Where the Grapes of Wrath are Stored

The peak of the tercentenary celebration of the settlement of Boston was marked by the annual meeting of the American Legion. Doubtless the founders, could, they have looked down on their city during that week, would have felt honored. The Legion has not been distinguished for the decorum and sobriety of its conventions, but its excesses in Boston seem to have passed the bounds of previous meetings except that at Kansas City.

Drunkenness and destruction of property were prominent modes of expression of the men who fought the War. It is understood that in certain instances the Boston newspapers refused to print the stories gathered by their reporters, some of whom sold them in other cities. The Harvard CRIMSON, however, representing the institution founded so soon after Boston was settled, spoke out with a boldness that should shame its contemporaries.

The CRIMSON refers to the Police Commissioner "who has been astonishingly vigorous since he has been in power," under whose administration took place a total relaxation of law and order during the stay of the Legion. This situation calls for the attention of the Anti-Saloon League and other bodies interested in the Eighteenth Amendment. It has been suspected that one important reason for the failure of enforcement of the Dry Law is the fact that the Drys themselves do not wish it enforced when the recoil would be too violent.

Only reluctantly, and under the taunt of inconsistency from Anhenser Busch, did they press for the cessation of the sale of liquor on vessels under the American flag. The New Republic has frequently suggested to the chief upholder of the nobles experiment that he get down to business by stopping drinking in the army and navy and in the immediate vicinity of the capital of Washington.

In Boston the Drys, if they are sincere, will demand of Governor Allen an immediate investigation of the Police Commissioner to learn what orders, if any he issued to the police on the occasion of the Legion gathering, and what steps if any he has taken to discipline officers who as a matter within the testimony of hundreds of citizens not only winked at the sale of liquor but even directed purchasers to places of sale and it is reported, carried whiskey about with them for purposes of common hospitality. New Republic