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Show WYOMING IS FACING PROHIBITION FIGHT Ten Votes in Legislature j Can Block Efforts to Make State Dry. i BIG MONEY INVOLVED Six Other Commonwealths Interested in Action on Liquor Traffic. Special to The Tribune. CHEYENNE. Wyo., Dec, 24. Continuation Continua-tion or annihilation of a trade exceeding 525,000.(100 annually js to be at stake in the fourteenth Wyoming legislature, which will convene January 9. Ten men, constituting one more than one-third of the membership of the state senate, may decide the Issue, which is whether there shall be or ahall not be submitted to the electorate of the state a constitutional amendment for state wide prohibition. The proposed amendment, if submitted, will be adopted. There is no ground for questioning that, and Wyoming will join the rapidly spreading group of "dry" states: if the amendment is not submitted Wyoming will have the distinction of continuing, con-tinuing, for four years at least, a '"wet" state completely surrounded by dry territory, ter-ritory, of being veritably an oasis where-from where-from supplies of alcoholic beverages conveniently con-veniently may be secured by residents of the encompassing ring of drv .states, these states being Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana and Idaho, with Utah soon to join the list. $25,000,000 at Stake. Taking the example of Colorado as the basis for calculation, these dry states, should Wyoming remain wet, annually will spend with Wyoming mail order liquor liq-uor dealers not less than $25,000,000. That is why one of the nation's most interesting interest-ing prohibition fights is to be staged in Wyoming during the coming legislative session. Wyoming has been made by developments develop-ments in neighboring states the scene of John Barleycom't last stand in the northern north-ern and central Rocky mountain region. With a population of only 1S2.000 and a liquor consuming capacity correspondingly small, the state has assumed an importance impor-tance to the liquor industry utterly disproportionate dis-proportionate to its population. Before the election this November Colorado and Idaho, bordering states, had been voted dry. At t he November election South Dakota. Da-kota. Montana and Nebraska, other bordering bor-dering states, were voted dry, and Utah, the only other bordering state, elected a legislature pledged to prohibition bv statutory stat-utory enactment. Therefore it Is of tremendous tre-mendous importance to the liquor interests inter-ests that Wyoming shall continue wet. Electorate Favors Prohibition. Probably 75 per cent of the Wvoming electorate would vote for the prohibition amendment were It submitted. .Approximately .Approxi-mately 1:0.000 of the 54,000 electors who voted this November are women. The C.rohibition amendment would have the virtually undivided support of this bodv of voting women. Merely a majority of the votes cast would he necessarv to write it fnto the constitution, which means that if only 20 per cent of the mule voting population voted for it. It would be adopted. The adoption of the amendment, if It is submitted, therefore may be considered as certain as any human hu-man affair may he certain. As the situation stands, however, the proposed constitutional change may be defeated, de-feated, as has been related, by the votes of ten members of the state senate. That is. it may be defeated for the time being, for a negative defeat of the character which ten men might produce would be merely a postponment. probably for not more than two years, of a decision which it appears inevitable that the state shall make. But a postponment of only two years would mean $50,000,000 in the coffers cof-fers of the liquor dealers, so It is of deep reaching interest to them to command the votes of ten members of the incoming senate. The Real Situation. The situation is this: While it Is beyond be-yond question that the greater proportion of Wyoming sentiment favors prohibition, and absolute prohibition, there appears no probability -that the state may be made dry by direct statute, a proceeding which might be accomplished by a majority of the legislature. There Is no reason to hope that a majority of the incoming legislature leg-islature would be willing to pass a statute stat-ute eliminating the liquor traffic from the economic affairs of the commonwealth. But there is strong reason to believe that mo-e than a majority of the legislature, legis-lature, in fact, probably two-thirds of its membership, is not averse to permitting the people of the state, at a general election, elec-tion, to decide whether the liquor traffic shall or shall not be permitted to continue. con-tinue. Amendment Necessary. This expression of the desire of the majority ma-jority of the electorate may be brought about only through the submission of a constitutional amendment. A constltu-' tfonal amendment to be submitted must receive the votes of two-tblrda- or more of the members of each house of the legislature. leg-islature. It sounds anomalous that it appears impossible im-possible to secure direct statutory prohibition, pro-hibition, which would require the vote of only a majority of the legislature, and yet mav be possible to secure prohibition through a constitutional amendment, which requires the vote of two-thirds of the legislature, but that, nevertheless, is how the matter stands. The principle is that of the popular procedure known as "passing the buck." While a majority of the legislature is opposed to assuming direct di-rect responsibility for prohibition, two-thirds two-thirds of t he legislature possibly is not unwilling lo puss the decision along to the electorate, with whom the responsibility responsi-bility then would He. Problem in Legislature. There are fifty-seven members of the Wyoming lower house ; a const It utional amendment to be submitted must have the support of at least thirty-eight members mem-bers of this house, while to defeat the submission of an amendment at least twenty votes are necessary in this house. There are only twenty-seven members of the Wyoming senate. To submit a constitutional con-stitutional amendment it must have the support of at least eighteen senators; its submission may bo prevented by the votes of ten members. To this situation the liquor Interests are keenly awake; it is a simpler matter to influence ten men than it is to influence twenty men, therefore there-fore the efforts of the liquor interests in the coming Wyoming legislature, while not ignoring or neglecting any assistance which It may be possible to secure from members of the lower house, will be directed di-rected chiefly at members of the senate-If senate-If the liquor dealers can control ten members of the senate, John Barleycorn will be Intrenched in the state for not less tlnui four more years; If they can control only nine members, it is a conclusion con-clusion foregone that the majority of the electors of the state in November. 