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PROHIBITION IN AMERICA.

(Contributed by G.H.M.) A great many people in New Zealand, in fact, ;ill over tile world, arc keenly watching tin* movement;; of the prohibition sentiment in America The great work 011 hand there is the question of an amendment of the Constitution of the United .State* to make the whole nation into a prohibition nation, making the country "bone dry" as they call it An amendment of the constitution is a serious matter. It nitisi. bo pas.'-H by a two-thirds majority in each House of Congress, and then must be ratified bv three-fourths of the separate State legislatures. It has taken the prohibition party many years to reach the position they now occupy. The amendnr-nt'resoi-tion was passed in the Senate bv the required majority on August 1 last and then by the House of Hepres?ntalivos, which was duly accomplished 011 December 17. In each case the majority was well over that required. So far the news was received by cable and was reported in that brief form in the newspapers. Kow we have fuller reports by mail, and these reports show how verv stroll,!; the prohibition sentiment Is in the States, and how it is growing, Havnjr now the partculars of the voting in the House of Representatives it : s very interest in;' to notice where the strength of the movement lies; and also to cSlcnlate what the prospects are for petting the amendment ratified bv the States within the prescribed time —seven years, nl the first place it is quite an innovation to fix any period within which a State must, ratify an amendment. The Constitution of the United States itself provides how amendments may be effected; and there is nothing there about ft time limit, and it is very questionable whether even Congrss can now ad'* such a provision to this prohibition nmndment. However, the Prohibition Party feel so confident thta they will get the required SO States to ratifv within the seven years that, at. present, they do not trouble over this time limit. If, however, it should happen that the quota was reached. atfer the expiration of the seven years, it will be time enough then to appeal to the Supreme Courts as to the questions whether Congress has .power to place this limitation 011 the notion of the State legislatures. There is also another time limit in the amendment as passed bv Congress; it is that which provides that prohibition shall come into effect one year after H:c amendment has been ratified by the States. This matter seems to be more a question for each State to decide for itself. In some of the now prohibition States the dry law came into force almost immediately it was duly carried by the people's vote, or the vote of the Legislature, as the case may be. Scvn years is a long time allowance, but when we remember that only a very fewStates 'have annual parliaments, most of them meet biennially and one State, Alabama. has its meeting of legislature only once in four years, then we shall see that the party :nust lose no time in pressing on the reform; and they will press on undoubtedly In looking over the voting list it is noticeable that the divisions were not on party lines but purely on the merits of the issue as the representatives realise it. The list shows that 252 voted for the amendment, and of these 141 were Democrats and 137 Republicans; 128 voted against and of these 64 were Democrats and 02 were Republicans. This shows how much alive the members are to the importance of the liquor question. Then, too, in the House, as the reports show now, there was an evident determination to face the music, and at ofice. Some minor amendments to tha resolution. plainly in favor of the trade, were quickly disposed of on the voices. There was no hope of exempting beer and wine from the prohibition, as California!] member proposed; nor "ould the House hear of such thing as a State going back after it had once passed the ratification.

The Congress evidently means business; and it is now for'each State to fight out the question, only 21 States ■ Jinve already, in both Senate and House, given a solid vote for prohibition: a™d two States are solid for liquor. It looks well for the "drys."

The strength of the prohibition movement seems to be in the Western Slates, where tlic- repreantativcs are six to one against liquor. The South, of course, is also very strong, and the New England States are about equally divided. This last mentioned #ro»s. iMaine nnrt her neighbors who were prohibition ..tates, and still have a strong prohibition sentiment, 'but it also includes the closely populated manufacturing States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Connecticut and the sparsely populated State of Nevada were the two . tates whose representatives were solid for liquor. Extremes jpeet here. It would ,he interesting to review the debate in the House on the resolutions, but space Will not permit. It may. however,, TTe said that there was raucl. enthusiasm on both sides, short nithv speeches, and when the Speaker reported the result and said: "On this vote the yeas arc 282 and the nays 128; twothirds of the members of the House having voted in the affirmative, the resolution is therefore adopted," the reporter says it was "Mian/broke loose''wit" enthusiasm and congratulations.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19180129.2.12

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1918, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
906

PROHIBITION IN AMERICA. Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1918, Page 3

PROHIBITION IN AMERICA. Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1918, Page 3

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