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04 - What Prohibition Has Done to America by Fabian Franklin · What Prohibition Has Done to America

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  Speaker 1: Chapter four of What Prohibition Has Done to America. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. What Prohibition Has Done to America by
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  Speaker 1: Fabian Franklin, Chapter four. How the Amendment was put through.
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  Speaker 1: There has been a vast amount of controversy over the
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  Speaker 1: question whether a majority of the American people favored the
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  Speaker 1: adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment. There is no possible way
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  Speaker 1: to settle that question. Even future votes, if any can
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  Speaker 1: be had that may be looked upon as referendum votes,
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  Speaker 1: cannot settle it whichever way they may turn out. If
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  Speaker 1: evidence should come to hand which indicates that a majority
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  Speaker 1: of the American people favor the retention of the amendment,
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  Speaker 1: now that it is an accomplished fact, this will not
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  Speaker 1: prove that they favored its adoption in the first place.
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  Speaker 1: It may be that they wished to give it a
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  Speaker 1: fuller trial, or it may be that they do not
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  Speaker 1: wish to go through the upheaval and disturbance of a
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  Speaker 1: fresh agitation of the question, Or it may be some
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  Speaker 1: other reason quite different from what was in the situation.
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  Speaker 1: Four years ago. On the other hand, if the referendum
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  Speaker 1: should seem adverse, this might be due to the disgust
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  Speaker 1: at the lawlessness that has developed in connection with the
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  Speaker 1: prohibition amendment, or to a realization of the vast amount
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  Speaker 1: of discontent it has aroused, or to something else that
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  Speaker 1: was not in the minds of the majority when the
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  Speaker 1: amendment was put through. But really the question is of
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  Speaker 1: very little importance from the standpoint of fundamental political doctrine.
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  Speaker 1: It makes no difference whether forty million, or fifty million,
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  Speaker 1: or sixty million people out of one hundred million desired
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  Speaker 1: to put into the Constitution a provision which is an
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  Speaker 1: offense against the underlying idea of any constitution, an injury
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  Speaker 1: to the American federal system, and outrage upon the first principles,
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  Speaker 1: both of law and of liberty. And if, instead of
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  Speaker 1: viewing the matter from the standpoint of fundamental political doctrine,
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  Speaker 1: we look upon it as a question of constitutional procedure,
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  Speaker 1: it is, again, though for a different reason, a matter
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  Speaker 1: of little consequence. Whether account of noses would have favored
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  Speaker 1: the adoption of the amendment or not. The Constitution provides
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  Speaker 1: a definite method for its own amendment, and this method
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  Speaker 1: was strictly carried out, the amendment received the approval of
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  Speaker 1: the requisite number of representatives, senators, and state legislators. From
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  Speaker 1: the standpoint of constitutional procedure, the question of popular majorities
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  Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the case. But from every standpoint,
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  Speaker 1: the way in which the Eighteenth Amendment was actually put
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  Speaker 1: through Congress and the legislatures has a great deal to
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  Speaker 1: do with the case. Prohibitionists constantly point to the big
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  Speaker 1: majority in Congress and the promptness and almost unanimity of
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  Speaker 1: the approval by the legislatures as proof of an overwhelming
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  Speaker 1: preponderance of a public sentiment in favor of the amendment.
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  Speaker 1: It is proof of no such thing. To begin with.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing is more notorious than the fact that a large
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  Speaker 1: portion of the members of Congress and state legislators who
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  Speaker 1: voted for the Prohibition Amendment were not themselves in favor
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  Speaker 1: of it. Many of them openly declared that they were
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  Speaker 1: voting not according to their own judgment, but in deference
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  Speaker 1: to the desires of their constituents. But there is not
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  Speaker 1: the slightest reason to believe that one out of twenty
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  Speaker 1: of those gentlemen made any effort to ascertain the desire
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  Speaker 1: of a majority of their constituents, nor for that matter,
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  Speaker 1: that they would have followed that desire if they had
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  Speaker 1: known what it was. What they were really concerned about
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  Speaker 1: was to get the support or avoid the enmity of
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  Speaker 1: those who held or were supposed to hold the balance
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  Speaker 1: of power. For that purpose, a determined and highly organized
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  Speaker 1: body of moderate dimensions may outweigh a body ten times
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  Speaker 1: as numerous and ten times as representative of the community.
