Evening Star Newspaper, January 20, 1931, Page 5

A : BILITY IS PRINCIPLE + OF DRY MODIFYING PLAN ’ Anderson Proposa 1 Is Recommended for Consideration by Five Members of Law Commission. By the Associated Press. ‘The gist of the plan for modification of the prohibition amendment proposed by Henry W. Anderson and recommend- ~ ed fr consideration by Law Enforce- ment Commissioners Kenyon, Loes: :chklnwsh, McCormick and Pound f Tt is proposed that as soon as prac- ‘ ticable, by appropriate action of Con- gress and of the States, the eighteenth|and economic conditions within the | submission of the amendment be moc*sied or revised * * * as follows: ““The Copgress shall have power to regulate or to pro- hibit the manufac- ture, traffic in or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the impor- tation thereof into and the exporta- tion _thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the Jurisdiction there- of, for beverage purposes.’ Sees Conformity Attained. “This modifica- tlon would bring the amendment into conformity the traditional principles of our of government. By conferring power upon Congress it would give to the| amendment the necessary flexibility. ‘The power to prohibit should be given to the end that if the proposed modifica- tion is adopted, the national prohibi- tion act would continue in force there- | under until Congress enacted some other | plan, thus avoiding any break in the of control and preventing the | restoration of the saloon anywhere in the United States. “Under the proposed amendment, as modified, Congress would have full power (1) to continue the present s! tem of absolute national prohibition, or (2) to remit the matter in whole or in part to the States, or (3) to adopt any 8 of effective control. ~ Since ater flexibility is one of the outstand- g needs of the present , this | modification should be made if the policy of absolute national prohibi- | : H. W. Anderson. cussed, with similar powers and func- ‘The State agen- | tions within the State. ‘ck‘s would have to conform in general | outline to a plan prescribed by the na- tional commission in order to insure | uniformity throughout the country as | to matters of general consequence, but | s to local questions they would be sub- | ject_entirely to State control and could easily be adapted to the varied social | State. “Matters of price, return and other | financial and operating details within | the State would be controlled by the | State_commission along the same lines | |as_alrcady discussed, and the surplus | revenues from operations within the | State would go into the State treasury | as a_special fund to be disposed of by | the Legislature of the State. * * * | “The State could permit local option | as to the establishment of a _sales agency in any given community. These agencies should be in buildings where | Ino other commercial activity is car- | vied «n, should be open only at certain hours of the day, on such business days |as ‘might be prescribed by State I |or regulation. Limitation of Sales. “Sales should be limited to persons holding license books, which should be issued by the State agency nearest the |fixed abode or voting place of the holder under regulations of the commission. The holder should be re- quired to sign an agreement in this book to account for the purchases made thereunder at any time on request and to.the satisfaction of the State corpo- ration or State commission. * * * “The amount of wine and beer below an alcoholic content to be fixed from time to time by the appropriate com- mission might or might not be limited to a reasonable quantity in any month, having a regard to the proposed use by the purchaser with a view to limiting the use and preventing purchases for illegitimate purposes. * * *. Upon conviction for violation of the law, for drunkenness or other cause provided by law, the book should be canceled for such time as might be prescribed, All State and national regulations should seek to restrict sales and use as far as may be done, with- out leaving a possible demand which tion is to be continued. “That Congress should then create | 8 bipartisan national commission on | liquor control, which should have fu! power under such laws as Congress | might enact to regulate and control | the manufacture, importation, exporta- | tion, transportation in interstate com- | merce, and also the sale, as and to | the extent hereinafter stated, of in- 4 toxicating liquors of more than one- half of one per cent alcoholic content, for beverage purposes; and to exercise lar regulation and control over | alcoholic liquors for other purposes, | and of industrial alcohol, to the full | extent necessary to render the system | of control of such liquors for beverage purpses effective. Advises Full Powers. “The powers of the commission as to the regulation and ccntrol of the traffic_indicated and of the agencies created for the purposes thereof should be fully as complete as those of the Interstate Commerce Commission over | raflroads and_should in every respect | be’ adequate for the purposes of the plan. 1 “That Congress should create a na- tional corporation for the purposes of tae plan, all of the stock of Wwhich should be privately owned, or in its discretion a number of such corpora- | tions, such as ome for each judical cirgus. ¢ ¢ “It should be vested with the ex- clusive right and power (to be ex- ercised under the control and regula- tions of the national commision) of | manufacture, importation, exportation and transportation in interstate com- merce, and of sale as and to the extent hereafter stated, of all alcoholic liquors for beverage, as well as for medicinal add sacramental purposes in, Within or from the territory of the United States or subject to the jurisdiction thereof. * * * Provides for Stock Issues. “The financial plan of the corpora- tion, to be fixed im its charter and In operation subject to the control of the commission, should