 Section 8 of the Rise and Fall of Prohibition. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Melanie Young. The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Charles Henson Town. Section 8. The Infamous Volstead Act. Part 2. Don Marquis, Old Soak, must rejoice when he reads such stipulations. And being a taxpayer, like the rest of us, Section 38 must fill him with added delight. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the Attorney General of the United States are hereby respectively authorized to appoint an employee such as assistants, experts, clerks, and other employees in the District of Columbia or elsewhere and purchase such supplies and equipment as they may deem necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of this Act. But such assistants, experts, clerks, and other employees accept such executive officers as may be appointed by the Commissioner or the Attorney General to have immediate direction of the enforcement of the provisions of this Act. And persons authorized to issue permits and agents and inspectors in the field service shall be appointed under the rules and regulations prescribed by the Civil Service Act, provided that the Commissioner and Attorney General in making such appointments shall give preference to those who have served in the military or naval service in the recent war, if otherwise qualified, and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such some as may be required for the enforcement of this Act including personal services in the District of Columbia. And for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, there is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $2 million for the use of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and $100,000 for the use of the Department of Justice for the enforcement of the provisions of this Act including personal services in the District of Columbia and necessary printing and binding. And how is the law enforced? Our journals do not make pleasant reading for good Americans these days. They are filled with headlines which concern the prohibition law morning after morning. Not long ago I picked up my newspaper and found no less than 17 columns devoted to stories of what the police in New York City alone were doing or trying to do to make the Volstead Act anything but a huge joke. Up the state where farmers are paying good taxes, I found a delicious item in a newspaper to prove the sincerity of the federal authorities. It seems that in a small town near Utica an Italian was suspected of having some whiskey on his premises and three stalwart officers in plain clothes pounced down upon his shop. It was not a rum shop. To see what they could find. The man was out, but his wife was at home and a careful search of the pitiful premises revealed a quart of scotch which may or may not have been on sale. It took three husky men three hours to make this startling discovery and how much of the taxpayer's money, I wonder. It was all important that an arrest should take place but there was no evidence and nothing further was ever heard of the matter. And this which sounds as though it had occurred in benighted Russia greeted my eyes at breakfast one morning in the New York Times. Accused Jersey police of brutal dry raid formed way into women's rooms and insulted them. Resort residents charge. The conduct of 18 of the New Jersey state police who participated with federal prohibition agents in liquor raids on hotels and other places in Lake Hobbit Kong, New Jersey Tuesday night was such that indignant residents threatened yesterday to complain to Governor Edwards. At the great Cove Hotel at Nolan's Point the police are alleged to have gone to the room of a waiter and his wife and demanded that they show their marriage certificate. It is also charged that they went to the room of two girls one of whom was praying and insisted that they open the door. The police searched the belongings of the girls for whiskey. It is charged that at the Espanol Hotel, Nolan's Point the police went to the room of a mother and her three children. Awakened her and charged there was a man in her room. She was compelled to open her door. Rented cottages it is charged also were visited and searched. It is charged by the complainants that the state police drank the beer and whiskey they seized. But of course this is all right to a prohibitionist the law must be enforced. It makes no difference how enforcement is accomplished. If the police were honest if they themselves approved of the 18th amendment the country could be made bone dry tomorrow. But when the politicians who voted for prohibition have no respect for the law they put upon our statutes why should we expect integrity and honesty down the line? How can there be any respect for a law which the minions of the law disobey repeatedly? In a great city like New York in the autumn of 1922 innumerable policemen were found drunk while on duty. So much drunkenness had occurred that it was said on reliable authority that a murder a week occurred. Police must tell how they got rum. That rum was the heading in the New York Times on October 16. Drastic regulations for dealing with policemen who drink have been framed and have been circulated in the police department. This is the text of the orders think of there being necessary. One to the commanding officers the following memorandum from the police commissioner is for your information and guidance. In Mount Vernon any person found publicly intoxicated is arrested and required to make an affidavit stating where he obtained the liquor causing the intoxication. This affidavit is made the basis of a search warrant directing a search of the place selling the liquor. This is but one of the many means which might be employed to put an end to violation of the prohibition law. The plan seems to work out successfully in Mount Vernon. Two intoxicated members of the force. Hereafter when members of the force are found to be suffering from alcoholism to such an extent as to warrant charges signifying the liquor has been obtained from persons who are violating the state prohibition law. Request the officers to make an affidavit stating where they obtained this liquor. Take appropriate action in the premises. If it is found that the officers have failed to take proper action where the law has been violated additional charges should be preferred against them and if the case is a serious one they should be suspended from duty. Three cabarets and dance halls. Cabarets and dance halls having resumed business for the fall and winter season will be carefully inspected from time to time and properly regulated. The majority of these places disregard provisions of the prohibition law and should be given rigid supervision. Commanding officers will see that music and dancing at these places is stopped at 1 a.m. and that these places do not harbor an undesirable element after that hour. I have spoken of uniformed men standing guard over a room full of citizens in New York restaurants and cabarets. Alas it is shockingly true. It is as though no other law existed as I have said. To one who loves his country his city it is disgusting. The people writhe under the presence of the officer but do nothing about it. What can they do? Could they not request the mayor or the police commissioner to stop such nonsense? And if the thing occurs in one restaurant why not in all of them? With my own eyes I have seen this petty exhibition. It is outrageous. Only one officer was in the place I visited yet I could not believe I was in free America. The room was filled with beautifully dressed men and women. The dance floor was crowded. Upon every table directly under the eye of the officer was a drink. I am not saying that in each tumbler there was an alcoholic beverage and probably the man in uniform did not wish to think so either. But I wonder how any intelligent being could imagine that a lot of sophisticated Manhattanites would go out of an evening to a gay cabaret and order lime juice unless they intended to mix something with it. Such folk are not plain ginger ale consumers as a rule. They purchased it to mingle with gin. White rock is not their favorite beverage. Neither is chlismic. Yet bottles of these were evident everywhere. Anyone save a moron would have known why. Yet solemnly up and down that room the officer walked glancing here and there sobbing now and again with a friendly waiter who seemed to be on excellent terms with him. His journeys were rhythmically conceived and executed. For a moment or two he would stand glaring about him, his arms folded, after the manner of a soldier in the late war standing guard over military prisoners. Then he would amble almost to the time of the music to the further side of the room. Instantly two hundred hands would slip under the tables and flask would be drawn forth and a liquid that was certainly not water would be poured swiftly and deftly into various goblets. Then when the officer swung back again on his rounds the folk at the other side of the room would go through the same unbelievable performance. The man in uniform had eyes but he saw not. You see the authorities had come out with a statement not long before to the effect that it was not the man with the hip flask whom they were after. Only the citizen foolish and daring enough to slam his flask down openly upon a cabaret table. In other words so delicate are the nuances of the law that it is not an offense to drink behind your napkin or behind a closed door but it is a very terrible crime to reveal the fact that you have a container of alcohol on your person. Think of seriously pronouncing such a U.K.'s with the Mulan Gage law still upon the records. I do not understand how city magistrates in New York know how to interpret the law. I was told that almost every evening an arrest or two is made in these hitherto happy cabarets but generally the case is dismissed. The proprietor bails his patron out and then the merry-go-round starts again next evening. Since this was written the police have been withdrawn from New York cabarets another confession of the failure to enforce the