THE LIQUOR TREATY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1924, Page 7

THE LIQUOR TREATY

TO BE RATIFIED BY SENATE

PROVISIONS AND CONDITIONS

(UNITED PRESS ASBOCIAtIOH.—COfTBIOBT.) UUST&ALUN-SBW MiLASB CABLI ASSOCfATIOIf.j WASHINGTON, 23rd January. Ihe official summary of the AngloAmerican Liquor Treaty, signed by British and American representatives, outlines; the provisions, and indicates that the Treaty must be ratified in the usual manner, meaning must receive the Senate s approval. " ' The Treaty remains in force for one year, but three months before its expiration either party can suggest modifications, and, if no agreement is made thereon, the Treat* lapses, but otherwise it i continues from year to year. The Treaty also lapses, if either party is prevented by any judicial decision or legislative action from giving full effect to "its provisions. The Secretary of State, Mr. C. E. Hughes,, addressing the Foreign Belations Council, in New York to-night expressed great satisfaction at the conclusion of the Treaty, and confirmed the earner intimation that the United States had begun negotiations with, other Powers on similar lines. Mr. Hughes added that Congress, by exempting vessels carrying liquor through the Panama Canal* from the' jurisdiction of the Volstead law, and receiving the Supreme Court's approval I in the recent decisions, has shown clear•ly that any treaty in which the United States enters exempting foreign • liners calling at American ports would also bo perfectly legal, since what Congress has done can be equally iiccomplished through the treaty-making Power. The Treaty, as Mr. Hughes originally proposed it; was known to be generally conserved in the present pact, the chie"f points being that,. America obtains the right,to search suspicious vessels believed to be rnm-running within an hour's steaming of American- shores, and British ships can enter American waters with liquor sealed.

The judicial T decision to which reference is made was the American Supreme Court's verdict in the so-called "Liquor Transit, Case," when it was> decided that liquor could not be carried on the railroad through the United States, from Canada to Mexico. Although under bond it was thought Jhat British liners' liquor might be considered a violation of this principle. The State Department held that this is not applicable to liners, the liquor not being consigned anywhere, and the British were anxious that the Treaty should become effective as a whole or not at all.