The armistice with Germany was signed November 11, 1918. Thereafter Congress passed and, on November 21, 1918, the President approved the War-Time Prohibition Act (c. 212, 40 Stat. 1045, 1046), which provides as follows:
"That after June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, until the conclusion of the present war and thereafter until the termination of demobilization, the date of which shall be determined and proclaimed by the President of the United States, for the purpose of conserving the man power of the Nation, and to increase efficiency in the production of arms, munitions, ships, food, and clothing for the Army and Navy, it shall be unlawful to sell for beverage purposes any distilled spirits, and during said time no distilled spirits held in bond shall be removed therefrom for beverage purposes except for export. . . ."
On October 10, 1919, the Kentucky Distilleries and Warehouse Company, owner of distillery warehouses and of whisky therein, brought in the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Kentucky a suit against Hamilton, Collector of Internal Revenue for that District, alleging that the above act was void or had become inoperative and praying that he be enjoined from interfering, by reason of that act, with the usual process of
The essential facts in the two cases differ in this: In the Kentucky case the whisky was stored in a distillery warehouse; the plaintiff was the maker of the whisky; had owned it prior to the passage of the act; and had, since June 30, 1919, paid the revenue tax on part of it. In the New York case the liquors were in general and special bonded warehouses; the plaintiffs were jobbers; and it does not appear when they became the owners of the liquors. Both cases come here by direct appeal under § 238 of the Judicial Code, were argued on the same day, and may be disposed of together. Four contentions are made in support of the relief prayed for: (1) that the act was void when enacted because it violated the Fifth Amendment; (2) that it became void before these suits were brought by reason of the passing of the war emergency; (3) that it was abrogated or repealed by the Eighteenth Amendment; (4) that by its own terms it expired before the commencement of these suits. These contentions will be considered in their order.
First: Is the act void because it takes private property
There was no appropriation of the liquor for public purposes. The War-Time Prohibition Act fixed a period of seven months and nine days from its passage during which liquors could be disposed of free from any restriction imposed by the Federal Government. Thereafter, until the end of the war and the termination of demobilization, it permits an unrestricted sale for export and, within the United States, sales for other than beverage purposes. The uncompensated restriction upon the disposition of liquors imposed by this act is of a nature far less severe than the restrictions upon the use of property acquired before the enactment of the prohibitory law which were held to be permissible in cases arising under the Fourteenth Amendment. Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U.S. 623, 668; Kidd v. Pearson, 128 U.S. 1, 23. The question whether an absolute prohibition of sale could be applied by a State to liquor acquired before the enactment of the prohibitory law has been raised by this court but not answered, because unnecessary to a decision. Bartemeyer v. Iowa, 18 Wall. 129, 133; Beer Co. v. Massachusetts, 97 U.S. 25, 32-33; Eberle v. Michigan, 232 U.S. 700, 706; Barbour v. Georgia, 249 U.S. 454, 459. See, however, Mugler v. Kansas, supra, pp. 623, 625, 657. But no reason appears why a state statute, which postpones its effective date long enough to enable those engaged in the business to dispose of stocks on hand at the date of its enactment, should be obnoxious to the Fourteenth Amendment; or why such a federal law should be obnoxious
Second: Did the act become void by the passing of the war emergency before the commencement of these suits? It is conceded that the mere cessation of hostilities under the armistice did not abridge or suspend the power of Congress to resort to prohibition of the liquor traffic
To establish that the emergency has passed, statements and acts of the President and of other executive officers are adduced; some of them antedating the enactment of the statute here in question. There are statements of the President to the effect that the war has ended
The present contention may be stated thus: That not-withstanding the act was a proper exercise of the war power of Congress at the date of its approval and contains its own period of limitation — "until the conclusion of the present war and thereafter until the termination of demobilization,"
No principle of our constitutional law is more firmly established than that this court may not, in passing upon the validity of a statute, enquire into the motives of Congress. United States v. Des Moines Navigation Co., 142 U.S. 510, 544; McCray v. United States, 195 U.S. 27, 53-59; Weber v. Freed, 239 U.S. 325, 330; Dakota Central Telephone Co. v. South Dakota, 250 U.S. 163, 184. Nor may the court enquire into the wisdom of the legislation. McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, 421; Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 197; Brushaber v. Union Pacific R.R. Co., 240 U.S. 1, 25; Rast v. Van Deman & Lewis Co., 240 U.S. 342, 357. Nor may it pass upon the necessity for the exercise of a power possessed, since the possible abuse of a
