"If & When"

It shall be unlawful to advertise anywhere, or by any means or method, liquor, or the manufacture, sale, keeping for sale or furnishing of the same or where, how, from whom, or at what price the same may be obtained.--Sec. 29, National Prohibition Act.

New Yorkers rubbed their eyes last week when in full-page newspaper spreads they saw itemized the names and prices of 63 well-known wines, whiskeys, brandies. Also told was how, when and where the liquor could be purchased--from Park & Tilford, oldtime fancy grocers, "if and when Repeal comes." A $10 deposit would guarantee delivery of a case of Old Grand Dad ($71.80), White Horse Scotch ($39-77) or a dozen bottles of Sauterne ($28.40) "as soon as legal." What startled many a reader was not Park & Tilford's high prices, for most of the items could be duplicated by reliable 'leggers at the same figures, but the fact that the advertisement, first of its kind in 16 years, was in direct violation of the Volstead Act. Were not Park & Tilford and the newspapers running the risk of fine and imprisonment?

Risk there was none. The Department of Justice on Sept. 10 had ruled that, although the 18th Amendment remains on the statute books until 36 States ratify the 21st, "no prosecutions will be instituted . . . provided the 'if and when' clause as a condition precedent to Repeal is made specific." The Post Office Department also winked, agreed to deliver mailed copies of the advertisement because "something is contemplated which is not yet legal in fact, and therefore a legal impossibility."

Wet voters made Virginia the 32nd straight State to ratify the 21st Amendment last week, carrying even Bishop James Cannon Jr.'s hometown of Blackstone.

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