provide for an issue of stock of only one class to be sold at par, to be entitled to simulated dividends limited to such rate upon the actual capital invested as might | be determined by Congress, or with its authority by the commission. A rate of not less than 5 per cent nor more than 7 per cent is suggested. The cor- tion should be permitted to retain rom its earnings not exceeding 2 per cent per annum on its invested capi- ey » “It should be required by law !hll‘; aleoholic liquors for beverage, medicinal or sacramental purposes of over one- half of 1 per cent alcoholic content | by volume (not including industrial | alcohol) might be manufactured, im- ported, exported, transported in inter- state commerce, or sold * * * solely by the national corporation, or its branches. * * * .The commission should have power to prescribe the al- coholic content of the various kinds and grades of liquors. “All alcoholic liquors so acquired or | uced should be promptly placed in ded warchouses of the corporation. . o “The corporation should only be al- Jowed to make sales and shipment of such liquors in any State to a corporate | agency created by such State, similar in general character to the national corporation, for the purpose of the pur- chase and distribution and local sale of such liquors within the State If and to the extent permitted by the laws thereof. States Free to Choose. «1f the State at jts option elected not to adopt the sy€fem it could estab- lish or continue prohibition, in which event it would bave to enforce its own Jaws within the State, but the Federal law would not permit s les or shipments | could be supplied at & profit by boot- | legger: * No advertisement of alconholic liquors or solicitations of pur- chasers should be permitted. “The excess refenues from the opera- | tions of the national corporation would go into the Federal Treasury, and those | from the operations of the State corp: ration and its branches would go into the State treasury. These revenues, which now go_entirely to the lawle: and criminal classes, would undoubted- ly be very large, They would sub- ject to disposition by Congress and the | State Legislatures, respectively. They. should be set aside as special funds in the respective treasuries, and used for educational purposes, especially as to the evils resulting from the use of al- coholic heverages and for the eradica- tion and prevention of those conditions which cause excessive drinking or which tend to create a demand for in- toxicating beverages. HOOVER CONCURS IN OPPOSITION TO REPEAL OF DRY LAW (Continued From First Page.) exhaustively and painstakingly gath- ered and examined the facts as to en- forcement, the benefits and the abuses under the prohibition laws, both before and since the passage of the eighteenth amendment. I am transmitting their report immediately. Reports upon the Enfiurcement of other criminal laws will follow. Civil Service Aids Law. “The commission considers that the conditions of enforcement of the pro- hibition laws in the country as a whol> are unsatisfactory but it Teports that the Federal participation in enfSfcement has shown continued improvement since and as a consequence of the act of Congress of 1927 placing prohibition officers under Civil Service, and the act | of 1930 transferring prohibition en- forcement from the Treasury to the Department of Justice, and it outlines further possible improvement. It calls attention to the urgency of obedience to law by our citizens and to the im- perative necessity for greater assump- tion and performance by Stat: and local governments of their share of responsibilities under the ‘concurrent enforcement’ provision of the Constitu- tion if enforcement is to be successful. It recommends that further and more effec- tive efforts be made to enforce the laws. It makes recommendations as to Fed- eral administrative methods and cer- tain secondary legislation for further increase of personnel, new classifica- tion of offenses, relief of the courts and amendments to the national prohibition act clarifying the law and eliminating irritations which arise under it. Some of these recommendations have been enacted by the Congress or are already in course of legislation. I commend these suggestions to the attention of the Congress at an appropriate time. In Accord With View. The commission, by & large major- ity, does not favor the repeal of the eighteenth amendment as a method of cure for the inherent abuses of the liquor traffic. I am in accord with this view. I am in unity with the spirit of the report in seeking constructive steps to advance the national ideal of eradi- cation of the social and economic and political evils of this traffic, to preserve the gains which have been made, and to eliminate the abuses which exist, at the same time facing with an open mind the difficulties which have arisen under this experiment. I do, however, see se- rious objection to, and, therefore, must not be understood as recommending rather than its repeal. mission I have reached the conclusion | that the outstanding achievement of THE EVENING Higflgh‘ts of Reports of Enforcement Commissioners | Success, So Far, of i Prohibition. BY NEWTON D. BAKER | Ot Cteveland, Ohio, Former Secretary of War In my opinion the eighteenth amend- ,ment should be repealed and the whole | question cof policy and enforcement | with regard to intoxicating liquors re- mitted to the States. 