But it is hardly ours. We have begun to think that this strange and perverted conception of a Bacchanalian orgy has lasted quite long enough. And when the tide turns, the Prohibitionists may know something of the horrors of a hangover, and wonder if they are on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “The morning after” some approaching election may not be a pleasant one for them. But why not compromise before the inevitable day arrives? Rid of the saloon, the Prohibition triumph is complete enough. Local option will continue; and if the little places elect to go dry, of course they may do so; but as for the great cities, especially the metropolis, looking at the skull of its oldtime happiness one can but say, with _Hamlet_, “Alas! poor New Yorick!” Senator Frelinghuysen of New Jersey said not long ago that Prohibition was one of the most serious problems with which the American people have to deal. “In the country districts the people are in favor of upholding the Volstead law,” he made it clear. “The church people also are against any modification of the dry law. But when it comes to big industrial centers and to the working classes, to say nothing about the foreign-born population, they are all clamoring for a change in the law to permit the sale of light wines and beer.” If we would enact laws tomorrow giving the various States the right to control the liquor traffic within themselves, corruption would cease, and a sense of peace and happiness would descend upon the country. The constant agitations of this hour cannot go on. There is a nervous tension in the air; and so long as the Volstead Act remains, there will be disturbances comparable to the rumblings of earthquakes. Those of us who love America yearn for a return to truth and sanity. The present conditions are intolerable. Each political party is striving to evade this big issue. Each claims that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans gave the people Prohibition; yet the people are looking to one or the other party to take a stand on the question. The last elections proved that. Not forever can there be a process of evasion. A third political party will come out boldly and strong with a wet plank, and as soon as the politicians sense the will of the people there will be an immediate change. But how long will it take them to sense that will? Recently, a number of doctors brought suit to test the constitutionality of the Volstead Act as it affects the limitation on liquor which they may prescribe. Not all physicians oppose Prohibition--indeed, many have stated that whiskey is not essential in the practice of medicine; others hold a divergent view. But no one can deny that things have come to a strange pass when Congress, and not our doctors, treats patients ill with pneumonia and other diseases. Surely an issue as clouded as this should be cleared up.