Clyde noey nas announced as a
candidate for the governorship.
"Sandy” Graham was already in
the running, as were Messrs. Kil
patrick and McRae of Charlotte.
The contest, almost Unquestion
ably, will he monopolized by Hoey
and Graham.
Por them, if they choose to take
it up, is a ready-made- issue await
ing—that of Enforcement of the
Turlington Act versus the legaliza
tion of liquet sales in any tVay.
Hoey, or cotifSe, is the logical
man to chkmpio'n a real enforce
ment of the Turlington Act and
the opposition to any kind, and all
kinds, of legalized sales of alco
holic beverages. Hoey is a tee
totaler and has been one of the main
stays of prohibition. It seems not
to have reached the record as to the
total abstinence or non-abstinence
of Lieutenant-Governor Graham.
The latter, as all State politicians
were for a score of years, has been
an exponent of prohibition Up to the
recent session of the legislature,
when he expressed the intention to
vote for the Hill bill if there
should be a tie in the senate. If
that expression of purpose is an
index to hisattitude, he would- qual
ify as a champion oi tne legaliza
tion of the sale of liquors under
State supervision.
The legislature was so greatly in
fluenced by antbpfohibition propa
ganda and itself became so great a
propagandist that the majority
of the legislators lost their heads
before the session closed and made
such a mess of liquor legislation
that it will take the Supreme
Courts decision to determine what
the situation, is to be. And, still,
that decision willTnot. allay the dis
turbance created fey the activity of
the wets iri the General Assembly
and the lack of courage ofl the part
of the drys to make a stubborn of
fensive. The drys in the senate lost
the opportunity of a decade to se
cure a real enforcement law when
the senate turned down the Page
bill, and the dry leaders olitside the
General Assembly may be reproach
ed with the same lack of courage.
The tenor of Clyde Hoey’s an
nouncement does not indicate an in
tention to make an aggressive fight
for prohibition. Yet the issue is
here and is going to be settled.
Without an aggressive fight for en
forcement, which fight would pre
DCJLU d yuiueil uppui DUlllL^ XL/1 a, i.
oratorical arraignment o£ old booze
in any guise, prohibition is on its
last legs in North Carolina.
The disrespect to the law assidu
ously cultivated by high and low has
resulted in a prevalence of drinking
that is lamentable, under whatever
conditions drink is dispensed, and
has so nullified the benefits of pro
hibition that even its champions of
a life-time can find little reason to
wish to maintain the law as a mere
law. The only legitimate reason
for opposing the legalized sale of
liquor if the present prevalence of
drinking is to continue is to avoid a
partnership in the sale of the cursed
stuff. But that reason would be
eliminated if a method of legalized
sale could be worked out that would
result iti fewer tragedies, fewer
ruined lives and homes, since the
responsibility of the citizen who de
clined to become a partner irt the
dispensation of liquor would, willy
-nilly, share the responsibility for
the excess of ruin under a dead
prohibition law over the degree of
ruin that might occur under the
hind of legalized sale suggested.
The contest, then, can scarcely
l°nger be based upon the question
°f the mere retention of the pro
hibition law or non-retention. The
retention of the law henceforth de
pends upon the expression of the
will of the people fo have it en
toircea If so many people in North
Carolina have become drinkers that
a majority of the voters will not
support at proposition to make pro
hibition festlly effective, this writer,
fof one, will no longer Vrofrjf about
retaining the mere statute.
Unquestionably, it will be more
difficult to get a majority for a real
enforcement law, something on the
order of the Page or the Jonas bill,
than it will be to get another ma
jority in favor of the retention of
the law as a mere formula.' It is
conceivable that thousands who are
determined to have their liquor
might vote for retaining the law if
rfiey could expect to continue to get
the liquor their appetites have been
trained to demand. On the other
hand, 'drinkers, both the ones who
couldn’t quit if they would and those
who could quit if they had recog
nized the danger of the drink to
themselves and of their example to
others, would balk at voting for an
enforcement measure that they
kne\V .meant that they couldn’t get
liquor from any source.
If is, therefore, questionable
Benson
Beaufort
Burgaw
Clinton
Dunn
Fayetteville
Franklmton
Kinston
Louisburg
Morehead City
New Bern
Raleigh
Roseboro
Southfield
Spring Hope
Capital, Surplus, Profits, and Reserves
More Than $1,250,000
whether the people would vote for
a real enforcement hill, demoraliza
tion has gone so far. Yet that is
the only thing now worth fighting
for. And Clyde ffoey could make
a wonderful fight for it. Yet it
might diminish his chance to be
governor. On the other hand, if
it is the opportunity for service to
his State that he seeks,- as his an
nouncement indicates, and so vain
glory for himself, he can well af
ford to make enforcement of prohi
bition the main issue of his cam
paign. To' save the tens of thou
sands of people who are now drink
ing liquor as a beverage from the
fate that awaits many of them and
to prevent the coming generation
from being accursed as the present
has been, if he should win, would
be a service that cannot be excelled
in any respect. And if he should
fail to be elected governor, his
achievements as a candidate should
nevertheless be most gratifying, as
a teal show-up in North Carolina
of the evil of liquor drinking should
accomplish, with the help of the
hundreds who would assist in the
campaign, more for voluntary ab
stinence than can otherwise be ac
complished.
Moreover, the cause of abstinence
from the economic standpoint is
one that ranks with any other/ of
mm—-mm miir' tj'\ TTlfcf«ttia»
ahead of an other, crniSS thafcan
beCome art isStlrt ift the Campaign.
The millions of dollars that now go
into the purchase rtf iltfcif booze
arid the militate that would grt ifito
the purchase’of legalised brtbie in
case of the repeal of the prohibition
law, and the time lost fkroligh
drinking and the crimes due to it,
with their attending costs, make a
stnn that cart readily be supposed
to overbalance *11 the' rtthe^ sums
that cottld become issues in the
campaign. Arid the liquor hilt is
an absolute loss. The taut funds,
wherever they come from, are spent
for a useful purpose.
The legislator's liquor follies of
the last day of the session afford
Mr. Hoeyr an opportunity to begin
the fight art oncev while bis sihaer
tongue rtraloiy assures * hearing
that possibly rtrt Other mart. irt the
State cOuM secure.
The issue is ready-made frtf 3fr.
Hoey. It Will take courage to ac
cept it. But if he hasn’t the cour
age necessary, it. makes little differ
ence whether he becomes governor
or not. He doesn’t seek the gover
norship for' his own personal grati
fication, he declares. Here irt a
risky cause, but one the acceptance
of which Will Confirm his Wofds of
indifference to the honor which he
seeks, ~: -