AMERIVAN PROHIBITION

Evening Star, Issue 20132, 23 March 1929, Page 5

AMERIVAN PROHIBITION

SENATOR'S SCATHING OUTBURST “REIGN OF HYPOCRISY AND CANT” [Fiioji Gun Own Coiiresi'ondent.] SAX FRANCISCO, February L’O. A torrent of scorn and derision lor America's form ol Prohibition and Lite disciples ol Prohibit ion was loosed m the United States Senate at \\ aslttnglon by Senator James Reed, ol AJissouri, a. diatribe which has lew equiTis in the Jin 1 1 s ol legislation in Inc United States. , , JJ)eii\erinpr one ol the lew extended speeches of the session, which was seeing; the famous .Missourian how himselt voluntarily off the static ol public scivice. he turned upon those who 'oU'd dry and drink wet with a lury which oven he has seldom approached in the historic vears of his turbulent sensalorial career. So scorching; was his atiack lhai the lonoa waited Reed-Porah dehaio on Prohibition, Ihe dream of those who love to listen U. sharply turned lorcnsic thrusts and counter-thrusts, became a. possible oratorical treat lor the ensuing discussion in the United Slates Senate.

The .Missourian Senator Democrat conlcndcd that the United Stales is in a “ reign ol hpyocrisy and caul, ol violence, chicanery, laUc pretence, and fraud.” and predicted that_ ihe lime would come when the American people would awaken to the view I hat ‘‘the Prohibition law is the worst crime that has ever taken place. ’ Me shouted 11 1 :i; a man who voted dry hut nevertheless drinks is “ a coward —-a knavish coward,” and said he might, in time make public the names ol members ol Congress whose' personal habits arc contrary In their sentiments tis registered by their votes on Prohibition proposals. The Jones Mill In ij:crea-e penalties for Prohibition law violators was the order ol business in the Senate, ami under a previous aereemeni deltaic on the measure would have been liniild until 1 p.m.. but lour additional hours of unrestricted dismission was provided. As Peed warmed to his subject, lie said that in lime Ihe country will see the Prohibition law come " to an ignonunons oiid. M BRANDED ‘ KNAVISH HYPOCRITES.” ‘‘'flic day will come. ’ he thundered, tv lien Iho man who voles lor Prohibition and who himsell violates the letter and the spirit, of the law will he held in that kind of contempt which ought to be visited upon tlk* knavish hypocrite who masks himsell behind pretended virtue and who seeks to hold office by virtue of his ialse pretence.. “The day will come when judges who have made malefactors ol decent buys and men will sink into that obloquy which is the just inward ol cruelly, oppression, and wrong. The day will come in 1 his count ry when organised groups will no longer conduct the government, hut mice more the voice of the people will he heard, and that, voice will pronounce the knell of those who have yielded that thrift rnb.dit follow fawning. ’’ The Senator as-orted he had no criticism of those men who thene-eives observe the doctrines (hey would lorce on others, but, he declared; ” I hold in an abhorrence and coiileiiio! that raiinol he painted in any tongue that man lias ever possessed the cream.re who. to keep Ills place in this body or in idle Mouse of Representatives, will make that, a felony which he himsell connives at in ins personal practice.”

Acidly. I Senator (old of drinking at the 1 v(.mi;ihlicnii anil Democratic convention- la-1 summer at Kansas City and Houston. He said Dial just, prior Im llii' convent ion at Houston a boa; was and Kraal (|iia t;titios of li< I nor were eonliscaied. “ It was manifest to anybody lint a plain, ordinary fool." Ihe Missourian wild, "(hat that arrest was arranged lor. The papers .spread it broadcast that t lie Democrats wan led to have a eonyention where everybody w as as dry as a Sahara Desert camel. Then, in the hotels, everybody was informed of the particular room where (ho liquor could he obtained.'' EXPOSES CHICANERY. At Kansas City, he wont on. turning to the Republican side of the Chamber. “ leadin'; official Prohibit ioni-lo were pay I nit; the boys in Cue hotels I rom fdiil to Indol a pint “ for a class ol whisky that no respeclalda Missourian would i.wer I Innh of drinkiiu;. There ivw laughter I rom t.im llnor ami gallerv, and attendants hushed down lids in I tact ion ol the rules. ‘‘Tim liquor was across the street from tile l-'adine hotels, and '-onld nol iia'.-e bean there il the Republican Convention had nol been lliere. ' Reed -boni' i!. “ Tlnm these snivelling hypocrites whipp'd a planlc in favour ol Prohibition eiilorcement. I have sometime- been iniipU'd to write a il-l ol the names of men who vote drv ami flrink wel . I do not know, but I shall do ii ,\et. " Prohibition j-, the breeding place m crime, because then’ has been driven I rom I fie open into the dark the liquor business," be declared. " It lias been

