Show 0 national topics interpreted by william breckan washington it now appears likely i that the eighteenth amendment will be out of the consal ponder laiq lt by the middle control of december and 1 I its imminent repeal has set many of the wiser heads to thinking about control of liquor sales which thereafter will be legal it Is an important problem it Is recognized as one that to la exceedingly serious and those who are really seeking to perform the proper functions of public office in state and nation seem to be moving in the right directions when they give consideration to sales control and to minimizing admitted dangers in legal liquor sales the drys of course have not given up they think they still can block repeal of the amendment there are only halt half a dozen more states needed on the affirmative side of the proposition to get the amendment out of the constitution however and whenever thirty six states have expressed their views it 11 Is made to appear as unlikely that a last ditch move by the drys will defeat the repeal program which president roosevelt pledged in advance of his election dry leaders here in washington have guarded their plans with the utmost secrecy they will not disclose what they plan to do to hold up repeal undoubtedly it will include resort to court proceedings designed to prove that the votes already taken have been void on some technical ground and I 1 say it Is possible they may find such a basis but inquiries among nearly all of the recognized legal authorities have failed to disclose that any of them see how the drys can be successful in view of reports from some dry quarters that the method of voting will be attacked as illegal it might be of interest to recall that united states district judge dark clark of new jersey held a few years ago that the eighteenth amendment never was in the constitution at all he decided that since the states had voted through their legislatures rather than through conventions the amendment never had been ratified but the learned judge was promptly overruled by the highest tri linnal which determined tant the constitution itself gave contress the utmost freedom in choosing between the ratification of a constitutional amendment by or by the convention system so it would seem according to legal er experts that the drys have little hope in that direction it Is quite possible of course that some one or two of the states scheduled to vote between now and mid december ber way may upset the appl applecart appler peart art by voting tor for retention instead of repeal of the neof in which event there would be delay government ment officials tell roe me however that repeal Is almost certain so the question for consideration then obviously Is how will its sale be controlled to avoid the old time saloon and its attendant evils in this matter the wets will go a long way with the drys in seeing that restrictions are thrown about the sale of liquor that will remove some of the curse that admittedly was tied up with the corner saloon 0 0 an important Impo dant wet lender told me that he wanted to prevent return of the saloon and want thumbs downed to see some senon salo saloon in sible me means pro P elded for distribution purely as a matter of long range policy it if such action Is not taken he said there will be another fight against prohibition staring the wets in the face at once since the wets want repe repeal al therefore they can be counted upon generally speaking to propose as well as support any system that will make for or elimination of 0 those embarrassing features of liquor sales that brought on prohibition in the first place there are numerous schemes and systems under discussion thus far none of them seems to have crystallized into a program behind which a majority of the strength can be mustered seen prohibition fights in numerous instances in congress it appears that there Is likely to be much hauling and filling in the state legislatures on the questions centering around control that statement however must not be understood ns as applying to the real leaders on either side of the problem the small fry and the politicians who will want to feather their own nests are the folks folka who are going to make enactment of control legislation difficult 0 0 0 and while we are arc discussing prohibition hibi tion repeal it may be reported that there has been a decided difference of opinion as to how it will become operative some argument has been advanced that repeal will not be operative even after thirty six states have ratified fled the new amendment until the department of state here in washington issues a proclamation to that effect others have claimed that action by the thirty sixth state automatically will relegate the eighteenth amendment into the timbo of things that are gone but not forgotten the department of state aware of the potential controversy has made up dp it its ponderous mind I 1 am informed while officials vials say gay there Is no an no to make at this time the information I 1 get ts Is that the department has determined there must be a proclamation issued when the necessary number of states have voted repeal but it seems to be preparing to ward off trouble by BD an arrangement providing for the date of the proclamation to be the same as the day of the last vote it appears therefore that when the last con convention v antion has been held a day or so BO will elapse before a certificate of I 1 its Is action reaches washington and then the proclamation previously drafted and signed will be formally issued As a practical matter of course the country will know pretty well what it can or cannot do long before the last convention Is held and prohibition repeal likely will be celebrated before the machinery in the department at af state gets around to grinding 0 As the campaign to repeal prohibition approaches an end another earn campaign backed by the buy now administration a and n d campaign boned on led by getting gating under way just now gen hugh S johnson national recovery recovery administrator Is trying to get the country to buy or those who still have money are being urged to buy now it Is a part of the general scheme to set commercial and industrial wheels in motion because it if those millions who still have bare jobs and who have been hol holding dirig tightly onto their money will let loose of some of it tor for the things they need there will be a big difference in the total of sales in the country it Is a fact beyond peradventure of a doubt that thousands of persons persona their confidence shaken possibilities of lost jobs funds tied up in closed banks and that sort of thing have alm ply refused to buy their normal quantity of merchandise they have been denying themselves many things which they ordinarily would buy because of the uncertainty of the unies times general johnson Is simply asking them to return to their normal ways of living it Is not confined to the individual consumer this holding off from buying retailers have been running with just as small a stock as they can and jobbers and wholesalers have held down their inventories to the minimum the waiting policy which the retailers the jobbers and the wholesalers have followed necessarily has reacted on the manufacturer general johnson has a dual purpose in 11 his buy now campaign lie has been promising those businesses that signed the codes that efforts would be made to encourage new bustness business or a revival of old business tor for them besides it Is imperative to most of them that they obtain a greater volume of business they cannot meet the added expense of higher wages and other code costs unless something like old time trade recurs general johnson Is trying to push the buy now campaign on that account as much as to force b business u s lne ss u upward p N v a rd it if bul business revives revives of course it means more jobs and more jobs means restoration to ot of conditions like those six or eight years ago when we termed our coli country as arn parous 0 0 0 president Roosevel ts program to buy farm surpluses for food for the count rys poor and surplus food destitute Is probably for needy about the most popular thing he be has attempted I 1 have heard little criticism around here most of the folks with whom I 1 have talked have praised seil him for the move just as vigorously as they criticized him and secretary wallace of the department of agriculture when they announced their scheme to pay a premium for pigs and for sows bows about to farrow in order to force hog prices higher A large part of the rork pork from that wholesale and I 1 be lee ilee ridiculous slaughter of pigs went into fertilizer it was the most wasteful thing that I 1 have seen a government do I 1 believe the consensus among observers here Is the same as my own but the program of using that meat and portions of the surplus wheat and cotton and dairy products and fruits etc to relieve suffering Is quite a different matter in the first instance everyone regards the latter course as human a course that will do some good the same can hardly be said of the former arrangement despite the claims of the brain trust economists who argue that higher prices will prevail as a result of the plan present plans call for the use of about of federal money modey funds contributed to the treasury by taxpayers of the nation in the purchase of the food and clothing materials rials that ought to buy many meals in any anny language you may speak and food Is food however it Is obtained there are approximately families on relief rolls throughout the country that means something like men women and children ar are dependent entirely upon charity for the food that they have and the clothes that they wear heretofore the distribution of federal money has been by the states which received sums from the national government but in this case food will be granted instead of funds a 2933 western no 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