1f, for practical | reasons, immediate repeal be thought unattainable, a amendment sug- gested in the re- port of the com- mission would test the present sent ment of the coun- try and, if the amendm>nt were adopted, would ac- complish the dou- ble result re- moving an _ arb trary and inflexi ble police regul tion from the Constitution, where it | seems to me it should never have been | put, and of giving Congress the power to adapt, Federal legislation on the sub- | ject, from time to time, to the realities | of the situation as they may develop. I have signed the report of the com- mission because it is a r finding of the facts disclosed to us by such evi- dence as was available and because it is clear that so long as the Constitu- tion and law remain as thev now are, the recommendations of the report should be carried out to aid the Ex tive, charged with the duty of enforce- ment. = The efforts now being made to en- | force the re sincere and intelli- gent, and aided and supplemented as recommended in the report a higher degree of effectiveness will be certain to follow, but in my opinion the prob- lem is insoluble so long as it is per- mitted to require a nation-wide Fed- eral enforcement of a police regula- tion, at variance with the settled habits and beliefs of so large a part of our people., Newton D. Baker. BY ADA L. COMSTOCK Ot Cambridge, Mass.. President of Radcliffe Collese. ! Members Fail to Agree on| STAR, WA BY GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM. I have signed the report of the commission, although, as is probably inevitablle when 11 people of different antecedents and temperaments en- deavor to agree upon a contentious subject, it is more or less of a com- promise of varying opinions. In so far as it states facts I believe it to be generally accurate. Every effort has been made to make it so. I should have preferred to have it state more facts and fewer broad generalizations frém unstated facts. But the difficulties in securing ac- curate statistics, owing t» the un- systematic and unscientific manner in which they are commonly kept in this country, often makes it im- possible to get reliable statements of fact, although there may be suffi- cient available information to afford a fairly reliable basis of generaliza- ion. Y I am in entire accord with the conclusions “that enforcement of the national prohibition act made a bad start, which has affected enforce- ment ever since”; that “it was not until after the senatorial investiga- tion of 1926 had opened people’s eves to the extent of law breaking and corruotion that serious efforts were made” to co-ordinate “the Federal services directly and indi- rectly engaged in enforcing prohibi- tion,” and that not until after the act of 1927 had extended the Civil Service law over the enforcement agents were there the beginnings of such an organization as might have been expected to command the re- spect of other services, the courts and the public, and thus secure rea- sonable observance of the law and enforcement of its provisions as well as other laws are enforced. Until then, too, enforcement largely had expended itself upon a multi- tude of prosecutions of petty of- fenders: it messured success in en- forcement by the number of cases, most of which were trivial and in few of which were substantial pen- alties imposed. T carmot believe that an_experiment of such far-reaching and momentous consequence as this of national prohibition should be abandoned after seven years of such imperfect _enforcement and only three years of reorganization and effort {o repair the mistakes of the earlier period. The older generation very largely has forgotten and the younger never knew the evils of the saloon and the corroding influence The material which has been brought before the commission has convinced me that adequate enforcement of the eighteenth amendment and the na- tional’ prohibition act is impossible without the sup- | port of a much larger proportion | of our population | than it now com- | mands. Moreover, | the conditions| which exist today in Tespect to_enforce. ment, and which, in my opinion, can | be modified ~only slightly by im provements in ad- | ministration, tend | to_undermine not only respect for law, but more 3 fundamental _con- ceptions of personal integrity and de- cency For these reasons I am one of the members of the commission who favor an immediate attempt at change. As 1 still hope that Federal regulation of the liquor traffic may prove more effective than that of the States, I| favor revision of the amendment | Ada L. Comstock. BY PAUL J. McCORMICK, Of Los Anceles, Calif., U. 8. Judze of the | Southern District of California. | From the evidence before the com the eighteenth amendment has been the abolition of the | legalized open sa- loon in the United States. Socal and economic benefits to the people have resulted, and it is this proven _gain in our social or- ganization fhat has justified the exper- iment of national prohibiticn. I am unable to find that there hes been any further general moral imorovement shown. It has been s0_clearly estab- lished that con- tempora neously with national prohibition there has been developed such a widespread spirit | of lawlessness, hypocrisy and unprece- dented disrespect for authority that in fairness and _candor it must be stated | that in the final analysis of conditions | now no other national moral improve- ment can be credited to prohibition. | Nevertheless, the gain should not be jeopardized until it has been demon- | strated after the fairest possible trial that the experiment is completed and | has proven to be a failure. 