Europe dry? Do not smile. This is an age of unexpected events, a period of transition, the like of which has not been known before. But would Europeans obey laws that infringed upon their personal liberty? There were those who held that there would never be rebellion and riots in Germany, since the Germans were too docile a people to rise up against their government. Yet we know what the Germans did, and where the Kaiser is today. The spectacle of America’s going bone dry is not a heartening one. Ambassadors from other lands have seen our contempt for the law; and it is doubtful if any of them would recommend to their countries a counterfeiting of our methods and manners. We have come to little else than disruption and heart-breaking failure in this matter of Prohibition. Imitation of our ways would amount almost to madness. CHAPTER XX WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? One finds it hard to believe that a law is just and right and proper which so many splendid minds consider otherwise. There have been numerous societies formed to combat the Volstead Act, and in their long lists of members one may read the names of honorable citizens who feel impelled to express their views. Hundreds of influential newspapers stand solidly against the Eighteenth Amendment. The fight has not been taken up in one section of the country only. Mass meetings have been held in far separated localities, and protests have been voiced everywhere. In the last election--that in November, 1922--the voice of the people was heard in several States. Prohibition was an issue, and the victory was almost overwhelmingly for the wets. Wisconsin, for instance, elected seven candidates who had declared themselves for a modification of the Volstead Act. Senator Reed, of Missouri, an avowed foe of Prohibition, and Governor Edwards, of New Jersey, an even more ardent “wet,” won over their opponents, having made their views definitely known. Edwards now goes to the Senate. [Illustration: The Prohibitionists fail to realize that Prohibition, for them, is in itself a debauch, a kind of wild orgy, a sadistic spree. To strap us all to the water-wagon, snap the whip and keep us there for life seems to be their idea of a good time.]