taken out oi the hand- ol a class m people who were law-abiding, and put into i he hands ol people who. the minul<■ they begin to act. arc criminals. It lias been compelled to -cek the shadows and the night. and then what followsy The men engaged in tin- illicit bti-ine-s proceed to malic their .'iiTangomen! s with the officers of the law, and era 11 and blackmail become the common practice ol the hour. “There has never been any attempt to enforce ibis law as we cnloree idle laws against murder, ar.-on, raue. or burglary. 1 have travelled onte%-ivel.v in the United Stales in the last eighteen mouths. I never entered a State, a city, a town, or a village where I w.as not tendered 1 if|tior and where a lew minutes’ conversation did md di-clo-e the laid that distilleries wore all around the towns and all around the villages, and that liiptor could lie obtained a.uyw hem ADVISES TELLING TRUTH. “There is not a policeman in a wit v ol the United Stales who cannot collect enough evidence m twenty-ionr hours to keep the courts busy Pm twenty-lotir months. “Let ns tell the truth ! Keen though Bishop Cannon, whom 1 believe, the Senator from Virginia ( -Mr (Bass) in tlie recent campaign described as one of the three pope= in this country, may frown, 'that be may bold bis job and draw bis salary, there is not a man who has any sense a lid has looked about him hut knows that, in the city id Washington he can in an hour’s time have, delivered at his office or in Ins home enough whisky to entertain ■' body of Senatorial Or Congressional friends, their wives, and their swoclhea ids. “ To say that the law has ever been enforced is to stand in the lace ol (be truth and deliberately lie to the American people. Graft, graft without measure and without stint!" Reed road amounts alleged to have been paid Philadelphia policeman to shield bootleggers. “ Bribery, bribery.’’ he thundered, pounding his desk with his fist. Just then the time of Senator Reed expired. “Mr President,’’ called Severn I Senators, eager to .seek permission for the Missourian to go on. “ J.t won't bo long belore wo will

bear that entrancing voice no longer," pleaded Senator Bruce, the Maryland Democrat. 'Time was granted alter Mr Borah gave notice that be had -onict liing in say. The Senate settled down to listen to more, although the hour wa- growing !atm “ Bribery, graft Reed again declaimed in -tent mla n lone-. “More prolif ein be made from distilling liquor in a wash boiler Ilian can be made m finnking. Von haven i beard a tmupera nee lecture since the Volstead Aid was passed. You have beard only demand-, for stricter enforcement and observance of the law. Thev don’t say now ‘V.'eTI rescue the perishing, bait ‘We 11 shut ’em np in the penitent iaries,’ “One'' men believed t lie law was mad'.’ for punishment and run lor redemption. Witches were burned, men were pulled apart by the strength ol bores. Then came the day oi greater htimamiy. and it was decided that law:, -liould he made to reform culprits. But this law! What- a monstrous thing! As it stands for a single violation penalties can lie oiled np as great as thorn lor manslaughter and homicide, and Hint are altogether in disharmony will: the penalties for other crime-: Then the Missourian gave Ins colleamies ;< recipe for making home brow, and sal down with an announcement, that- be might have mere to tell Dm Senate on (bo thorny problem of making Americans sober by legislation and not by moral suasion.