1 have signed the report of the com- mission. I believe it to be an impartial and dispassionate composite expression from all of the material that has come before the commission. I concur in the | findings of fact stated therein. I do not concur in all of the reasons, observa- tions and statistics stated in the report. I am in accord with all of the conclu- sions and recommendations except that in which a revision of the eighteenth amendment is suggested immediately. | I am not convinced by the evidence | that the experiment has had a fair trial under the most auspicious condi- tions, and I believe an opportunity should now be given to the Congress and the administrative agencies to im- mediately give it such trial. M within a reasonable time observance and en- forcement, conditions are not clearly proven to be nationally better than they are now, then the amendment should | be revised as recommended in the com- mission’s report. I believe there is cred- ible evidence before us that justifies the opini that if the Congress enacts the Paul J. MecCormick, | | or magazines is unsatisfactory. | eighteenth upon_politics, both local and na- tional, of the organized liquor in- terests. But the tradition of that rottenness still lingers, even in the minds of the bitterest opponents of the prohibition law. substantially all of whom assert that the licensed saloon must never again be restored. It is becavse I see no escape from its return in any of the practicable alternatives to prohibition that I unite with my colleagues in agree- ment that the eighteenth amend- ment must not be repealed. and, differing with some of them, I have been forced to conclude that a further trial should be made of the enforceabllity .of the eighteenth amendment under the present or- ganization. with the help of the recommended improvements. T am entirely in accord with the views expressed in the report that prohibition cannot be accomplished without the co-operation of the States and the active support of public opinion. This co-operation has been, and still is, sadly lacking in many States. Even where there is an adequate State law and a good State law enforcement organization public sentiment often prevents en- forcement. The crucial inquiry re- specting the national situation is whether it be too late to expect or to hope for any more favorable turn | ibition laws could not have been | expected. | In view of growing opposition to the | prohibition laws and the prevalence of | this sentiment, it seems to me there | should be if possible a referendum | which would settle the proposition of whether the majority of the American | people favor prohibition as a national | policy. There is mo provision of the Constitution for a referendum and a mere straw vcte referendum by States | ‘There | could be an expression by the people | under Article 5 of the Constitution. Supports Anderson Proposal. If prohibition cannot be successfully enforced, I should favor a trial of *he system proposed by Commissioner An- | derson in bis report—which could only | be after some modification of the | amendment putting the | matter in of Congress. | Prof. Chafee of Harvard University | interestingly discusses in the Janua: ‘orum of 1931 a somewhat similar proposal. It seems to me, in fairness to a great ocial and economic experiment, that the enforceability of the prohibition laws should have further trial under the new organization in the Department of Justice; that if, after such reasonable trial, it is demonstrated they cannot be enforced any better than they have been in the past, the modification of | the eightepnth amendment suggested by the commission should be brought about and the power placed in Col gress tc deal fylly with the subject; | that in the meantime, the feeling of | the people on the subject should be registered by a referendum on repeal of | the eighteenth amendment in the man- | ner suggested herein. BY MONTE M. LEMANN Of New Orleans, Lawyer. After considering the arguments made | in the report of the commission, I can- | not find any reasonable ground for the expectation that public sentiment, espe- cially in urban dis- tricts, can be changed to the ex- tent necessary to bring about the lo- cal co-operation required for the general enforce- ment and observ- rance of the law. I have reached this conclusion with reluctance, because T am deep- George W. Wickersham. in public opinion as a result of bet- ter organization and methods of en- forcement and a campaign of expo- sition of the evils of the old state of affairs and the dangers of a return to_the saloon and corrupt saloon politics. I think that if a proposed amendment to the Constitution simply repealing the eighteenth amendment were to be passed by the requisite majorities in both Houses of Congress and submitted to the States, to be considered by conven- tions called for the purpose in each State, the delegates to be chosen in an off-year and the conventions to be held in a year when there is no presidential election, we should have intelligent discussions of the ques- tion and a result which would re- flect the sober informed and deliber- ate opinion of the people. Such a procedure might remove the issue from party politics. If the result were to support the eighteenth amendment, public opinion would promote observance and sustain rea- sonable, intelligent enforcement of the law such as would furnish a test of prohibition that would con- clusively demonstrate whether or not it is practicable. If the prepon- derating opinion should oppose pro- hibitidn, the way would be opened to a revision of the amendment, such, for example, as the one recommend- ed in our report. Even then there would remain the difficult question of how to allow the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors without the return of the saloon, ‘The best method thus far suggested is a modification of the Swedish system. Yet I have great doubts if such a system would work in our country. I think- the pressure to obtain books authorizing purchase of liquor would be so irresistible that all benefits of the system would be lost, or else the intrigues of or- ganized liquor interests would exert such influence in Congress that the distinctive characteristics of the system would be destroyed and an abundance of liquor soon flow for all who wished it. The whole sub- ject is one of great difficulty. There is room for difference of opinion nn mest of the elements involved. Therefore, despite the well financed active propaganda of opposition to prohibition and the development of an increasingly hostile public opinion, I am not convinced that the present system may not be the best obtainable: d that any substitute for it woul lead to the unre- stricted flow of htoxicating liquor, with the attendant evils that