“Will the Nation follow the precedence of Maine or of Kansas? The determination of this all-important fact depends on the sum total of the attitude of our individual citizens towards the maintenance of our fundamental law. It is the right of any one to work for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment if he or she so desires, but it is the bounden duty of every one to see that so long as the Eighteenth Amendment is part of our Constitution it is accorded that respect upon which the whole structure of democratic government rests.” But here we get right back to where we started. Citizens cannot be _forced_ to respect a law for which, inwardly, they have a great contempt. Even a spiritual energy cannot be brought to bear, I fear, which is strong enough to bring about this desirable end. The youth of our land, at least in our great cities, laugh at the Eighteenth Amendment--which means that they will laugh at other laws, and finally express nothing but derision for the Government. This concentrated feeling is far more serious than scattered inebriety. It strikes at the very base and roots of society, and, once having gained a sure hold on the people, cannot be checked. An observer who loves America cannot but see in the youth of the land a total disrespect for order and the old sanctities; a violation of moral codes, and a failure to establish rectitude in niches of the heart. There are no convictions, no principles among the young and growing population. There is no desire to conform, no aspiration for a betterment of conditions as they are. Instead, there is intolerant laughter, and one is called an old fogy who attempts to assert that marriage vows mean something and that girls who drink cocktails in taxicabs out of thermos bottles are in grave peril. There is a studious avoidance of responsibility. Yet one should not be surprised. The example set is none too worthy. It is known that hypocrisy exists in high places; that inconsistency is a national trait; that men in office say one thing and do another. I heard a young man remark not long ago: “Oh, they think it’s wrong, do they, to drink? Well, how many Congressmen in Washington have replenished their wine-cellars, do you suppose, since Mr. Volstead ran this country, eh? I’d like to get affidavits from bootleggers in Washington, as to just what stock has been laid in.” That feeling--how can one counteract it? One has no answer for such a sage youth. Alas! he does some thinking, after all; but our silly legislation has caused his thoughts to run in a direction from which we would gladly divert his mind. The fact of the matter is that most of his elders have thought long and solemnly on these same things.