editorial entitled "Government Bootlegging," in the New York Tribune,
a paper that has never been unfriendly to the Eighteenth Amendment:

That American ships had wine lists was no news to the astute Wayne B.
Wheeler, generalissimo of the Prohibition forces. He was fully
informed before Mr. Gallivan spoke, and by silence gave consent to
them. He was complaisant, it may be assumed, because he did not wish
to furnish another argument to those who would repeal or modify the
Volstead act. He has made no fuss over home brew and has allowed
ruralists to make cider of high alcoholic voltage. He saw it would be
difficult, if not impossible, to stop home manufacture and did not
wish to swell the number of anti-Volsteaders. He was looking to
securing results rather than to being gloriously but futilely
consistent. Similarly the practical Mr. Wheeler foresaw that if
American ships were bone-dry the bibulous would book on foreign ships
and the total consumption of beverages would not be materially
diminished. For a barren victory he did not care to have Volsteadism
carry the blame of driving American passenger ships from the sea.
Prohibitionists who have not put their brains in storage may judge
whether or not his tactics are good and contribute to the end he
seeks.

Now from the standpoint of pure calculation directed to the attainment
of a strategic end, in a warfare between the power of a Government and
the forces of a very large proportion of the population over which it
holds sway, the Tribune may be entirely right. But what is left of the
idea of respect for law? With what effectiveness can either President
Angell or President Harding appeal to that sentiment when it is openly
admitted that the Government not only deliberately overlooks
violations of the law by millions of private individuals, but actually