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  Speaker 1: The Anti Saloon League was the power of which Congressmen
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  Speaker 1: and legislatures alike stood in fear. Never in our political
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  Speaker 1: history has there been such an example of consummately organized,
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  Speaker 1: astutely managed, and unremittingly maintained intimidation, And accordingly, never in
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  Speaker 1: our history has a measure of such revolutionary character and
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  Speaker 1: of such profound importance as the Eighteenth Amendment been put
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  Speaker 1: through with anything like such smoothness and celerity. The intimidation
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  Speaker 1: exercised by the Anti Saloon League was potent in a
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  Speaker 1: degree far beyond the numerical strength of the League and
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  Speaker 1: its adherents, not only because of the effective and systematic
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  Speaker 1: use of its blacklisting methods, but also for another reason,
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  Speaker 1: weak need congressmen and legislature men succumbed to not only
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  Speaker 1: to fear of the ballots which the League controlled, but
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  Speaker 1: also to a fear of another kind a weapon. Not
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  Speaker 1: less powerful than political intimidation was the moral intimidation, which
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  Speaker 1: the prohibition propaganda had constantly at command. That such intimidation
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  Speaker 1: should be resort order to by a body pushing what
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  Speaker 1: it regards as a magnificent reform is not surprising. The
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  Speaker 1: pity is that so few have the moral courage to
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  Speaker 1: beat back an attack of this kind. Throughout the entire agitation,
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  Speaker 1: it was the invariable habit of prohibition advocates to stigmatize
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  Speaker 1: the anti prohibition forces as representing nothing but the liquor interests.
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  Speaker 1: The fight was presented in the light of a struggle
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  Speaker 1: between those who wished to coin money out of the
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  Speaker 1: degradation of their fellow creatures and those who sought to
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  Speaker 1: save mankind from perdition. That the millions of people who
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed drinking, to whom it was a cherished source of refreshment, recuperation,
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  Speaker 1: and sociability, had any stake in the matter. The agitators
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  Speaker 1: never for a moment acknowledged if a man stood out
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  Speaker 1: against prohibition. He was not the champion of the millions
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  Speaker 1: who enjoyed drink, but the servant of the interests who
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  Speaker 1: sold drink. This preposterous fiction was allowed to pass current
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  Speaker 1: with but little challenge, and many a publican man who
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  Speaker 1: might have stood out against the anti saloon League's power
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  Speaker 1: over the ballot box coward at the thought of the
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  Speaker 1: moral reprobation which a courageous stance against prohibition might bring
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  Speaker 1: down upon him. Thus, the swiftness with which the Prohibition
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  Speaker 1: Amendment was adopted by Congress and by state legislatures, and
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  Speaker 1: the overwhelming majorities which it commanded in those bodies, is
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  Speaker 1: no proof either of sincere conviction on the part of
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  Speaker 1: the lawmakers, or of their belief that they were expressing
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  Speaker 1: the genuine will of their constituents. As for individual conviction,
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  Speaker 1: the personal conduct of a large proportion of the lawmakers
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  Speaker 1: who voted for prohibition is in notorious conflict with their votes.
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  Speaker 1: And as for the other question, it has happened in
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  Speaker 1: state after state that the legislature was almost unanimous for prohibition,
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  Speaker 1: when the people of that state had quite recently shown
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  Speaker 1: by their vote that they were either distinctly against it
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  Speaker 1: or almost evenly divided of this kind of proceeding, Maryland
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  Speaker 1: presented an example so flagrant as to deserve spe special mention.
