Show Drys Sure They'll Balk Repeal But See Need of Strong Leader By RODNEY BUTCHER NEA Service Writer I W WASHINGTON Dec 23 The 23 The leaders lead ers of ot the organized drys have met here and talked a great deal private privately ly h and publicly What they thought was this I We can prevent repeal by beating it in the states Without repeal congress con con- gress gross cannot legalize any kind of beer that people will drink But it is very veryn n necessary c sary to prevent nullification such as the wets might achieve by forcing drastic reductions in appropriations for lor prohibition enforcement enforce ment mentIn In other words the drys dry are falling back to their last stronghold which they have always boasted was impregnable the the fact that any 13 states which refuse to ratify a repeal amendment amendment amend ment can keep prohibition in the con constitution constitution coni as long as they like No dry supposed that the next congress congress con gress could possibly be dissuaded from passing some sort of a repeal amendment They all know well enough that their cause has taken as bad a licking as any movement could take in such a short space of ot time But they tell each other that all aU is by no means lost a They tell themselves that if It the they concentrate their efforts they can still hold at least 20 states against ratification tion of repeal They say state conventions conventions conven convent cant can't be held without action ol or state legislatures many of which will stay dry You are told that the state convention conven convent tion tron system is so terribly complicated since the constitution gives give no hint a 35 to what sort of conventions are required and no advice about how to arrange for them that repeal is going to get all balled up We can tie the conventions up for fora a hundred years boasts boast one prominent nent neat dry If they try to get ratification tion by conventions there will be so many questions at issue as to the functions and rights of the federal government gov and the states that we will have court action n after court action If U congress makes a mistake in any vital particular it might result in inin in invalidating validating the entire constitutional change even if it three three fourths fourths of ot the states ratified He is right at least to the extent that the conventions present many complications The drys claim to be sure the supreme supreme su suo su- su preme court will not sanction beer beer beer- n not t even per cent They also encourage themselves with assertions that the churches have hav been awakening since the election that the wets are divided as to what they want in the way of modification and repeal and that the recent dry def defeats ats represent only a normal recession recession recession re cession Although they whistled to keep their courage up the drys found plenty plent of voice for df dissatisfaction in their meetings behind closed doors Most bitterly they lamented the complete complete com com- failure of ot a leader to appear appear- or anything even resembling a leader It appeared that the Rev Dr Clarence Clar Claro ence True Wilson of the tho Methodist board of ot temperance prohibition anc and public morals was anxious to build up as the big leader but so many church denominations are represented rep resented in inthe the Association of ot Organizations Organ OrganS Organizations Supporting the Eighteenth Amendment that no strictly denomInation denomination denom denom- man can hold the support of them all Thus leadership of the cause probably probably probably proba proba- bly will rest with the leaderless Anti saloon league which undertakes to represent ent all denominations Many drys regard the Rev F. F Scott McBride general superintendent and legislative superintendent of the league as merely an undistinguished country preacher who has failed Inthe in tho the emergency Bishop James Cannon once the outstanding dry leader now finds his influence strictly confined to his wn Methodist church South Other Other- dry leaders who used to resent his arro arrogance gance regard him as a handicap They say he has made many costly mistakes political and otherwise The ablest brainiest man among the organized drys here appeared to tobe tobe tobe be Edward B. B Dunford the leagues league's general counsel who used to work with Wayne B. B Wheeler Dunford will stick to the legal phase without seeking more conspicuous leadership but if the repeal amendment gets tied tiec up in a constitutional knot as many drys predict he is likely to be the theman theman theman man chiefly responsible |