law. But New York is full of insincerities. Conventions take place there and we read a sanctimonious announcement in the papers that of course nothing alcoholic will be served at the banquets. That goes without saying. But up in Eddie's room on the 18th floor a lot of grown-up men in the city to discuss solemn business problems find that sustenance which they desire and demand. The authorities alarmed at the influx of so many virtuous men give out the statement that it is well that they are so virtuous and not the kind of fellows who crave a drink for the hooch in New York is notoriously foul. Of course it isn't but that makes no difference to a prohibition officer. And it would be unsafe to consume any of it. Many of these safe and sound businessmen from all parts of the country came out strong for the 18th amendment. They were Puritans when it came to the other fellows' habits. The little clerk would never rise to a position of importance like theirs if he took so much as a glass of beer. They forgot that they in their youth and ever since had taken a daily nip. I'm not saying that they are any the worse for it. I do know, however, that they are none the better judging by their public utterances and their private behavior. If there is one kind of human animal I have a supreme contempt for it is the so-called man who believes in prohibition for you and me but not for himself. I have heard bankers and Wall Street potentates hold forth with fervor on the salutary effects of the Volstead Act since it has forced the poor laboring man to give up his ale and beer. He gets to work early now. There's no need to worry about Monday morning in the factories throughout the land. There is no Saturday night debauchery and the bulging pay envelope is taken home to the wife and children with no extractions on the way at the corner saloon. Happiness reigns where pennery and travail abided before. Production is mounting. There are no strikes to speak of. The prisons are emptying. Crime has diminished. Wife beating is unheard of and so on at Infanitem. Which would be delightful if it were true. Homebrew goes rapturously on and if Tim doesn't bother to make it himself he has a pal who does as much as is all the gin and beer he needs. I am not saying this with any intention of approval. I am merely stating conditions as I have observed them. Those who shut their eyes to the facts and go blandly on their way announcing that the country is bone dry when it is nothing of the sort do immeasurable damage. I remember when the Volstead Act first went into effect that I had a serious talk with myself. I came to the conclusion that nothing was more dangerous to this land of ours than a state of things which made it possible for the rich to drink continuously and the poor to be able to obtain nothing. I felt that I could not, with a clear conscience go on having an occasional cocktail if the laboring man down the street was deprived of his grog. For a month I absolutely followed the whisperings of that inner voice. Then I happened to go to a manufacturing town near Boston and the work I was doing brought me into contact with the men and the shops there. Somehow the subject came up. I forgot in just what way and when my plan became known a laugh greeted my ears. Don't be such a jackass one of the fellows cried. Why we're getting all we want in spite of Mr. Volstead. We're making it ourselves. My self-inflicted martyrdom is at that moment and I must confess that I felt a bit foolish. More people are drinking heavily now than in the old days and drinking inferior stuff they are suffering more in consequence. The results of this have been put into a delightful rhyme by the clever James J. Montague who, in his own way, is a genius. He turns out happy and technically fine verses every day for a syndicate raised at his cleverness and seemingly endless chain of ideas. Listen to him. The elusive moral. Before there was a Volstead law the village gossips used to mutter in pitying accents when they saw a friend and neighbor in the gutter. How dreadful was the fellow's fall how terrible is his condition. He wouldn't be that way at all if only we had prohibition. They knew the drunkards all by name and when they came around with edges some elderly and kindly dame would get their signatures to pledges and if they all appeared next day still far too merry and seraphic the troubled townsfolk used to say hard things about the liquor traffic. Today, when some good man goes wrong the villagers with whom he's mingled observe his frequent burst of song and thus discover he is jingled. Too bad about that chap they cry he might have kept his high position. If Volstead hadn't made us dry what ruined him is prohibition. There is some moral in this tale I fancied so when I designed it but I have searched without a veil for nearly half an hour to find it End of Section 8 Recording by Melanie Young Section 9 of the Rise and Fall of Prohibition This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Charles Hansen Town A Triant Verit Against Prohibition How many Americans know that on August 6, 1833 Abraham Lincoln with two other men took out a license to sell liquor? Time for different then. It is true but one has a feeling that Abraham Lincoln was not a prohibitionist. He was temperate in all things. In his amazingly interesting book Talks with TR Mr. John J. Leary Jr. This is a chapter wherein Theodore Roosevelt speaks in no uncertain manner about the prospect of a country going dry. Colonel Roosevelt was not one of those who favored the 18th Amendment. Mr. Leary points out to his mind prohibition was certain to cause unrest and dissatisfaction. He doubted the fairness of removing the saloon without providing something to take its place in the life of the tenement dwellers and he was inclined to think that the question was certainly itself. You and I can recall the time you said to me one day when it was not bad form for substantial men of affairs for lawyers, doctors, professional men generally to drink in the middle of the day. It is good form no longer and it's not now done. It is not so long ago that practically every man in politics drank more or less one hard drink if not the rule was not the exception. Now the hard drinker, if he exists at all among the higher grade is a survival of what you might call another day. Take Tammany, no one holds that up as an organization of model men. Yet I'm sure that were you to make a canvas of its district leaders you would find pretty close to a majority if not an actual majority are tea totalers. Tammany no longer sends men with ability and weakness for liquor to Albany. It may and it probably will send another of Tom Grady's ability but it will not send one who drinks as hard. This you may rest assured is not a matter of morals. It is however a matter of efficiency. Tammany wants results and it is sufficiently abreast of the times to know that drink and efficiency do not go hand in hand in these days of card indexes and adding machines. The same in your profession. Not long ago most of the boys were fairly competent drinking men some I knew were rated as extra competent by admiring perhaps envious colleagues. Now the drinking man, at least the man who drinks enough to show the effects is rare. The reason your editors won't stand for it. Has Jack Slott put it the other day? I think it was Jack. The reporter in the old days was going to have a birthday about so often nothing was thought of it. Now as Slott puts it he is allowed but too. The first time still quoting your friend Slott who at times has inclined to use plain language. He gets hell. The next time he gets fired that is so is it not. I assured him that Slott was substantially correct. It's not a matter of morals then though with a laugh I will admit you boys do not lack morals as with Tammany it is a question of getting results exactly as it is with the doctor the lawyer and the judge drinking declined once it became an economic question or at least as soon as it was recognized as an economic factor it then began to be unfashionable at least over drink and the man who never drank at all ceased to be unusual in any trade or calling. I am however sorry that they were pressing prohibitions so hard at this time. It is I think all right desirable in fact to limit or perhaps prohibit the so called hard luckers but it is a mistake I think to stop or try to stop the use of beers and the lighter wines. If this thing goes through where does the social side of life come in? We both know that a dry dinner is apt to be a sad sort of affair. It will make dining a lost art. Likewise I do not know how the working classes will take to the change. You and I have no need of the saloon. We have other places to go but you and I know that the saloon fits into a very definite place in the life of the tenement dweller. I do not know what he will do without what substitutes the reformers will think they can give him for it. I do not believe they have thought of that or that they care much. Frankly I do not know what will be the outcome. Prohibition if it comes will cause ill feeling and unrest will be a disturbing factor but I do not look for anything serious for after all is said and done the fact remains that the American workman is a law abiding individual. When it comes prohibition may or may not be permanent. You may however be sure of one thing it will be extremely difficult to repeal once it becomes part of the Constitution. Responsibility for prohibition. Colonel Roosevelt placed squarely upon the shoulders of the liquor dealers good and bad. Some liquor dealers I have known said he were good well-meaning citizens who kept decent places. Take the Oaksuses father and son who owned the Oyster Bay Inn. I should be very sorry to see them lose their license. There is a clean respectable place. Again there is John Brosnas place in New York. No one ever heard a complaint against John. His place has been no more offensive than if he sold dry goods. I shall take no part in the contest one way or the other must be settled without me. I shall not allow it or anything else to swerve me from the work we're now in. The