That a statute valid when enacted may cease to have validity owing to a change of circumstances has been recognized, with respect to state laws, in several rate cases. Minnesota Rate Cases, 230 U.S. 352, 473; Missouri Rate Cases, 230 U.S. 474, 508; Lincoln Gas Co. v. Lincoln, 250 U.S. 256, 268. That the doctrine is applicable to acts of Congress was conceded arguendo in Perrin v. United States, 232 U.S. 478, 486; and Johnson v. Gearlds, 234 U.S. 422, 446. In each of these cases Congress had prohibited the introduction of liquor into lands inhabited by Indians, without specified limit of time; in one case the prohibition was in terms perpetual; in the other it was to continue "until otherwise provided by Congress." In both cases it was contended that the constitutional power of Congress over the subject-matter necessarily was limited to what was reasonably essential to the protection of the Indians. In the Perrin Case it was contended (p. 482) that the power was transcended because the prohibition embraced territory greatly in excess of what the situation reasonably required, and because its operation was not confined to a designated period reasonable in duration but apparently was intended to be perpetual. In Johnson v. Gearlds the contention was (p. 442) that a prohibition originally valid had become obsolete by reason of changes in the character of the territory included in it and the status of the Indians therein. In both cases the court, while assuming that since the power to impose a prohibition of this character was incident to the presence of the Indians and their status as wards of the Government and did not extend beyond what was reasonably essential to their protection, it followed that a prohibition valid in the beginning would become inoperative when in regular course the Indians affected were completely emancipated from federal guardianship and control,
Conceding, then, for the purposes of the present case, that the question of the continued validity of the war prohibition act under the changed circumstances depends upon whether it appears that there is no longer any necessity for the prohibition of the sale of distilled spirits for beverage purposes, it remains to be said that on obvious grounds every reasonable intendment must be made in favor of its continuing validity, the prescribed period of limitation not having arrived; that to Congress in the exercise of its powers, not least the war power upon which the very life of the nation depends, a wide latitude of discretion must be accorded; and that it would require a clear case to justify a court in declaring that such an act, passed for such a purpose, had ceased to have force because the power of Congress no longer continued. In view of facts of public knowledge, some of which have been referred to, that the treaty of peace has not yet been concluded, that the railways are still under national control by virtue of the war powers, that other war activities have not been brought to a close, and that it can not even be said that the man power of the nation has been restored to a peace footing, we are unable to conclude that the act has ceased to be valid.
Third: Was the act repealed by the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment? By the express terms of the
The Eighteenth Amendment with its implications, if any, is binding not only in times of peace, but in war. If there be found by implication a denial to Congress of the right to forbid before its effective date any prohibition of the liquor traffic, that denial must have been operative immediately upon the adoption of the Amendment, although at that time demobilization of the army and the navy was far from complete. If the Amendment effected such a denial of power then it would have done so equally had hostilities continued flagrant or been renewed. Furthermore, the Amendment is binding alike upon the United States and the individual States. If it guarantees a year of immunity from interference by the Federal Government with the liquor traffic, even to the extent of abrogating restrictions existing at the time of its adoption, it is difficult to see why the guaranty does not extend also to immunity from interference by the individual States, with like results also as to then existing state legislation. The contention is clearly unsound.
Fourth: Did the prohibition imposed by the act expire by limitation before the commencement of these suits? The period therein prescribed is "until the conclusion of
In the absence of specific provisions to the contrary the period of war has been held to extend to the ratification of the treaty of peace or the proclamation of peace. Hijo v. United States, 194 U.S. 315, 323; The Protector, 12 Wall. 700, 702; United States v. Anderson, 9 Wall. 56, 70. From the fact that other statutes concerning war activities contain each a specific provision for determining when it shall cease to be operative,
It is insisted that he has done so. The contention does violence to both the language and the evident purpose of the provision. The "date of which shall be determined and proclaimed by the President" is a phrase so definite as to leave no room for construction. This requirement cannot be satisfied by passing references in messages to Congress, nor by newspaper interviews with high officers of the army or with officials of the War Department. When the President mentioned in his veto message the "demobilization of the army and navy" the words were doubtless used in a popular sense,
The War-Time Prohibition Act being thus valid and still in force, the decree in Number 589 is reversed and the case is remanded to the District Court with directions to dismiss the bill; and the decree in Number 602 is affirmed.
