“WET” OR “DRY.”

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 105, 3 April 1926, Page 5

“WET” OR “DRY.”

HOW UNITED STATES WIND BLOWS. SIGNIFICANT VALUES. WASHINGTON, March 16. Observers differ as to how much actual sentiment there is behind the present “wet” drive in and out of Congress, or whether it is merely kite-flying propaganda that may lead nowhere. Senator Edge, the “wet” leader for the Republicans, has announced that if tho nowspaper polls continued to show a sentiment in favour of a modification of the Volstead Act he will seek a national referendum on prohibition. Arthur Brisbane, the chief editorial writer for tho Hearst papers, congratulates President Coqjidge on remaining immovable and keeping out of the liquor dispute, but adds: “Old browery properties that recently wero as plentiful and cheap as any kind of leaves in Vallombrosa are to-day _ in demand, and on tho political horizon is a wet cloud bigger than a man’s hand that seems to say, ‘Light wines and beer.’ Whether this combination would check the ravages of bootleg whisky or discourage bootlegging and its crime wave time will , tell.”

Meanwhile, tho newspaper polls, which are causing elation amongst the “wets” and annoyance amongst the “drys,” favour modification in a ratio of about 12 to 1.