in the past always were a blight upon our social organization. taken by individual States than by the Federal Government. It seems reason-y ably certain that any attempt to em- bark upon a paternalized permit system would not succeed in this country, would open the door to considerable corrup- tion, and would transfer the bootlegger from the rich man to the poor man as his field for operation. Summarizing, my conclusion is that the eighteenth amendment cannot be effectively enforced without the active general support of public opinion and the law enforcement agencies of the States and cities of the Nation; that such support does not now exist, and that I cannot find sufficient reason to believe that it can be obtained. I see no alternative but repeal of the amend- ent. I do not favor the theory of nullifi- cation, and so long as the eighteenth amendment is not repealed by consti- tutional methods it seems to me to be the duty of Congress to make reason- able efforts to enforce it, however grav the doubts as to ultimate success. BY FRANK J. LOESCH Of Chicago, Lawyer. On the eyidence before the commis- sion, together with my experience as a | prosecuting officer and from personal observation, I have come to the conclu- sion that effective national enforce- ment of the eight- eenth amendment in its present form is unattainable; therefore, steps should be taken immediately to re- vise the amend- ment. T h e revision should give, to Congress the pow- er to legislate upon the entire subject of the liquor traf- fic. ‘The tiaffic has transcended State lines and has be- come a matter of national concern. Even if it were a possibility of accom- plishment in the near future, it would be unwise to repeal the eighteenth amendment. Such repeal would cause the instant return of the open saloon in all States not_having State-wide prohibition. The public opinion as voiced in the testimony before us appears to be unan- imous against the return of the legal- Frank J. Loesch. |ized saloon. SHINGTON, D._C., TUESDAY. JANUARY 20, 1931 Attitude of Public Held Factor in Arriving at Conclusions. the memorandum of Mr. Anderson. He has made a thorough study of what seems to be the most satisfactory sys- tem of liquor control thus far deviscd, and his plan, based on that study and on consideration of our experience in Federal control of other important sub- Jects, seems to me to afford the best solution. BY KENNETH MACKINTOSH, Of Seattle, . Iy Civilization will not allow this Nation to end the long attempt to control the use of alcoholic beverages. The neces sity for such control increases as the public feels more responsibility children, medical ' profession| as industry quires more effi- ciency, as the m chine age demands more alert and| clear-eyed opera- tors of its swift and intricate parts. If such further| effort is not pro- ductive of reason- able _enforcement i and observance and private and State co-operation, the revision of the eight- eenth amendment should take the form of making it more flexible, so that there can rest in the Congress the power to meet changing conditions apd differing situations in different localities. This can be done in such way as to prevent the return of the saloon, as to control the importation, transportation and manufacture of intoxicants, as to de- stroy the profits of law violation, as to protect those communities where abso- lute prohibition is the will of the people, as to promote temperance nationally and at the same time to keep the Gov- ernment, both Federal and State, out of the liquor business. It cannot be that the genius of ‘American people is not adequate to the solving of such a problem. In dealing with the great eco- nomic questions presented by transpor- tation and finance they have evolved satisfactory methods of control. The conditions encountered there were no less intricate and were involved in no fewer difficulties and divergent view- points than exist regarding liquor. What has once becn done can be done again. Progress Believed Made. ‘With a flexible constitutional amend- Kenneth Mackintosh | ment it will always be possible to enact such legislation as will meet the then existing situations, and not leave the Federal Government hancicapped, as it is now, by too rigid a constitutional straitjacket. Though the eighteenth amendment has not produced all that some may have dreamed it might, yet the fact should not be overlooked that it has marked a lpng step forward. It is now time to take the next step in the same direction. To stand sill now would mean final loss of all that has been so far gained. The alternative to progress can only ' be nullification and the consequent ulti- mate destruction of organized repre- sentative authority. No constitutional mandate can be permitted to become a mere brutum fulmer.. BY WILLIAM 1. GRUBB Of Birmingham. Aln.. United States District Judge for the northern district of Alabama. Iam one of the members of the com- mission who believe that prohibition under the eighteenth amendment is en- titled to a further trial before a rev or repeal of amendment Tecommended. join in the findings of fact and all the ultimate conclu- sions of the general report of the com- missicn (except that recommending that the amend- ment be revised immediately, with- out awaiting a further trial). but not in all of the general observa- tions. My reasons for thinking that pro- hibition under the mendment is entitled to a further trial Judge W. L Grubb. |are twofold. The first is that it is an experiment, which has not been com- pleted, and has not vet had a fair trial, and the second is that no satisfactory substitute for it has been presented or shown to exist. BY ROSCOE POUND Of Watertown, Mass, Dean of the Harvard Law School. As T interpret the evidence before us, it establishes certain definite economic and social gains following national pro- hioition. But it establishes quite as clearly that these S gains’ have come from closing