No. 589. Reversed.
No. 602. Affirmed.
FootNotes
March 4, 1917, c. 180, 39 Stat. 1168, 1193, July 1, 1918, c. 113, 40 Stat. 634, 651, factories, ships, and war materials; June 15, 1917, c. 29, 40 Stat. 182, 183, April 22, 1918, c. 62, 40 Stat. 535, November 4, 1918, c. 201, 40 Stat. 1020, street railroads, equipment, etc., and the acquisition of title to lands, plants, etc.; August 10, 1917, c. 53, 40 Stat. 276, 279 (Food Control Act), foods, fuels, factories, packing houses, coal mines, coal supplies, etc.; March 21, 1918, c. 25, 40 Stat. 451, railroads; May 16, 1918, c. 74, 40 Stat. 550, 551, June 4, 1918, c. 92, 40 Stat. 594, houses, buildings, properties, etc., in District of Columbia; July 18, 1918, c. 157, 40 Stat. 913, 915, ships; July 16, 1918, c. 154, 40 Stat. 904, telephone and telegraph systems; October 5, 1918, c. 181, 40 Stat. 1009, 1010, mines, mineral lands, etc.
See also Act of June 3, 1916, c. 134 (39 Stat. 166, 213), for the mobilization of industries, which authorizes the seizure of munition plants and provides that the compensation therefor shall be "fair and just," and the Act of March 4, 1917, c. 180, 39 Stat. 1168, 1169, authorizing the acquisition of aeroplane patents by condemnation, for which $1,000,000 was appropriated.
(Aircraft Act being c. XVI, of the Army Appropriation Act of July 9, 1918, c. 143, 40 Stat. 889.) "Within one year from the signing of a treaty of peace with the Imperial German Government."
(Departmental Reorganization Act of May 20, 1918, c. 78, 40 Stat. 556.) "That this Act shall remain in force during the continuance of the present war and for six months after the termination of the war by the proclamation of the treaty of peace."
(Emergency Shipping Fund Act of June 15, 1917, c. 29, 40 Stat. 182, as amended by the Act of April 22, 1918, c. 62, 40 Stat. 535, and by the Act of November 4, 1918, c. 201, 40 Stat. 1020.) "All authority . . . shall cease six months after a final treaty of peace is proclaimed between this Government and the German Empire."
(Charter Rate and Requisition Act of July 18, 1918, c. 157, 40 Stat. 913.) "All power and authority . . . shall cease upon the proclamation of the final treaty of peace between the United States and the Imperial German Government."
(Railroad Control Act of March 21, 1918, c. 25, 40 Stat. 451, 458.) ". . . Federal control . . . shall continue for and during the period of the war and for a reasonable time thereafter, which shall not exceed one year and nine months next following the date of the proclamation by the President of the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace."
(Food Control Act of August 10, 1917, c. 53, 40 Stat. 276, 283.) "Sec. 24. That the provisions of this Act shall cease to be in effect when the existing state of war between the United States and Germany shall have terminated, and the fact and date of such termination shall be ascertained and proclaimed by the President."
(Trading with the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917, c. 106, 40 Stat. 411, 412.) "The words `end of the war' as used herein, shall be deemed to mean the date of proclamation of exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace, unless the President shall, by proclamation, declare a prior date, in which case the date so proclaimed shall be deemed to be the `end of the war' within the meaning of this Act."
(Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of March 8, 1918, c. 20, 40 Stat. 440, at 441 and 449.) "(5) The term `termination of the war' as used in this Act shall mean the termination of the present war by the treaty of peace as proclaimed by the President. . . . Sec. 603. That this Act shall remain in force until the termination of the war, and for six months thereafter."
(Saulsbury Resolution of May 31, 1918, c. 90, 40 Stat. 593.) "That until a treaty of peace shall have been definitely concluded between the United States and the Imperial German Government, unless in the meantime otherwise provided by Congress. . ."
(Wheat Price Guarantee Act of March 4, 1919, c. 125, § 11, 40 Stat. 1348, 1353.) "That the provisions of this Act shall cease to be in effect whenever the President shall find that the emergency growing out of the war with Germany has passed and that the further execution of the provisions of this Act is no longer necessary for its purposes, the date of which termination shall be ascertained and proclaimed by the President; but the date when this Act shall cease to be in effect shall not be later than the first day of June, nineteen hundred and twenty."
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