Pre-War Moves

Stout blows were struck last week on all sides of the one issue which generates passion of every sort--personal, economic, religious, political, sociological. Up in Michigan, the 21 young spinsters of Kappa Kappa Gamma of Adrian College reported to the Dean that ten of their men friends had done a little drinking at their sorority dance. Proclaimed the spinsters: "We, the members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority, hereby go on record as being opposed to the use of liquor in any form, and we furthermore state that we believe the ten boys who attended our dancing party were guilty of gigantic disrespect, both to ourselves and to our chaperon." The ten giants of disrespect were suspended from college for two weeks. In Washington, most of the blows were opposed to the ideals of Kappa Kappa Gamma. A neat one was delivered by William Cabell Bruce of Maryland, than whom there is perhaps no more learned Senator. He reminded the Senate that the frequency with which he saw the name of Judge Elbert H. Gary attached to prohibition memorials was only exceeded by the frequency with which he heard envy-rousing reports of the grandly stocked cellar of the grand red house on Fifth Ave. which the Judge occupies. Let the Judge deny the reports or quit signing memorials, was Senator Bruce's suggestion. The fame of Senator Bruce is likely to increase as the prohibition issue becomes more acute. He is no ordinary politician. For years he stood aloof from politics, until in 1922 the Maryland Democrats begged him to accept the seat in the Senate which he now occupies. People say he is "too independent." Yet the very loftiness of his character and unimpeachability of his motives make him of first importance as a leader of antiprohibitionists. But not all the blows last week were oratorically delivered. Overt acts: In Rhode Island, the House of Representatives passed a resolution requesting the Senators and Representatives of Rhode Island in the U. S. Congress to submit the question to a national referendum. In Wisconsin, the Butter Makers Association launched a campaign to line up all dairymen on the dry side, on the ground that a dry U. S. would spend millions more on milk than a wet U. S. In New York, the supposedly dry Republican majority of the Assembly was broken and the enforcement act failed to pass.

Prohibition Administrator Andrews refused to permit orthodox Jewish organizations to import kosher wine from Palestine, ruling that the domestic supply is sufficient for religious use. Most significant of all, the Sen ate Judiciary Committee voted to conduct a public hearing. The first witness will be the same learned William Cabell Bruce. It is likely he will present the case for the "Canadian system" --sale and control of liquor by the government.