sa- loons rather than from the more am- bitious program of complete and im- mediate _universal total abstinence to be _enforced con- currently by Nation and State. Thus the task is to con- serve the gains| while finding out how to eliminate the abuses and bad results which have developed in _the past decade. Those Tesults are due chiefly to (1) the enormous margin be- tween the cost of producing or import- ing illicit liquor and the prices it com- mands; (2) the hostility or, at best, lukewarmness of public opinion in im- portant localities and of a significant Roscoe Pound, Agree on | (Continued From First Page.) with the delegates to the conventions Ielected specifically to pass upon the prohibition _issue | The report of the Nationai C:mmis- sion on Law Obscrvance and Enforce- ment, appointed by President Hoover, is the result of more than a year and a | ha'f of work. It has been awaited with | | the keenest interest in and out of Con- gréss. | The commissicners have been unable to agre> unanimously on a remed! The report in a measure is a compro- mise or rather a summary of the facts and opinicns on which at least 10 mem- bers of the commission have been to_agree. Mr. Anderson, in his separate state- ment, has drafted a_ccmplete plan for control of the manufacturs and traffic in alcoholic beverages, under the posed revision of the eighteenth ame ment giving Congress “power to regu- late.” “This plan is recommended by five other. members of the commission “fer consideration.” The five are Com- missioners Kenyon, Loesch, Mackintosh McCormick_and Pound. The indorse ments of Commissioners Kenyon and McCormick are, however, subject to the opinion that a’ further trial should be given naticnal prohibition under exist- ing law. Favors Swedish System. | Miss Comstock is for revision, but | doesn’t subscribe to the Anderson plan. | The Virginia member of the commis- | on declared the Swedish system of | liquor control by far the most success- | ful of any cf the methods now adopted | by the governments of the nations. He has visited Sweden ana made a per- sonal study of the system. The first step under the Anderson plan for liquor control calls for the | creation of a national liquor contrcl i commission, bi-partisan, and to function much as the Interstate Commerce Com- mission functions. This commission would regulate all traffic in liquor. The next step would be to sev up a national | corporation, having charge of the manu- | tacture, import, export and transporta: | tion of all liquor in the United States The stock of this corporation would be | privately owned, and should pay from 50 7 per cent interest to its holders. The individual States would be at liberty to deal with the national cor- poration if they desired to do so, or to bar all traffic in liquor. If a State wish- ed to permit the manufacture and sale | of liguor within its boundaries, it would in turn set up a State commission and a | State _corporation to handle the liquor | for the State. Sales of liquor for consumption would made by the State agencies alone to persons holding license books issued by the State agencies. The -amount of liquor allowed individuals would be | limited. The licenses would be revok- | able upon conviction of law violation | or for drunkenness or other cause speci- fied by the State. Separate Report Is Long. | . The purpose of the corporation would be to sell liquors at such a price that bootiegging would be made unprofitable | The profits made by the national cor- poration, after the dividends had been paid_to the stockholders. would go into the Federal Treasury and could be used ! for education along the lines of tem- | perance, for the development of schools |and for other social purposes. The profits derived from the agencies of the States would be used as the States de- | termined. Mr Anderson’s plan, which is | worked out in great detail, and the rea- sons for its adoption covers 42 printed pages, by far the longest of the sepa- | rafe statements made by the members of the commission. The entire. report | sent to the Congress, including the sep- |arate statements of the commissioners, fills 281 pages, and the report proper, signed by 10 01 the commissioners and ! not concurred in by one of them, is a | matter of 148 pages. The report is signed as of the date, January 7, 1930. The commission does not mince words in discussing the lack of enforcement of the prohibition laws. Its strictures are severe. It says: “The commission is of the opinion that there is yet no adequate observance or enforcement.” And it adds, “The commission is of the opinion that the present organization for enforcement is still inadequate.” * A-S§ IWICKERSHAM BODY LEANS | TO REVISION OF DRY LAW {Report Against Repealing Eighteenth Amendment, but Signers Fail to ubstitute. caidreement ndment are to should be substantially m- 1t is recommended aiso that tmprovements in the statutes and iu the organjzation. pcrsonnel and equipmert of enforcement should be made. Recommeucations ) It lists its recommendations here re- ferred to as follows: 1. Removal of the caus:s of frrita- tion and resentmont on the part of the medical profession by “(a) Doing away with the statutory fixing of the amount which may be pre- scribed and the number of prescriptions: “(b) Abolition of the roquirement of specifying the ailment for which liquor is prescribed upon a blank to go into .the public files; “(¢) Leaving as much as possible to regulations rather than fixing detalls by statute. 2. Removal of the anomalous pro- visions in section 29, national prohibi- tion act, as to cider and fruit juicss by making some uniform provision for & fixed alcoholic content. 3. Increase of the number of agents, storckeepers-gaugers, prohibition inves- tigators and special ‘agents: increase in the personnel of the Customs Bureau and in the equipment of all enforce- ment orgenizations. “4. Enactment of a statute authoriz- ing regulations permitting access to the premises and records of whol°sale and retail dealers so as to make it possible to trace products of specially denatured alcohol to the ultimat: consumer, Recommends Codification. “5. Enactment of legislation to pro- hibit independent denaturing plants. 