“This harassed old world needs ‘limitation of legislation’ as well as ‘limitation of armaments.’ Statutes, laws, and 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 every day some Federal State or local law or regulation; perhaps the honest judge himself in going from his home to the court room where he hands down every day 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, and 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. Emery 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 loup-cervier (the Canada lynx or wild cat) killed in the Commonwealth. Most of the members did not know what a loup-cervier 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 Vee) 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 capitols; and, as in the field of belles-lettres, 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. Emery in his speech. ‘A single Congress,’ he added, ‘usually receives some 20,000 bills. Many of the States consider not less than 1000. During the year 1921, 42 legislatures were in session. Judging from past years, Congress and the States annually enact an average of 14,000 statutes. The State and National legislation of a single year recently required more than 40,000 pages of official print.’
“Certainly, it is time for a Congress on limitation of legislation.”
The same paper has this to say, editorially, on “The Achilles Heel of Prohibition”:
“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 than 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, were 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 effected, 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 of those who have failed to acquiesce in the Eighteenth Amendment was recently voiced by Judge Ben B. Lindsay, of Colorado, in a statement to the press. Judge Lindsay said:
“‘Is the Eighteenth 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 evils 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 in this country must 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 parodists 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 to-day is to abolish “special privileges,” and the new “special privilege” which the Eighteenth 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: ‘One of the greatest dangers now confronting the Republic is that we may lose our vision of the sanctity and majesty of the law.’
“How shall we guard ourselves against this menace? The protection cannot be found merely in increased activity of the enforcement 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. Maine, 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 Maine 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 any one to work for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment if he or she so desires, but it is the bounden duty of every one to see that so long as the Eighteenth Amendment is part of our Constitution it is accorded that respect upon which the whole structure of democratic government rests.”
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 Eighteenth 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 than scattered inebriety. It strikes at the very base and roots 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, no principles 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 fogy who attempts to assert that marriage vows mean something and that girls who drink cocktails in 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: “Oh, 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, eh? I’d like to get affidavits from bootleggers in Washington, as to just what stock has been laid in.”
That feeling—how can one counteract it? One has no answer for 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—that is 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, in his car, he could 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 veils 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—particularly if their tongues are loosened by one or two glasses of whiskey.
These are the 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 equivocation. Declarations must be made. Masks must be off.