National Affairs: PROHIBITION

Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University and a Wet, replied to a challenge to debate by Congressman William D. Upshaw of Georgia, Dry:

“As the challenged party I have, under the code, the choice of weapons, and would select silence; unless perhaps Congressman Upshaw should regard that as violating the constitutional inhibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

“In Georgia Congressman Upshaw is not regarded as carrying on the tradition of Toombs, Stephens, Ben Hill and Gordon, since his nickname is ‘Pshaw.’ That he should speak of law enforcement above a whisper seems to show a lack of any sense of humor, since the enforcement of the 14th and 15th Amendment would certainly de prive him of a seat in the House of Representatives and give him an opportunity for usefulness in spraying the boll weevil on a Georgia cotton plantation.

“The Congressman seems to know nothing whatever of the Prohibition question.”