter I'M
workability. In those States
where prohibition is still the
announced public policy, all
forms of alcoholic beverage
continue to flow in copious
quantities. Many law-enforce-
ment officers, faced with the
administration of this I'M
popular prohibitionist dream.
have frankly thrown up their
hands and conceded the i'm
possibility of their task. A
cynical wit pointed up the
situation in Kansas. when that
State was still dry, when he
declared that Kansas would
remain dry as long as Kansans
could stagger to the polls and
vote.
Alcohol, like any other thing,
is not an evil in itself, but is
indeed a positive good. 1t has
supported many tired hearts;
1t can prevent infection or
freezing. Taken in moderation
as a beverage, it is beneficial to
the modern man who must
daily withstand anew the buff
lettings of a modern complex
industrial life. Even the good
ladies of the WCTU might look
less harshly on the world II
they too would learn to enjoy
the peace which comes after
the consumption of a we'll
mixed Martini.
No one will deny that drunk
enness is an evil. Drunken
ness. however, does not result
from any intrinsic evil in al
cohol, but rather from lack of
moderation in its use which
robs man of one of his due
projections. in this case, ra-
tionality. Equally reprehensi-
BILE evil may arise from the
misuse of any other positive
good, whether 1t be good food,
rich pastry, or fast automo-
biles.
]. Edward HOuchenS,