work we're now in was the effort to speed up the war by arousing the American people the necessity of winning a piece with victory. Thus Theodore Roosevelt Woodrow Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act. He saw it once its undemocratic features its danger to the country. As to following Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson do you prefer their leadership or that of Mr. Volstead and the fanatics? End of section 9 Section 10 of The Rise and Fall of Prohibition This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Phyllis Vincelli The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Charles Hansen Town Section 10 Chapter 8 Part 1 The Fear For Thee My Country The Prohibitionists contend when we who are but human suggest that the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act should be changed that the law is the law and now that these are part of our statutes they are there to stay that they must not be tampered with or altered in any way that it is up to every good American to accept them not to complain not to make any utterance which would be apt to disturb the sweet peace these laws are intended to bring to us they forget that it is they themselves who saw fit to change our laws are they bad Americans because they did so? when the shoe is on the other foot but the analogy is so obvious that there can scarcely be any necessity of arguing the matter I have written in a previous chapter about a few of the laws which are disobeyed am I a bad American? a poor sport for instance because I refuse to believe in capital punishment it is the law of my state that a man found guilty of murder in the first degree must go to the electric chair called to serve upon a criminal jury I plainly say that I do not believe in capital punishment I am excused my conscientious scruples are taken into consideration I imagine that only a small percentage of us believe in sending a man to his death even for so serious a crime as murder yet the statute abides we continue to send men to the gallows or the chair though some states have been wise enough to abolish the barbarous habit I have conscientious scruples about trying a man for violation of the Volstead Act for it would hardly be possible for me to convict a fellow citizen who had been spied upon by a detective in a bathing suit as I read not long ago that one man had been I am against the manner in which evidence is obtained and I would distrust even under oath statements of witnesses who hired themselves to the government as plain clothes men to visit beaches and bathing pavilions in order to discover some unlucky devil in the act of taking a nip from a pint bottle from his plunge in the ocean there is a human element in such a case I may be too emotional for perfect jury service granted but that is something beyond my control I cannot change my temperament I loathe the spectacle of one part of the population striving to discover something evil in the other part it seems unnecessary to me peeping toms peeping toms are far greater menace than the people peeped at I do not feel morally bound to respect a law which so many respectable fellow citizens likewise disrespect I think stupid legislation is an abomination that the world would be a happier place where it not for censorship of morals and manners I think that most people instinctively know the difference between right and wrong and that through education they can be made to understand and see all those little differences and shades which sometimes confound us there are divorce laws upon our statutes which millions of people violently and bitterly oppose is a good Roman Catholic a bad American citizen because his conscience refuses to let him condone the rulings of our courts and divorce trials on April 24 1922 in St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal Church, Emerton, Maryland a sermon was preached by the Reverend W. A. Crawford Frost on the subject of obeying a disreputable law the minister took as his text the verses from Esther 1 7 and 8 and they gave them drink in vessels of gold the vessels being diverse one from another and royal wine in abundance according to the state of the king and the drinking was according to the law none did compel for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man's pleasure end quote he said in part quote recently President Harding and Secretary Hughes have made pathetic appeals to the people of America to respect the law that such a request should have been considered necessary is itself a sad commentary on the state of affairs existing in our republic there is a difference between importance and respect all good citizens are called upon to obey the laws whether they respect a particular law or not but they are not called upon to respect a law that is not respectable there are disreputable laws just as there are disreputable men when is a man properly looked upon is disreputable that depends on the time and place of the people who do the looking but in most ages and countries there are some things that the universal conscience of man holds not to be respectable thus lying robbing cruelty and blasphemy are disreputable and a man who lies robbs is cruel and blasphemes is a disreputable man accordingly if a law can be shown to lie rob to be cruel and to blaspheme God it is a disreputable law and does not deserve respect though all good citizens should obey it until it is repealed to call upon the people in America to respect a law that is not respectable is fundamentally dishonest for it breaks down the distinction between what is respectable and what is disreputable and calls upon us to admire and look up to that which we should despise and appore now I will give you reasons why I consider that the Volstead act lies robbs is cruel and blasphemes God it may be that my arguments are not sound but they appear to me to be so and all that a man can do is to go according to his conscience and his common sense seems to me that it is a lie to say that all beverages containing more than one half of one percent of alcohol are intoxicating no man's stomach can hold enough of a drink containing twice that proportion of alcohol to become inebriated thereby it is a physical impossibility you would have to absorb at least a gallon at one time to do it the Volstead act robbed thousands of men whose capital was invested in what they considered to be an honorable industry and one that promoted the health and happiness of mankind on the whole even though five percent injured themselves by it it robbed them by taking away their property from them without compensation it robbed their employees of their living by throwing them out of work the Volstead act is cruel to invalids who under it cannot afford to get the proper alcoholic beverages needed to preserve their lives I could quote scores of the highest medical authorities to prove this but only have space and the Volstead act is cruel to invalids who under it cannot afford to get the proper alcoholic beverages to prove this but only have space for few Dr. Paul Bartholomew of the Jefferson Medical College quote beer, ale, and porter are much and justly esteemed as stomach tonics and restoratives in chronic wasting diseases alcohol is an important remedy in the various forms of pulmonary pathesis in convalescence from acute diseases there can be no difference of opinion as to the great value of wine as a restorative end quote Dr. Samuel C. L. Potter of the Cooper Medical College San Francisco quote anemia and chlorosis good red wines are almost indispensable it is an absolute necessity in the treatment of low bar pneumonia in fevers alcohol is often most serviceable end quote Dr. Frederick C. Shatuk of Harvard University quote in typhoid fever if the heart shows undue weakness I consider it a grave error in judgment to withhold alcohol the danger of forming the alcohol habit is practically nil in the subjects of acute general infection likely to acquire a distaste than a liking for it end quote Dr. Daniel M. Hoyt formerly of the University of Pennsylvania quote alcohol has long been used to abort a cold the patient takes a hot bath and after getting into bed drinks a hot lemonade containing one or two ounces of whiskey this produces diaphoresis and aids in the elimination of the toxins end quote Dr. Binford Throne writing in Forsheimer's Therapeutics quote all cases of diphtheria have more or less myocardous and all should be given stimulants from the first the best is good whiskey or brandy end quote Dr. Charles P. Woodruff in the United States Army in the Philippines wrote in the New York Medical Journal December 17th 1904 as follows quote in 1902 I obtained a mass of data on the physical condition and drinking habits of a regiment of infantry which had about three years in the Philippines I must confess to being somewhat disconcerted and disheartened at first by the total the excessive drinkers were far healthier than the abstainers only one half as many were sent home sick and one sixth as many of them died I had hoped to prove the opposite the damage done to these young men by occasional sprees is not so great as the damage done by the climate to the abstainers what a lot of misstatements have we received from our teachers textbooks and authorities he concludes I suppose some medical editors would advise hiding these figures on the ground that they would be an advantage to the whiskey dealers who buy Kansas corn from prohibition farmers they would no doubt rather see our soldiers die then let them know that a drink of wine at meals might save their lives end quote he had stated that approximately 11% of the abstainers died while about 3.5% of the moderate and less than 2% of the excessive died about 15% of the abstainers were invalided home about 9% or 10% of the moderate and about 8% of the excessive drinkers and yet in the light of stupendous facts like these the Volstead Act is passed hampering physicians in their work of mercy and making it sometimes impossible for them to give the remedies that God intended to prevent suffering and preserve human life could diabolical cruelty go further than that to torture