6. The commission s opposed to leg- islation allowing more latitude for Pg- eral searches and s°izures. “7. The commission renews the rec- ommendation contained in its previous reports for codification of the national prohibition act and the acts supple- mental to and in amendment thereof. “8. The commission renews its rec- ommendation of legislation for making procedure in the so-called padlock in- junction cases more effective. “9. The commission recommends leg- islation providing a mode of prosecuting petty offenses in the Federal courts and modifying the increased penalties act of 1929, as st forth in the chair- man’'s letter to the Attorney General dated May 23, 1930.” Although a majority of the commis- sion are for change in the present dry laws, they are divided as to just what should be done. This has apparently presented the members of the commis- sion who wish another trial, although only four in number, an opportunity to give distinct drv complexion to the re- port now submitted. A reading of the summary or recommendations of the commission would give an impression at first that the commission did not be- lieve any change in the eighteenth amendment and the existing laws. to liberalize them, was necessary. When the individual statements of the com- missioners are read, however, a very different impression is obtained. Wickersham Dryest. ‘The statement made by the chair- man, George W. Wicki m, former Attorney General of the United States, who at one time was looked uj as not so dry, turns out to be really the dryest—{rom the point of view of those prohibitionists who favor a retention of the laws as they are or more strict laws—of any of the statements of the commissioners. In the report signed by 10 members of the commission the point is made that national prohibition got away to a bad start. It says: “It must be said that enforcement of the national prohibition act made a mad start. which has affected enforce- ment ever since.” Reasons for this bad start are listed as follows: The eighteenth amendment was submitted and ratified during a great war, when the people readily yielded questions of personal right to strengthening the Government; the rati- fication of the amendment was given by Legislatures which were not in gen- eral elected with any reference to this subject. the magnitude of the task was Recommendation is made by the com- ATKAHN The Original - BALTIMORE " ROSE this beautiful Repousse pattern in Sterling Silver—is really Distinctively Different (Continued on Sixth Page.) 935 F STREET, v 7 into that State by the national cor-|y.o oommicsion's proposed revision of | recommended changes at the present 1y sensitive to the | A strong reason, among others, Why N #) poration except through the State in Pond. Every aspect of the operations outlined yuld be subject to the con- trol and regulation of the commission and sppropriate penaltics would be pre- scribed for violations of the law or of such regulations. gpnrr at which the various uors should be sold by the national rporation should be fixed or approved by the commission after hearing in proper cases. * * * The prices should be based primarily upon and scaled up- ward on the basis of alcoholic content the lower prices on_low alcoholic con- tent liquors, such as light wine and beer. and the highest prices practicable on high alcoholic content liquors, such as whiskies and brandies. “The prices should be such as on the one hand to limit the use and, on the other hand, not high enough to permit the illezal trafiofgin or sale of such Tiquors. * * * The price should be as nearly uniform as possible throughout the country. Sell 1o State Agencies “rhe national corporation should ell and transport only to State agencies created for the purposes of local dis- tribution and sale within the State. This would be entirely optional with the State. , If any establish of continue could do so. prohibition State, but would be Pederal Government from outside. ate a State. msucture to the State desired 1‘0 t In that event it would bave to enforce its own law within the rotected by the rom any supply If a State elected 10 g0 meeting into the national system it would cre- | that from replies received to inquiries|evidence produced and a State|the governm in character and national agencies dis- the eighteenth amendment suggested by them for possible consid- | eration at some future time if the con- | tinued effort at enforcement should not | prove successful. My own duty and | that of all executive officials is clear— | to enforce the law with all the means |at our disposal without equivocation or reservation. “The report is the result of a thorough and comprehensive study of the sit- uation by a representative and authori- tative group. It clearly recognizes the gains which have been made and is resolute that those gains shall be pre- served. There are necessarily differ- “nces in views among its members. It is a temperate and judicial presentation, It should stimulate the clarification of | public mind and the advancement of | public though Strike Benefits Japanese. TOKIO, Januayy 20 (#).—Consider- able new orders for cotton goods have been received by Japanese mills as a consequence of the textile lockout in | the Lancashire district - of England, where 250,000 weavers are out of jobs for protesting a “more looms per weaver” movement, which s | sion one year would be a reasonable | time to indubitably conclude whether | or not the eighteenth amendment can be properly enforced as a national man- date. BY WILLIAM S. KENYON Of Fort Dodze, Towa, Judge of the United States Circuit Couri, eighth district. It seems to me the evidence before us is sufficient to demonstrate that at least up to the creation of a Bureau of Prohibition in the Department of Justice the enforce- ability of the pro- hibition laws had never been subject- ed to any fair and convincing test. ‘Whether in view of the bad start in the enforcement gram and the mal administration of the same up to said time there has been impossible for lenforceability to have any fair Tin Restriction Favored. SINGAPORE, Straits Settlements, January 20 (#).