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  Speaker 1: Although popular votes in the state had within quite a
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  Speaker 1: short time recorded strong anti prohibition majorities, the legislature rushed
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  Speaker 1: its ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment through in the very
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  Speaker 1: first days of its session. And this in the face
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  Speaker 1: of the fact that Maryland has always held strongly by
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  Speaker 1: state rights and cherished its state individuality, and that the
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  Speaker 1: leading newspapers of the state and many of its foremost
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  Speaker 1: citizens came out courageously and energetically against the amendment. In
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  Speaker 1: these circumstances, nothing but a mean subversiency to political intimidation
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  Speaker 1: can possibly account for the indecent haste with which the
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  Speaker 1: ratification was pushed through. It is interesting to note a
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  Speaker 1: subsequent episode which casts a further interesting light on the matter,
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  Speaker 1: and tends to show that there are limits beyond which
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  Speaker 1: the whip and spur rule of the Anti Saloon League
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  Speaker 1: cannot go. In the session of the present year, the
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  Speaker 1: Anti Saloon League tried to get a state prohibition enforcement
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  Speaker 1: bill passed. Although there was a great public protest, the
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  Speaker 1: bill was put through the lower house of the legislature,
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  Speaker 1: but in the Senate it encountered resistance of an effective kind.
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  Speaker 1: The Senate did not reject the bill, but in spite
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  Speaker 1: of bitter opposition by the Anti Saloon League, it attached
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  Speaker 1: to the bill a referendum clause. With that clause attached,
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  Speaker 1: the Anti Saloon League ceased to desire the passage of
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  Speaker 1: the bill and allowed it to be killed on its
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  Speaker 1: return to the lower house of the legislature. Is this
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  Speaker 1: not a fine exhibition of the nature of the league's
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  Speaker 1: hold on legislation? And is there not abundant evidence that
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  Speaker 1: the whole of this Maryland story is typical of what
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  Speaker 1: has been going on throughout the country. Charges are made
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  Speaker 1: that the Anti Saloon League has expended vast sums of
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  Speaker 1: money in its campaigns, money largely supplied. It is often
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  Speaker 1: alleged by one of the world's richest men, running into
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  Speaker 1: the tens of millions or higher. I do not believe
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  Speaker 1: that these charges are true. More weight is to be
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  Speaker 1: attached to another factor in the case. The adoption of
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  Speaker 1: the amendment by Congress while we were in the midst
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  Speaker 1: of the excitement and exultation of the war, and two
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  Speaker 1: million of our young men were overseas. Unquestionably advantage was
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  Speaker 1: taken of this situation. There can be little doubt that
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  Speaker 1: the Eighteenth Amendment would have had much harder sledding at
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  Speaker 1: a normal time. And it is right accordingly to insist
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  Speaker 1: that the Amendment was not subjected to the kind of discussion,
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  Speaker 1: nor put through the kind of test of national approval,
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  Speaker 1: which ought to precede any such permanent and radical change
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  Speaker 1: in our constitutional organization. This is especially true because national
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  Speaker 1: prohibition was not even remotely an issue in the preceding election,
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  Speaker 1: nor in any earlier one. All these things must weigh
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  Speaker 1: in our judgment of the moral weight to be attached
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  Speaker 1: to the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment. But there is
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  Speaker 1: another aspect of that adoption which is more important. The
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  Speaker 1: gravest reproach which attaches to that unfortunate act, the one
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  Speaker 1: which causes deepest concern among thinking citizens, does not relate
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  Speaker 1: to any incidental feature of the prohibition minut The fundamental
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  Speaker 1: trouble lay in a deplorable absence of any general understanding
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  Speaker 1: of the seriousness of making a vital change in the Constitution,
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  Speaker 1: incomparably the most vital to which it has ever been subjected,
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  Speaker 1: and of the solemn responsibility of those upon whom rested
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  Speaker 1: the decision to make or not to make that change.