an invalid is as devilish as it is to burn a well man at a stake more it is a thousand times worse because it is so much more widely spread hundreds of invalids are being tortured all over the United States today for every white man that was ever burned at the stake by the Indians every loyal member of the Protestant Episcopal Church should hold that the Volstead Act is a blasphemy against God Jews, Unitarians and others who do not consider that Jesus was God are entitled to hold different views from us regarding the religious aspect of this act but for us there is no escape we believe that Jesus was God and we believe that he made wine at Cana and that he ordered it to be drunk publicly in his memory for all time to come our church has declared that unfermented grape juice is not wine and should not be used for it in the sacrament of Holy Communion a law to say that wine containing more than one half of one percent alcohol should not be allowed to be made and carried about freely from place to place implies that Jesus did wrong in making it and ordering it to be used publicly by Christians if he did wrong he was not God therefore the Volstead Act from the standpoint of our church blasphemes God every true churchman consequently should despise and appore the Volstead Act as lying, robbing cruel and blaspheming and unworthy of respect although it must be obeyed by all good citizens till it can be repealed we give it obedience but not respect but some will say if this is so why should we obey such a law would it not be better to rebel against it to flout it openly and take the consequences it is unjust it is tyrannical it is un-American it is due to a combination of religious and universal ignorance of physiology it is the result of active political propaganda carried on by money of persons who are financially interested in prohibiting alcoholic beverages the weapons used have been trickery deception falsification of statistics lobbying, slander and abuse it has been forced on legislators by intimidation of the grossest kind good men have been afraid to oppose it for fear of being called boozers bootleggers or appropriate epithets it was smuggled in as a war measure when our young men were overseas and later on was made more and more stringent till it far surpassed in tyranny any thought entertained by its supporters in the beginning why should we obey such a law would it not be more American to treat this piece of iniquity as our forefathers treated the Stamp Act no, it is our duty to obey it we could not repeal the Stamp Act and we can repeal this in the case of the tyranny of George III there was no legal redress all that freedom, love and men could do was rebel that tyranny was forced on us from the outside this we have allowed to be imposed on us in our supineness by tyrants and our own household the two cases are not similar we must obey the Volstead Act till we can repeal or amend it Bolingbroke declared quote, liberty is to the collective body what health is to every individual body without health no pleasure can be tasted by man without liberty no happiness can be enjoyed by society end quote this is no time for patriots to be silent when I see America the hope of mankind likely to be bound hand and foot by the tyranny of ignorance and religious fanaticism the maxim of John Philpot Quran quote, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty end quote was never needed in America more than it is at this moment this is no time for patriots to be silent according to Burke the people never give up their liberties but under some delusion in this case the delusion is that they are following Christ while they are really following Mahomet, the antichrist that delusion must be exposed until everybody sees it clearly we must not forget what Colton said quote, liberty will not descend to a people people must raise themselves to liberty it is a blessing that must be earned to be enjoyed end quote how can this be done listen to Savanarola quote, do you wish to be free then above all things love God love one another and love the common wheel then you will have liberty end quote drinking by law provided it is the right kind of law extraordinary thing about our text is that it shows the legal regulation of drinking to be no new thing for it existed in the time of Queen Esther 510 BC or just 2432 years ago because our text says and the drinking was according to the law but the law allowed all the liberty that was right and proper it says quote none could compel for the king had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man's pleasure end quote it was a joyful and festive occasion like the wedding at Cana and Ahasuerus then just as Jesus later on recognizes that the proper use of wine would promote happiness and health and that the guests present would be trusted not to abuse it but though laws regulating drinking may be necessary to well ordered society these laws must be equitable and sensible regulation according to the scriptures not prohibition the drinking should be according to the law one great trouble about the Volstead Act is that the drinking goes on just the same but it is not according to the law and instead of getting pure liquors people are being poisoned by the thousands all over the country would it not be better to follow the bible and have the liquor drunk according to the law this can only be done by modifying the law so as to make it conform with the bible if the law is dishonest cruel or unjust we must vote to change it if we love God and love our neighbor and love the common wheel we must either repeal it altogether or amend it so as to make it honest kindly and fair so that we may have law and liberty at the same time and Americans will do it in the immortal words of Daniel Webster if the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled and burn human agency cannot extinguish it like the earth's central fire it may be smothered for a time the ocean may overwhelm it mountains may press it down but its inherent and unconquerable force will heave both the ocean and the land and at some time or other in some place or other it will break out and flame up to heaven end quote this is powerful language which strikes at the very root of things but Dr. Crawford Frost is not the only fearless clergyman who has spoken his mind on this all-absorbing question Archbishop Glennon of St. Louis has scored the 18th amendment in an interview given at Atlantic City in August 1922 he actively said quote the constitution has been considerably weakened by the addition of the 18th amendment for the prohibition clause limits rights while the rest of the constitution grants rights matters referring to alcohol and drugs should be left to the police courts of the various cities and states end quote when he was asked if he thought prohibition a benefit to the country quote for those who drink too much yes end quote end of section 10 section 11 of the rise and fall of prohibition this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Phyllis Vincelli the rise and fall of prohibition by Charles Hanson Town section 11 the fear for the my country part 2 the most reverend James Duhigg D.D. Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia interviewed in New York in the late summer of 1922 deplored the dry law he admitted that he had not served any drunken men in the streets of the metropolis but that fact he said was beside the issue because it was the principle of prohibition with which he took issue he said quote in Australia they are against prohibition I myself have written strongly against it and all that I have been able to learn of the results of it in the United States has only served to confirm my belief that Australia has taken the right view Australia was amazed at America going dry you cannot make men sober by an act of parliament what we need is a reasonable control of the liquor trade not its total abolition extremes are always dangerous and I consider prohibition an extreme course end quote in the state of Nebraska recently an attempt was made to put through the legislation many autocratic laws people were not to be allowed to speak a foreign language and certain restrictions were to be placed on the wearing of religious garb etc a visitor to that state George A. Schreiner of South Africa deprecated such legislation and stated that quote because of intolerance defeat their own ends end quote it is interesting to see the reactions on those who come to our country for the first time Mr. Schreiner expressed himself wisely when he said quote it all reminds me of the attempt recently made in Japan to put a law on the statutes against bad thoughts of course that was very absurd and still in a way it was a very honestly meant piece of legislation the author of the bill wanted to get at the root of what he considered an evil a danger to Japan elsewhere and in your own state the same thing has been attempted by being aimed at as it were I feel that a great deal of intolerance has been born of the war but we ought to be fair to the people of Japan of the war when in reality the war served simply as an excuse to waken latent passions in man end quote the outlook which is certainly a sane periodical whose editorial integrity cannot be doubted sees a menace and too much legislation only confusion and distrust are confronted with a mass of judicial arguments and interpretations of those arguments in a sensible editorial recently entitled why not limitation of legislation the editors spoke their minds thus quote this harassed old world needs limitation of legislation as well as limitation of armaments statutes, laws regulations of all sorts make each year confusion worse confounded it has been asserted that every person in the united states unwittingly in 99 cases out of 100 violates everyday some federal state or local law or regulation perhaps the honest judge himself and going from his home to the courtroom where he hands down everyday his judgments of justice breaks some minor regulation for which offense a policeman if he were nearby and had studied his book of regulations carefully enough could place the eminent judge