—The chief secretary of the government today announced at a of the Federal Council Esiomty of peoducsts faweed {in Te: ‘re- Siriction. : dge W. 5. Kenyon, Chance, ‘may be a e debatable propo- sition. From my viewpoint, it is un- fortunate that the hearings of the com- mission on prohibition have been in secret, which compels us to file a report based in part on secret evidence. If the difficulties in find- ing any substitute method of con- trolling the liquor Monte M. Lemann, traffic which will avold the dangers of intemperance, corruption and politi- cal abuse found in the regulatory pro- visions prevailing prior to the adoption of the eighteenth amendment. Plan for Repeal Favored. ‘When alternatives to national pro- hibition are considered, the same state of public opinion, emphasized in the majority report, which leads me to the conclusion that the local co-operation necessary for the enforcement of the national prohibition act cannot reason- ably be expected, seems to me to re- quire the conclusion that repeal is the only consistent alternative. deference. to the opinion of those wio are so much better qualified than I o consider the matter, I do not think that to substitute for the eighteenth amendment a provision leaving the mat ter to Congress is any solution. Unies: the commission, after its opportunity for study, is prepared to recommeud to Congress a concrete plan for dealing with the situation, the suggestion that the matter be referred to Congress seems to me not to dispose of the prob- lem or to make an substantial advance in {ts disposition. Moreover, this pro- posal would mean that the liquor ques- tion would phr & large part every two years in the election of Congress, that @ fixed national policy of dealing with it before us could have been made public, I think it w have mmmmw-mfwmd why reasonable enforcement of the pro- would never be assured. > If an experiment with Government With great | I favor immediate steps being taken to revise the amendment is in order to destroy the power of the murderous, criminal organizations flourishing all over the country upon the enormous profits made in bootleg liquor traffic. Those profits are the main source of the corruption funds which cement the alliance between crime and politics and corrupt the law-enforcing agencies in every poépulous city. Crime Growth Fought. ‘Those criminal octopus organizations have now grown so audacious, owing to their long immunity from prosecutions for their crimes, that they scek to make bargains with Jaw-enforcing officers and even with judges of our courts to be allowed for a price to continue their criminal activities unmolested by the law. ‘Those organizations of murderers and arch criminals can only be destroyed whea thel: bootieg 'liguor profits are ~aken from them. Sc iong as the eight- senti anendmen’; remains in its pres- eus zight yorm, the Natlon, the States the muni Pllld.l. che individual ctti- zen, are helpless 10 get out of reach of thelr ‘poisoning breaths and slimy ten. tacles. If not soon crushed, those criminal organizations may become, 85 they are now seeking to become. super-governs ments, and so bevond¢ the reach of the ordinary processes he law. 1t 18 asked, supposing the amendment is revised, what legislation is tc follow? ‘What plan ir there to take the place of @ natienal prohibition: act? Of the control is to be. it appears hnmmum- tions put before us the most care- | to fully \hought out is that proposed in| part of the public everywhere; and (3) the tendency of many States to leave the matter to the Federal Government and of the Federal Government to seek to confine itself to certain larger aspects of enforcement. Instead of the two governments each pressing vigorously toward a common end, as contemplated in the amendment, they allow enforce- ment in large part to fall down be- tween them. Americans have had a perennial faith in political mechanics; and, in the spirit of that faith, it is urged that the or- ganization and machinery of enforce- ment and the legislative provisions may be so far improved as to bring about an adequate observance and enforce- ment, which admittedly do not exist, But there is no reason to suppose that machinery and organization and equip- ment will change public opinion in the places and among the classes of the community where public opinion has proved an obstacle, nor that they will succeed in the teeth of public opinion any more than they have in the past. Hence, while making enforcement as lective as we may, so long as the amendment it is remains the su. preme law of the land, we should be at work to enable the fundamental diffi- culties to be reached. This, it seems clear, can only be done by a revision of the amendment. It can be done only by so redrawing the amendment as, on the one hand, to preserve Federa! con trol and a check upon bringing back of the saloon anywhere, and, on the other hand. allow of an effective conuel adapted to local condition; in places ‘Where, s things are at least, it is futile tionally - enforced general total- Teaspoons . . Sterling ply - Dessert Spoons % dozen ..... Dessert Forks % dozen .....eeeee Salad Forks 19 Y2 dozen ..cevenene Jewelers ~N\d Stationers / Silver . . 15 dozen $6 This beautiful repousse pattern is graceful in design and of good weight, and with the entertaining se: now at hand Hostesses are replenishing their silver sup- . we suggest this graceful pattern. Dessert Knives & Stainl's HH. % doz. 18 P .. 110 Platinumsmiths ndJdne. s at 935 F St.