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  Speaker 1: Even in the newspapers in which one would expect, as
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  Speaker 1: a matter of course, that this aspect of the question
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  Speaker 1: would be earnestly impressed upon their readers, it was, as
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  Speaker 1: a rule, passed over without so much as a mention.
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  Speaker 1: And this is not all. One of the shrewdest and
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  Speaker 1: most successful devices which the League and its supporters constantly
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  Speaker 1: made use of was to represent the function of Congress
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  Speaker 1: as being merely that of submitting to the question of
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  Speaker 1: the state legislators, as though the passage of the amendment
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  Speaker 1: by a two thirds vote of Congress did not necessarily
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  Speaker 1: imply approval, but only a willingness to let the sentiments
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  Speaker 1: of the several states decide, of course, such a view
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  Speaker 1: as preposters. Of course, if such were the purpose of
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  Speaker 1: the constitutional procedure, there would be no requirement of a
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  Speaker 1: two thirds vote. Begin footnote. This should be self evident,
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  Speaker 1: But if there were any room for doubt, it would
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  Speaker 1: be removed by a reference to the language of Article
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  Speaker 1: five of the Constitution. Quote the Congress whenever two thirds
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  Speaker 1: of both houses shall deem it necessary shall purpose amendments
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  Speaker 1: to this Constitution end quote, which shall be valid quote
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  Speaker 1: when ratified by the legislators of three fourths of the
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  Speaker 1: states end quote. Thus, Congress does not submit an amendment,
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  Speaker 1: but proposes it, and it does this only when two
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  Speaker 1: thirds of both houses deem it necessary. The primary act
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  Speaker 1: of judgment is performed by Congress. What remains for the
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  Speaker 1: legislatures is to ratify or not to ratify that act.
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  Speaker 1: End footnote. But many members of Congress were glad enough
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  Speaker 1: to take refuge behind this view of their duty, absurd
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  Speaker 1: though it was, and no one can say how large
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  Speaker 1: a part it played in securing the requisite two thirds
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  Speaker 1: of House and Senate. Yet from the moment the amendment
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  Speaker 1: was thus adopted by Congress, nothing more was heard of
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  Speaker 1: this notion of that body having to perform the merely
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  Speaker 1: ministerial act of passing the question on to the legislators.
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  Speaker 1: On the contrary, the two thirds vote and more was
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  Speaker 1: pointed to as conclusive evidence of the overwhelming support of
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  Speaker 1: the amendment by the nation. The legislators were expected to
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  Speaker 1: get with alacrity into the bandwagon into which Congress had
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  Speaker 1: so eagerly climbed. Evidently, it would have been far more
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  Speaker 1: difficult to get the Eighteenth Amendment into the Constitution if
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  Speaker 1: the two thirds vote of Congress had been the sole
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  Speaker 1: requirement for its adoption. Congressmen disposed to take the responsibility
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  Speaker 1: lightly and yet not altogether without conscience, voted with the
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  Speaker 1: feeling that their act was not final, when they might
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  Speaker 1: otherwise have shrunk from doing what their judgment told them
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  Speaker 1: was wrong. And the thing once through, congress legislators hastened
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  Speaker 1: to ratify, in the feeling that ratification by the requisite
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  Speaker 1: number of legislatures was manifestly a foregone conclusion. Thus, at
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  Speaker 1: no stage of the game was there given to this
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  Speaker 1: tremendous constitutional departure anything even distantly approaching the kind of
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  Speaker 1: consideration that such a step demands. The country was jockeyed
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  Speaker 1: and stampeded into the folly it has committed. And who
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  Speaker 1: can say what may be the next folly into which
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  Speaker 1: we shall fall if we do not awaken to a
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  Speaker 1: truer sense of the duty that rests upon every member
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  Speaker 1: of a law making body to decide these grave questions
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  Speaker 1: in accordance with the dictates of his own honest and
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  Speaker 1: intelligent judgment. End of Chapter four