under arrest a leading authority on American police administration recently estimated that the average policeman to enforce the city ordinances state laws congressional enactments committed in whole or in part to his charge must have a working knowledge of at least 16,000 statutes this fact was pointed out in a recent speech in washington by james a emory before the american cotton manufacturers association why not a congress sometime which would subtract 500 useless or foolish or annoying laws from the statute books instead of adding 500 laws to those same bulky volumes such a congress might earn recognition as the greatest the world had yet seen in one of our state legislators a few years ago an extreme illustration occurred of the desire of a member to have his name attached to some piece of legislation this particular member was sent to the legislature from a more or less rural district he introduced a bill providing that a bounty of five dollars be paid by the state for the hide of every loop survey the canada links or wildcat killed in the commonwealth most of the members did not know what a loop survey was and had to consult the dictionary or some other member who had beaten them to the dictionary to find out what this particular animal popularly known in some places as lucy v was the legislator who desired to have his name go down in history as the author of an addition to the laws of the state is said to have traded his vote on practically every other piece of legislation which came up at that session for votes on his pet measure which was passed the state pays as much as twenty or thirty dollars some years for the animals killed on which this bill offered a bounty if there is one place above all others where there is pride of authorship it is in the halls of america's state and national capitals and as in the field of bell's letters there is plenty of plagiarism similar bills also are frequently introduced by a half dozen or more members each hoping his may be the one which will stick and bear the mark of fame the united states easily holds first place in the manufacture of statutory law declared mr. emory in his speech a single congress he added usually receives some twenty thousand bills many of the states consider not less than one thousand during the year nineteen twenty one forty two legislatures were in session judging from past years congress and the states annually enact an average of fourteen thousand statutes the state and national legislation of a single year recently required more than forty thousand pages of official print certainly it is time for a congress on limitation of legislation and quote the same paper has this to say editorially on the achilles heel of prohibition quote national prohibition has not been long on trial the final effect of the fundamental change in our constitution involved in the enactment of the eighteenth amendment has not been and cannot be yet determined all the evidence which we have seen however tends to show that the nation is better off materially and physically under prohibition under the system which permitted the sale of intoxicating beverages benefits to be derived from the elimination of the drink traffic did not wait upon our national experiment for demonstration they have been obvious for centuries in the experience of peoples from whom alcohol has been barred by religious authority there remains however a very serious problem confronting the defenders and advocates of national prohibition it is the problem of maintaining the respect for law and order and that mental habit of ready acceptance of legal enactments which is one of the strongest bulwarks of applied democracy we do not doubt for a minute that the majority of the people of the united states are in favor of national prohibition even in great cities where the liquor interests have had their stronghold we suspect that the number of men and women who would vote for national prohibition where it put to the popular test is much larger than the wets are willing to admit we say this in order that this editorial may not be considered as an argument for the repeal of prohibition amendment by those who are working for such ends upon premises which we regard as distinctly unsound to say that there is a majority in favor of the amendment does not imply that there is not a large and active minority in favor of its repeal the greatest problem confronting advocates of national prohibition lies in the fact that this large minority has not accepted the amendment with that good faith and willing spirit which we have grown to look upon as characteristic of the spirit of the losers in our political controversies there have been great changes in our government prior to the enactment of the prohibition amendment but almost invariably these changes once affected have been acquiesced in by their most ardent opponents we are not speaking of individual violators but of the public attitude towards the law one of the strongest denunciations by those who have failed to acquiesce in the 18th amendment was recently voiced by Judge Ben B. Lindsay of Colorado in a statement to the press Judge Lindsay said is the 18th amendment going to be enforced at the present time it is not being enforced with any degree of success but has raised up a trail of struggles in its wake which are as bad if not worse than those it sought to avoid so far the great majority of prosecutions have been against the poor and uninfluential people who are victims of the tremendous temptations afforded by the example of the rich just what do I mean I mean that the wealthy and more favored class accept a responsibility which is now being ignored they must be willing to give up their pleasures and abide by the law intended for the good of all so far they have not set the example the theaters jokesters and paradists are encouraged in making a mockery of the Constitution of the United States when a rich or influential citizen fills his cellars with smuggled liquor and the police are called off in nearly every case the conspiracy of the rich is immediately set in motion what is this conspiracy it consists of their influence in reaching officials and suppressing newspaper publicity concerning themselves so long as some of these officials and some newspapers are lending themselves to this conspiracy they are creating class prejudice an example of this occurred in our city within the past week a friend of one of our most influential newspapers became involved in a bootlegging case and was successful in suppressing all mention of it in that particular paper which pretends to be against this evil the greatest need in this country today is to abolish special privileges and the new special privilege which the 18th amendment has created is the right of the rich to have their booze while the same right is denied to the poor Judge Lindsay has laid his finger upon a moral danger which exists in the widespread levity towards an important section of our national constitution the same menace was singled out for warning by prohibition commissioner Haynes when he recently said quote one of the greatest dangers now confronting the republic is that we may lose our vision of the sanctity and majesty of the law end quote how shall we guard ourselves against this menace the protection cannot be found merely in increasing activity and advancement officials it cannot be wholly met by the vigilance of the police it is a moral danger and it must be met with moral weapons if we turn to the states which experimented with prohibition prior to the enactment of the national amendment we shall find precedent an uncertain guide to an understanding of the situation which confronts us which has the longest record under prohibition has almost the poorest record in maintaining respect for its prohibition laws Kansas on the other hand after a generation of disturbance and conflict settled down to obedience to the law backed by a wholesome and widespread public opinion will the nation follow the precedence of main or of Kansas the determination of this all important fact depends on the sum total of the attitude of our individual citizens towards the maintenance of our fundamental law it is the right of anyone to work for the repeal of the 18th amendment if he or she so desires but it is the bound in duty of everyone to see that so long as the 18th amendment is part of our constitution it is accorded that respect upon which the whole structure of democratic government rests end quote but here we get right back to where we started citizens cannot be forced to respect a law for which inwardly they have a great contempt even a spiritual energy cannot be brought to bear I fear which is strong enough to bring about this desirable end the youth of our land at least in our great cities laugh at the 18th amendment which means that they will laugh at other laws and finally express nothing but derision for the government this concentrated feeling is far more serious and scattered in a variety it strikes at the very base of society and once having gained a sure hold on the people cannot be checked an observer who loves America cannot but see in the youth of the land a total disrespect for order and the old sanctities a violation of moral codes and a failure to establish rectitude in niches of the heart there are no convictions among the young and growing population there is no desire to conform no aspiration for a betterment of conditions as they are instead there is intolerant laughter and one is called an old phogy who attempts to assert that marriage vows means something and that girls who drink cocktails and taxicabs out of thermos bottles are in grave peril there is a studious avoidance of responsibility yet one should not be surprised the example set is none too worthy it is known that hypocrisy exists in high places that inconsistency is a national trait that men in office say one thing and do another I heard a young man remark not long ago do they think it's wrong do they to drink well how many congressmen in Washington have replenished their wine cellars do you suppose since Mr. Volstead ran this country I'd like to