Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1918 — STATE GOES DRY TONIGHT [ARTICLE]

STATE GOES DRY TONIGHT

AFTER BEING WET FOR PAST HUNDRED YEARS—CASE TO SUPREME COURT TOMORROW The state of Indiana will become officially dry at twelve o’clock this Tuesday night, April 2, under a law ’enacted by the legislature in 1917, and which is to be tested in the supreme court. -With the exception of a few months prior to 1855 Indiana has had saloons, breweries and distilleries for more than one hundred years. Two statuatory state-wide prohibition laws have been enacted since the state was admitted to the union in 1816. One of the laws was held unconstitutional in 1855 in the now famous Beebee case. The other is the law that becomes effective today and which will close about forty breweries, hundreds of a number of the largest distilleries in America. The new law is of the bone "dry variety, which has found favor with the prohibitionists. Although enacted more than a year ago the numerous provisions of the law are little understood. But one spot in Jasper county will be affected by the law—DeMotte. where A 1 Konowsky has operated a saloon for the past «:ereval years. However, the liquor forces have not given up hope and are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the test case, which has gone to the Supreme court and which comes to trial in Indianapolis today. The liquor forces contend the law is unconstitutional and are entertaining great hopes of winning a decision over the drys. The case to be argued is the one appealed from Vanderburg county in which brewers of Evansville asked for an injunction against enforcement of the law. The law was declared unconstitutional by the* county court there and was appealed by the prohibitionists. Another case now pending in the Supreme court was appealed from Lake county, where the country court, ruling in the injunction suit of saloon men, of Gary, decided that the law was unconstitutional. Attorneys for the appellants in the Gary case have filed a motion to be allowed to enter their argument and at the same time but thus far the motion has not been ruled upon. Only an immediate decision by the Supreme court, a thing practicably unknowA in the annals of the court, will prevent the carrying out of the law tonight.