191S, the time of the earliest election at which a vote on a constitutional amendment can be taken, will expel John Barleycorn, absolutely and permanently, from Wyo-j Wyo-j ming. Issue Is Broad. ! The Issue, as hereinbefore related, is Wyomlngites in the future may or may not have among them establishments from which they may purchase alcoholic beverages. Ten members of the state senate have it within the scope of their power to defeat the desire of perhaps 75 per cent of the Wyoming electorate, but that is only a minor fraction of the scope of their power, for they may, if that be the course upon which they decide, In a great measure nullify the wish of the majority of the voters of six bordering states as expressed by prohibitive legislation. legisla-tion. Colorado, Nebraska, South Da-kota, Montana, Mon-tana, Idaho and Utah may regulate their Internal affairs as they desire so long, and only so long, as such regulation does not interfere with the federal authority. They may forbid the sale or giving away of alcoholic brews within their boundaries, but they may not Interfere with interstate inter-state commerce, which Is a matter reserved re-served for federal regulation. This fact is the foundation of the importance to the liquor interests of keeping Wyoming a wet state In the heart of a great group of dry states. So long as the United States mails may carry orders for alcoholic alco-holic beverages from' the ring of dry states to liquor dealers in wet Wyoming;, so long as the liquor dealers of wet Wyoming Wyo-ming may utilize the express companies to transport alcoholic beverages to receivers re-ceivers in the ring of dry states, the prohibition of Colorado, Utah. Montana, Idaho, South Dakota and Nebraska may not be thoroughly effective. Hard Contest Assured. This is the reason for the disproportionate dispropor-tionate Importance to the liquor dealers of defeating, if that be possible, the submission sub-mission of a prohibition amendment to the voters of Wyoming, and this Is why there is about to take place In the Wyoming Wyo-ming legislature a wet-and-dry contest which well may command the attention of the nation. Prohibition became effective In Colorado, Colo-rado, so far as it was in Colorado's power to make it effective, a year ago next month. Colorado consumers of spirituous, vinous and malt liquors in the meanwhile have been proving to the liquor interests inter-ests how desirable it Is. from the viewpoint view-point of the liquor Interests, that Wyoming Wyo-ming be wet. Immediately Colorado became be-came dry, Coloradoans who desired alcoholic alco-holic merchandise turned to the nearest convenient source of supply, which was Wyoming. Colorado Trade Heavy. Today Wyoming mail-order liquor houses are selling to Colorado consumers $15,000 worth of their wares every day. The business runs to nearly five and one-half one-half millions of dollars annually, and it is growing. What, then, may be the business which manufacturers of alcoholic alco-holic beverages may command from Wyoming Wyo-ming distributors If Wyoming may be held in the wet column and its mail-order liquor concerns may continue to traffic, as they do with Coloradoans, with Ne-hraskans, Ne-hraskans, South Dakotans, Montanans, Idahoans and Utahns? If the business with other dry states which border Wyoming Wyo-ming were proportionately as great as that with Colorado it would amount to $19,015,563 annually, and with the Colorado Colo-rado business would make the liquor traf-rla traf-rla of Wyoming, exclusive of that conducted con-ducted with residents of Wyoming, $24,-yflO.otJS $24,-yflO.otJS perannum. It Is a big stake, this for which John Barleycorn's cohorts are playing in Wyoming an Immense stake to be within the control of ten men. Anti-saloon League Active. Before the election of November 7, at which seventy -one of the eighty-four members of the incoming Wyoming legislature legis-lature were elected, the Wyoming Anti-Saloon Anti-Saloon league claimed to have obtained from two-thirds of all the candidates for the legislature a pledge that they would vote for the submission of a state-wide constitutional amendment. The thirteen members of the legislature not accounted tor in this claim are the senators who hold over from the last legislature. Since the election no statement has been forthcoming from the Anti-Saloon league, but the jubilant confidence which It seemed to feel prior to the election manifestly now is considerably tempered. The league's fight for a dry Wyoming will be pushed, but it is apparent that there is felt at this time a far keener doubt regarding the outcome than was felt before the election. The league, like the liquor interests, has its eyes on the pregnant fact that ten members of the senate may, If they will, thwart the wish of the majority of the electors of the state. Five Votes Counted Safe. While this statement necessarily is based more or less upon hearsay, there is reasonable ground for belief that the I liquor interests already are counting on , the votes of five of the ten senators who will be necessary to maintain Wyoming in the wet division, and that they are utrongly confident that they can command com-mand the vote of a sixth senator in the contest for and against the submission of a prohibition constitutional amendment. amend-ment. The problem for the liquor interests, it therefore appears, is that of obtain-; ing the support of four men, and, in the j meanwhile, retaining that of six other 1 men. Can the liquor interests do It? j That Is the big question which the 1 wet and the dry forces alike are asking I in Wyoming today. |