get affidavits from bootleggers in Washington as to just what stock has been laid in end quote that feeling how can one counteract it one has no answer to such a sage youth alas he does some thinking after all but our silly legislation has caused his thoughts to run in a direction from which we would gladly divert his mind the fact of the matter is that most of his elders have thought long and solemnly on these same things it is not a pretty topic to consider we will not face the facts we will face the trouble with America as I see it I know one assemblyman in New York State who bravely ran on a wet platform in a dry community as a matter of principle he was weary of lying to himself and to his constituents he said that as long as he kept a wine cellar and deliberately transported some of its contents when it suited him he would not face his friends he must come out in the open and accept their blame or their approval he ran for office with a clear conscience but others will not thus declare themselves behind vows of verbiage they discreetly conceal their political faces alone with one another or with you and me they will speak their true mind on prohibition these things are loosened by one or two glasses of whiskey these are men who are a danger to the Republic they pretend to serve Janus faces have they they are all things to all men the time will come when before we go to the polls we shall know just where each candidate stands on every issue there will be no made masks must be off of the menace of hypocritical office holders and senators Edwin Markham has spoken eloquently in these ringing lines they should be known to us all in these times of shattered dreams and false avowals the old established ship of state could weather the gale if the crew were honest on deck the fear for thee my country in storied Venice where the night repeats the heaven of stars down all her rippling streets stood the great bell tower fronting seas and skies fronting the ages drawing all men's eyes rooted like tenoriff aloft and proud taunting the lightning tearing the flying cloud it marked the hours for Venice all men said time cannot reach to bow that lofty head time that shall touch all else with ruin must forbear to make this shaft confess its dust yet all the while in secret without sound the firm's nod the timbers underground the twisting worm whose epoch is an hour caverned his way into the mighty tower till suddenly it shook it swayed it broke and fell in darkening thunder at one stroke the strong shaft with an angel on the crown fell ruining and years went down and so I fear my country not the hand that shall hurl night and whirlwind on the land I fear not Titan traitors who shall rise to strike like broken shadows on our skies these we can face in open fight with stand with reddening rampart and the swarded hand I fear the vermin that shall undermine senate and citadel and school and shrine the worm of greed the fatted worm of ease and all the crawling progeny of these the vermin that shall honeycomb the towers and walls of state in unsuspecting hours and of section 11 drying up the ocean there is a little town in Wyoming which outwardly is as arid as that waste of desert not so many hundreds of miles away from it yet for a consideration one may obtain all the moonshine and gin one desires at another village nearby the lady prohibitionists all members of the WCTU as they passed the erstwhile village drunkard on their way to some sanctimonious meeting Mark what a wonderful thing the cleaning up of the town has been poor devil only a little while ago he was literally in the gutter now look at him as he sits in the merry sunshine on the porch of the post office whittling his life away where a four time he drank it away they do not know that the poor devil is about the only person in the village except themselves who fails to obtain whiskey though his reasons for the lack are hardly similar to theirs he simply cannot afford the price it costs a few pennies to get to that neighboring wet village and after one is there it costs a little more to procure that stuff he once drank with such avidity but the flappers oh yes they have them even in Wyoming small towns and the boys who are their friends can dash over and afford and get all they want concealed on the hip they feel no lack of stimulation when the evening shadows fall they do not get tight in public as the town drunkard used to do not at all but they are up to all the tricks of slide drinking if they were burglars they would be called sneak thieves America has taught them a thing or two and where the previous generation at their age never dreamed of taking a cocktail they think of nothing else and would get it at any price this is true the country over but the obviously enforced the reformation of many a village south is pointed to as perfect evidence that all is well I suppose those virtuous WCTU ladies go to bed at night and sleep serenely happy in the consciousness that they have helped the race and even as they slumber hip flasks are opened corks are popping and an enjoyable time is had by all thus do reformers blind themselves to conditions as they are the village drunkard tottering to his grave has been reformed if he was worth reforming at all while the arriving host of youth is dancing and singing and jazzing its way down the prim rose path to the everlasting bonfire this is but another evidence of our national hypocrisy and not content with making the land dry which we haven't done at all we must go out and make the sea dry our holier than thou attitude has caused us to lose our sense of humor verily for to dry up the ocean is going Moses and the children of Israel one better moreover the day of miracles is past it was in the early fall of 1922 that we suddenly discovered that our ships were a part of sacred American soil international law had long since told us so but somehow in the confusion following the passage of Mr. Volstead's vaudeville act we had forgotten it perhaps we were too busy like the Wyoming ladies trying to make our citizens good on shore to get around to those sensible enough to leave the country for an ocean voyage that is the American way at any rate our boats continued under Mr. Lasker to be pleasant oases on the desert of the sea and fortunate indeed were those who lived along the coast and could jump aboard if things became unbearable at home which they hadn't yet it was good to know that there the ships lay in harbor sea for each and all of us stocked with pleasant and rare vintages again the rich were in luck if one's pocket book were fat enough one could obtain anything one desired God pity the poor working man but life was life and there were plenty of luxuries which had always been denied the impoverished but which the wealthy took as a part of the strange scheme of things and oh yes it was awfully unfair but that was that and after all what was one to do about it and it was too bad and oh dear and oh my and goodness gracious and a lot of other stuff which I have overheard but mercifully forgotten it took us two and a half years to discover in one minute that Uncle Sam himself had been a bootlegger at sea a long long time to have had our eyes sealed but when attorney general Doherty finally issued his decision that American boats must be dry all sorts of complications arose we told foreign governments that their ships too must not enter our ports with liquor aboard all the ocean within the three mile limit prescribed by international law was to cease to be wet it mattered not that Italian sailors were supplied with red wine as part of their fare they must throw it overboard before they came into our sanctified precincts and even if foreign bars were sealed and padlocked and full padlocked they would be anathema to us whether the liquor brought over on them was intended to be sold here or merely kept on board for the return voyage mattered not we were going to put a stop to rum running and now Mr. Forner what are you going to do about it as this is written England has already protested against such drastic and high-handed action one of the British ships has been seized and a test case is to be made of her danger we who held aloof so long from all sorts of entangling alliances we who preach the doctrine of staying at home and minding our own business suddenly find ourselves rushing in where angels fear to tread and losing our humor we may likewise lose our friends the powerful anti-saloon league is responsible for our foolhardiness we will ruin American shipping we will commit maritime harry but it is all right since having slipped our heads into the noose of the fanatics what difference does it make how soon or how slowly we strangle to death of course there will be all sorts of confusion all kinds of delays in the courts for naturally other nations will make test cases and it will be many months perhaps years before America knows how she stands with the Europeans and how Europeans stand with her it is one thing to manage our own citizens quite another to guide the conduct of our neighbors it is curious how ships and shipping enter into our governmental affairs again how history repeats itself deny it though we will we got into the world war only after our shipping had been interfered with we accepted german insults and taunts but the moment our business interests were at stake we took up our guns and rushed to save the allies and make the world democracy a utilitarian reason for saving our own necks that is all that it was and we cannot close our eyes to our spiritual shortcomings now we have the effrontery to interfere with the ships and shipping of foreign countries let us see what will happen to us remember that there is no war going on to fill people with emotion and ecstasy this is to be a cold steel like remedying of troubles why should our laws be respected and those of other nations treated with contempt who are we to say that a latin sailor should not consume a glass of red wine with his rations no one can tell what the supreme court will do but it is rather obvious that if america has closed up the saloons on shore she should close them up on sea