1920 Prohibition Party Platform

  The Prohibition Party assembled in National Convention in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, on this twenty-second day of July, 1920, expresses its thanks to Almighty God for the victory over the beverage liquor traffic which crowns fifty years of consecrated effort. The principles which we have advocated throughout our history have been so far recognized that the manufacture and traffic in intoxicating drink have been forever prohibited in the fundamental law of the land; Congress has rightly interpreted the Eighteenth Amendment in laws enacted for its enforcement, and the Supreme Court has upheld both the Amendment and the law.

  Asking that it be clothed with Governmental power, the Prohibition Party challenges the attention of the Nation and requests the votes of the people on this Declaration of Principles.

Nullification Condemned

  The organized liquor traffic is engaged in a treasonable attempt to nullify the Amendment by such modification of the enforcement act as will increase the alcoholic content in beer and wine and thus thwart the will of the people as constitutionally expressed.

  In the face of this open threat the Republican and Democratic parties refused to make platform declarations in favor of law enforcement, though petitioned so to do by multitudes of people. Thus the Prohibition Party remains the sole political champion of National Prohibition.

  The Prohibition Party in its platform in 1872 declared, `There can be no greater peril to the nation than the existing party competition for the liquor vote, any party not openly opposed the traffic, experience shows, will engage in this competition, will court the favor of the criminal classes, will barter away the public morals, the purity of the ballot, and every object of good government for party success.' Notwithstanding the liquor traffic is now outlawed by the Constitution this fitly describes the present political attitude of the old parties.

  The issue is not only the Enforcement but also the Maintenance of the law to make the Amendment effective.

  The proposed increase in the alcoholic content of beverages would be fraught with grave danger in that it would mean the return of the open saloon with all its attendant evils.

The League of Nations

  The League of Nations is now in existence and is functioning in world affairs. We favor the entrance of the United States into the League by the immediate ratification of the treaty of peace, not objecting to reasonable reservations interpreting American understanding of the covenant. The time is past when the United States can hold aloof from the affairs of the world. Such course is short-sighted and only invites disaster.

Peace

  We stand for a constitutional amendment providing that treaties of peace shall be ratified by a majority of both Houses of Congress.

  We stand by our declaration of 1916 against militarism and universal military training. Without it our boys were in a short time trained to whip the greatest army ever assembled and with national prohibition to make sure the most virile manhood in the world we should encourage universal disarmament and devotion to the acts of peace.

Education

  We stand for compulsory education with instruction in the English language, which, if given in private or parochial schools, must be equivalent to that afforded by the public schools, and be under state supervision.

Suffrage

  The Prohibition Party has long advocated the enfranchisement of women. Suffrage should not be conditioned upon sex. We congratulate the women upon the freedom which the Party has helped them to achieve.

Women and the Home

  We approve and adopt the program of the National League of Women Voters providing for:

The prohibition of child labor;  Adequate appropriation for the Children's Bureau; Protection for infant life through a federal program for maternity and infancy care; 

A federal department of education, Federal aid for the removal of illiteracy and the increase of teachers' salaries; Instruction of the youth and the newcomer to our shores in the duties and ideals of citizenship;  

Vocational training in home economics;  Federal supervision of the marketing and distribution of food, the enactment and enforcement of such measures as will open the channels of trade, prevent excess profits, and eliminate unfair competition and control of the necessities of life;

 The establishment of a Woman's Bureau in the Department of Labor to determine standards and policies which will improve working conditions for women and increase their efficiency;

 The appointment of women in the mediation and conciliation service and on any industrial commissions and tribunals which may be created;

 The establishment of a joint Federal and State employment service with women's departments under the direction of qualified women;

 The merit system in the Civil Service free from discrimination on account of sex with a wage scale determined by skill demanded for the work and in no wise below the cost of living as established by official investigation;

 Appropriation to carry on a campaign against venereal diseases and for public education in sex hygiene;  

 Federal legislation permitting an American born woman to retain her citizenship while resident in the United States, though married to an alien;

 And further, that an alien woman who marries an American citizen must take the obligation of citizenship before she can become a citizen.

Economy in Administration

  We believe in the Budget system and we stand for economy in governmental administration. There should be a reduction in boards, committees, commissions and offices which consume taxes and increase expenses.

Labor and Industry

 We stand for Industrial Peace. We believe the time has come for the government to assume responsibility for the protection of the public against the waste and terror of industrial warfare, and to that end we demand legislation defining the rights of labor and the creation of industrial courts, which will guarantee to labor and employing capital equal and exact justice, and to the general public protection against the paralysis of industry due to this warfare.

Profiteering

  The Prohibition Party pledges the nation to rid it of the profiteer and to close the door against his return   It will endeavor to eliminate all unnecessary middlemen by the encouragement of organizations among producers that will bring those who sell and those who use nearer together. It will enact and enforce laws needful to effectively prevent excessive charges by such middlemen. To this end it will demand legislation subjecting to the penalties of the criminal law all corporate officers and employees who give or carry out instructions that result in extortion; it will make it unlawful for anyone engaged in Interstate Commerce to make the sale of one article dependent upon the purchase of another article and it will require such corporation to disclose to customers the difference between cost price and selling price or limit the profit that can be legally charged as the rate of interest is now limited.

Agriculture

  We pledge our aid to the farmer in working out a plan to equalize prices, to secure labor, and to organize a system of co-operative marketing, including public terminals, mills and storage for the purpose of encouraging agriculture amd securing for the farmer such return as will tend to increase production.

  We favor such extension of the parcel post as will further facilitate the direct traffic between the producer and consumer.

Presidential Qualifications

  The qualifications for President stated in the Constitution have to do with age and citizenship. We call attention to the fact that of greater importance are those not so stated referring to moral, intellectual and spiritual endowments. The President of the United States in his daily life, his home and family relationships and in his official career is expected to typify the finest and best the country can produce. He is the leader of the nation. The moral force and power of his example are immeasurable. No man or woman should ever be elected to the high office who is out of harmony with the purposes of the people or who lacks sympathy with their highest and holiest ideals and with the Christian principles upon which the nation was founded.

Law and Order

  A crying evil of the day is the general lax enforcement of law. Without obedience to law and maintenance of order our American institutions must perish.

  The Prohibition Party now, as ever, pledges impartial enforcement of all law.

Conclusion

  In this national and world crisis the Prohibition Party reminds the people of its long time faithfulness and its wisdom, proved by the many reforms which it was the first to advocate; and on its record as the oldest minority party—one which has never sold its birthright for a mess of pottage but throughout the years has stood for the best interests of the country—it asks the favorable consideration of the voters, believing that by its support they can make it necessary for all political organizations to come up to a higher level and to render a finer quality of service.

  It pledges itself resolutely to stand for the right and oppose the wrong and dauntlessly to lead in the advocacy of righteous and patriotic principles. On its record and on this Declaration of Principles it submits its case to the American people.