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Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 122, 20 November 1922, Page 7

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STATEMENT OF. PRESIDENT

BEER AND LIGHT WINES ISSUE.

WASHINGTON, 17th Nov.

.. Apparently unfounded reports, that President Harding, in two letters to prominent Republicans, had expressed the view that while he did not expect the Prohibition amendment would ever be repealed, he believed the public mind was changing and a., liberalisation in enforcement of' the amendment would result, caused such a sensation that an authorised spokesman gave the Press the following outline of the President's views:—

Definite hostility to Prohibition is being expressed in certain quarters, but Prohibition will be a political issue for years to come. President Harding's position is unchanged. As a Senator he voted for Prohbition and the Volstead Act, as- a Presidential candidate he declared for its strict enforcement, and as President he ordered its enforcement through the Daugherty ruling. The President, however, has-taken cognisance of the "wet" gains at the recent elections. Jle has no intention of asking Congress for beer and light wines at present; but if assured that the country is not merely undergoing a temporary reaction and really demands beer and wines he will endeavour to meet the demand. '■

While the letters mentioned . above^ were sent the recipients did not divulge the contents, but reports of meetings at which outlines of the letters were read indicated that the President favoured a less rigid Prohibition. The recipients lat<jr denied that these reports were accurate, and their insistence resulted in a statement of President Harding's position. ,