if walking a street in one of our cities you are under the protection of the stars and stripes you are also under the protection pacing the deck of an american liner prohibition must follow the flag but some of the american lines are talking of changing the flag under which they have been sailing here's a howdy-do, here's a pretty mess it is unthinkable that a liner should alter her citizenship just to carry a bit of beer yet that is what those staid old ladies are contemplating to what dreadful deportment are we driven with Mr. Volstead ruling us our ships have to go dry we will cut off the large freight business in the west indies since much room is exported from these islands there can be no transportation of wine to countries like france, spain and idly and with such loss in revenue how can our boats ply to and fro at this writing hundreds of passengers have cancelled their salings on american vessels in sense that the attorney general is ruling the new york world which has been a fearless enemy of prohibition has published many fine editorials on the subject of a dry sea but none states the case better than this quote despite Mr. Lasker's protest that it will ruin the american merchant marine the opinion of attorney general dowarty regarding the sale of liquor on vessels flying the flag of the united states is fairly certain to be upheld by the courts there is plenty of law and precedent behind it but every phase of law the precedent that supports the opinion as it touches american shipping runs counter to the opinion as applied to liners under alien flags ships chartered in the united states according to mr. dowarty are subject to the laws of the united states are in fact american territory but ships chartered in foreign countries are not foreign territory as soon as they enter american waters all vessels subject themselves to american law which means of course the volsted act how this comes about is not clearly explained it would naturally be supposed that if an american ship were american territory a british ship would be british territory and so on mr. dowarty cannot have it both ways on one point or the other he must change his mind or have it changed for him but even though the enforcement law did not apply to european vessels within the three mile limit it is difficult to discover in what way they would violate it by carrying a sealed supply of liquor possession of liquor as defined by the courts must include a change of ownership it is not legal for a manufacturer to ship liquor to a consumer through the united states but it is legal for an owner of bonded liquor to remove it from one place to another within this country alien ships traversing american waters with sealed liquor aboard would be guilty of nothing which american citizens are not allowed on land by judicial decision end quote well if the bars are closed forever on american ships it will but add to the present discontent and again there will be an expression of our national hypocrisy it does not take much vision to see what will inevitably happen for just as people drink now on land when they feel so inclined they will drink upon the ocean and every steward on every american liner will become a bootlegger whispering into the ears of passengers something like this say i have some final scotch the real thing only twelve dollars a bottle want some i'll see that it's brought to your state room oh no there's not a particle of danger everybody's doing it and thus will the comedy go on thus will the playing of the farce be extended beyond three mile limit and within it too and once more we will appear before the world in our cap and bells no arrests will be made things will simply drift along and buy even though the eighteenth amendment remains in the constitution and the volstead act continues to be a part of our laws both may be forgotten just as some of the old statutes of the puritans still upon the massachusetts records have been allowed to float into a limbo of dreams the quandary which a ship finds herself in sailing from great britain to the united states is laughable john bull demands under his democratic laws made for free men that a certain amount of brandy be a part of every cargo while stonkel sam a tyrant now refuses to permit even a single jug of ale to enter the sacred three mile limit between silla and carab dis the hearty mariner finds himself on what reefs of the mind a captain plunges as daisily trying to obey both laws he reads first one ruling and then the other if he follows john he is out with sam if he sticks to sam he is the laughing stock of sam this might be the sad song of any sea captain these days tweedle dumb and tweedle d battle door and shuttle cock a lack alas no more at sea is one allowed his rolling stock but the end is not yet of course there will be concessions many wise shakings of the head a profound slumber over tangled legal documents and then perhaps an awakening to the fact that after all a holier than thou attitude scarcely pays in these times of human frailty we may realize with our native intelligence that we have made a foolish a terrible a hideous mistake worse than being hated by other nations is being laughed at by other nations can america stand up against the mirth of europe over our pigheadedness and smug sanctimoniousness if laughter has killed politicians can it not kill nations if ridicule can end a career can it not national nonsense but somehow despite heavy mandates and injunctions on the part of the dries something tells me that the ocean is going to remain indubitably irremediably habitually irritatingly and everlastingly wet no one seems to know just where we are destined as a nation to take our way we fuss and fume and fret in the race of life we put endless obstructions along the track and leap the hurdles clumsily falling now and then picking ourselves up falling again and otherwise behaving rather ridiculously what it all means no one seems to know instead of letting well enough alone we seem obsessed with the idea of interfering incessantly with goodly folk suppression is in the air the skies are clear but we put clouds in them clouds that rise from the earth because they are of our making the dust of the world shuts out the clean prospect ahead of us we run about in circles when so simply we could march on a straight line we are very very stupid and though we know it now we are afraid to admit it to ourselves again our hypocrisy unable to respect ourselves and our own institutions how can we ask other peoples to do so in their eagerness to make the ocean round about the united states dry prohibition officials even suggest to the government that the Bahama islands be purchased from Great Britain in this heavenly haven it was pointed out rum runners foregathered perhaps England would help us to make such conditions impossible in the future and would be willing to let the islands come to us in part payment of the old war debt but our own territory in that direction Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are still far from dry with the problem of these localities still unsettled it would seem to be a piece of folly to lay hands on the Bahamas in the hope of cleaning them up yet why stop in our fanatic zeal at the Bahamas why not reach out and get the Canary Islands indeed everything everywhere we who preached aloofness until we were blue in the face seems suddenly bent upon interfering with all countries no matter how remote they may be when men were actually not potentially in danger of death and destruction we would not lift a finger to aid them in Europe but now with a mock holiness that ill comports with our attitude of a few years ago we are for saving a handful of drunkards from a terrible end and the pity of it is that we do not see how funny we are end of section 12 recording by scientific Methodist section 13 of the rise and fall of prohibition LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Tom Mack Tucson, Arizona the rise and fall of prohibition by Charles Hansen town the Mullin-Gage law the Venice Act the Hobart Act the Empire State not certain that the teeth of the Volstead Act were biting it hard enough decided on April 4, 1921 that it would pass what is known to the man on the street as the Mullin-Gage law it begins as follows quote section 1 the penal law is hereby amended by inserting therein a new article 113 end quote it goes on to say quote the position of liquors by any person not legally permitted under this article to possess liquor shall be a prima facie evidence that such liquor is kept for the purpose of being sold barter exchanged given away furnished or otherwise disposed of in violation of the provisions of this article and the burden of proof shall be upon the possessor in any action concerning the same to prove that such liquor was lawfully acquired possessed and used end quote as everyone knows in ordinary cases a defendant is considered innocent until proved guilty but here we see a dangerous reversal of that idea in jurisprudence anyone carrying a flask would be considered in the eyes of this law a bootlegger a purveyor of illegal goods in fact a criminal even though no evidence had been produced to prove him so in our anxiety to purify the nation we have distorted old established laws turned reasoning topsy-turvy and once more made ourselves ridiculous in the empire state at least quote of making many laws there is no end end quote one might paraphrase Ecclesiastes in his remarkably interesting book Our Changing Constitution Charles W. Pearson points out the growing dangers which confront us because of our repeated amendments and addenda he sounds many a warning and every American should read his brief but profound volume quote whatever view one may hold today end quote he writes quote as to the question of expediency no thoughtful mind can escape the conclusion that in a very real and practical sense the constitution has changed in a way change is inevitable to adapt it to the conditions of the new age there is danger however that in the process of change something may be lost that present day impatience to obtain desired results by the shortest and most effective method may lead to the sacrifice of a principle of vast importance the men who framed the constitution were well advised when they sought to preserve the integrity of the states as a barrier against aggressions and tyranny of the majority acting through a centralized power the words state sovereignty acquired an odious significance in the days of our civil struggle but the idea for which they stand is nevertheless a precious one and represents what is probably America's most valuable contribution to the science of government we shall do well not to forget the words of that staunch upholder of national power and authority salmon be chase speaking as chief justice of the supreme court in a famous case growing out of the civil war the preservation of the states and the maintenance of their governments are as much within the design and care of the constitution as the preservation of the union and the maintenance of the national government the constitution in all its provisions looks to an indestructible union composed of indestructible states end quote yet today what do we find the states renouncing their sovereignty abrogating their authority to the central government time and time again diminishing their own strength losing sight of one of the very things on which the safety of our country depends worse than that some of them have attempted to pass laws which seem totally unnecessary in the light of the already rigid valstead act witness the state of new jersey for instance with the iniquitous van ness act which fortunately was deemed unconstitutional early in 1921 mrs frank w van ness while a member of the new jersey assembly from essix county of which newark is the county seat introduce the act which provided that whenever a complaint is made before any magistrate that a person has violated one or more of the provisions of this act it shall be the duty of such magistrate and every such magistrate is hereby given full power and authority to issue his warrant to arrest any such person so complained against and summarily without a jury and without any pleadings to try the person so treated and brought before him and to determine and judge his guilt or innocence end quote the valstead act plainly states that anyone violating the provisions of that act is guilty of a crime mrs van ness's act was an attempt to have such persons in the state of new jersey guilty of disorderly conduct which would not require a trial by jury the new jersey legislature passed the van s act and other state prohibition laws at its session in 1921 but on february 2 1922 the court of errors and appeals of new jersey held that a number of the provisions of the van s act were unconstitutional the prevailing opinion was written by chancellor walker but there was a difference among the judges as to the constitutionality of some of the different provisions of the act and other opinions were also written the court of errors and appeals is the court of last resort in new jersey and by its judgment it reversed the supreme court finding which had there to foreheld the van s act to be constitutional mrs van s was a candidate for the election in the fall of 1921 but was not reelected is there no significance in this fact as old as magna carta is the right of any citizen to a trial by jury when convicted of a crime and as old too as that sacred document is the theory that one is innocent until proved guilty yet the valstead act has paved the way for politicians without vision to seek to destroy these inalienable rights quote where there is no vision the people perish end quote among other things in the opinion handed down in 1922 chancellor walker wrote quote the act entitled an act concerning intoxicating liquors used or to be used for the average purposes past march 29 1921 the short title of which is prohibition enforcement act commonly called the van s act authorizing convictions for violation of its provisions by magistrates without trial by jury violates article one section seven of the constitution of new jersey 1844 which provides inter alia that the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate and also ID section nine which provides inter alia that no person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense unless upon the presentment or indictment of a grand jury end quote and another judge rendered this opinion the van s act is invalid to the extent that it makes violations of its provisions disorderly acts as distinguished from those which are criminal in their nature because prior to its enactment the congress of the united states had already declared by necessary implication in the federal statute commonly known as the volstead act that a person who violated any provision of the 18th amendment of the federal constitution should be guilty of a crime end quote the constitutional provision in the state of new jersey has long been known to be as follows the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate but the legislature may authorize the trial of civil suits when the matter in dispute does not exceed 50 dollars by a jury of six men end quote another pointed out that the constitution of 1776 had contained this provision quote and the inestimable right of trial by jury shall remain confirmed as part of the law of this colony without repeal forever end quote but though the van s act was declared unconstitutional the work of suppression went on the hobert act took its place the association against the prohibition amendment new jersey branch protested to governor edwards when the bill was passed they pointed out that chancellor walker in his opinion in the court of errors and appeals on page 18 of the decision dated february 2 1922 had said quote new jersey need not have passed any enforcement act and could have left the field holy to federal endeavor under the volstead act end quote they likewise pointed out that there were no advantages whatsoever to the state of new jersey proceeding from such an act but the disadvantage were numerous and severe it put upon the state courts all the work and upon the citizens of the state all the expense of enforcing the national law they also showed how tyrannical the act was in certain section section 16 reads as follows quote any officer engaged in the enforcement of this act who shall search any private dwelling as herein defined which is occupied as such dwelling without a warrant directing such search or who while so engaged shall without a search warrant maliciously and without reasonable cause search any other building or property shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished for a first offense by a fine of not more than $1,000 and for a subsequent offense by a fine of not more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for not more than one year or both such fine and imprisonment end quote shown that this section had been taken word for word from the amendment forced upon the United States Senate by the House in the Willis Campbell bill and passed by the senate on November 18, 1921 the Stanley amendment originally offered in the senate for the purpose of serving as an enforcement act to the fourth and fifth amendments to the constitution was passed unanimously by the senate after a thorough investigation and after having been accepted by the senator Stirling who had charge of the bill the House refused to accept the amendment and put into the bill the following section quote that any officer, agent or employee of the United States engaged in the enforcement of this act of the national prohibition act or any other law of the United States who shall search any private dwelling as defined in the national prohibition act and occupied as such dwelling without a warrant directing such a search or who while so engaged shall without a search warrant maliciously and without reasonable cause search any other building or property shall be guilty of a misdemeanor end quote etc etc senator Asherst of Arizona a dry senator and one who said he had never cast a wet vote in his life refused to sign the conference report on the ground that the language of this section did not protect the people in their rights he was joined by other dry senators for the same reason senator Reed of Missouri then whom there is no greater constitutional lawyer in the United States in calling attention to the words quote shall without a search warrant maliciously and without reasonable cause end quote had this to say quote what is the plain inference to be drawn from that language first you must have a warrant to search the house second if while you are searching the house you proceed without a warrant to search the other building or property you are not guilty of offense unless two things concur first you must have been without a reasonable cause to search other buildings or property and second you must have acted maliciously notice the language it is worth your while you are legislating for 110 million people and you are putting this authority into the hands of irresponsible men proceeding without bond armed with big guns and sent out among the people end quote the Hobart bill invites prohibition agents and officers to go anywhere they desire without a search warrant with the absolute assurance that in their awful occupation they are immune under the law malice is the most difficult thing in the world to prove with the possible exception of without reasonable cause as a friend of mine William L. Fish says the Venice act was the bill cikes of legislation while the Hobart act is the Iago between two such arch villains a little choice we are not reforming the country but deforming it if the people are to lose such cherished rights there is little hope for America blind indeed are those who cannot read the writing on the wall surely there must come a reaction against such intolerable legislation already one senses a change of feeling for millions of us cannot be wrong claim that disregard of the laws of the land is as serious a problem as the old problem of the corner saloon if in correcting one evil we bring to life greater evils are we on the right track end of section 13 recording by Tom Mack