The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1916-03-02
PROGRESS of Prohibition.
e....essful Enforcement Has Been Made
Easy.
~, ! C. johnson. Peabody, Kansas


,ay- violated with impunlty; that public
ointment never sustalns 1t, ana that 1t
'suajIy impossible to convict one vio-
,,ng The law. In the early history of
,,5Ibitory legislation there was some
-mInd for this contention, but it is of no
sf4 at the present time. The out
...rljng fact about prohibition is that
-@.-ever given an honest and fair trial
public policy for eradicating the
,,u. evil, it has drawn to it the effec-
.. support of all agencies which go to
sustain good government, including the
4grehes. the public schools, the women,
.-4 egislatures and the courts.
n Las been the history of prohibitory
..sl- alton that the adoption of the law
4.s marked the turning point in the con-
..t. from that point on the trend has
,s.a constant in favor of the reform
... # the enforcement of the law. Mu-
.i,,qa' and county officials gradually but
--'v Zine up" The State executive
.r aw departments become aggressive
sV enforcing, and the legislature can
,9sys be depended upon to strengthen
an law as needed. The open saloon is
4. lrlven out of State after prohlbi-
r-, egislation is enacted. This, of it.
SRI. 5 worth all the effort expended up
al point.
a,g5ud that point, however, law en-
lr.ment officials in States that have
s. led prohibition, have experienced
most serious difficulty. The open
s.r. when outlaWed, could be readily
s.. tressed because men of some stand
ID property would not risk ostrac-
0-5 and imprisonment for the sake
ordinary profit in the business.
fraEtic, when outlawed, became a
aia and bandit. Prices were
sI and trebled in an attempt to
.l The financial risk incurred, joint
-ootleggers and disrl putable houses
. r5ilzed the precarious retail trade,
ance of the law, the officers and
curtis, and the eradication of this
law defiance has taxed the pa
aud ingenuity of good citizens and
prosecutors in prohibition States
remedies have been found, which
. low easily applied and effective in
--ts.
carry on this lawless traffic it was
sary that the outlaws engaged in it
-..5.l secure federal licenses, in order to
pe the clutches of the United States
ue officials. The federal govern
not only licensed these persons to
On their Illegal business in States
rein ii was prohibited, but at first
npted to still further protect them
.ilsing to divulge to the State off
the names and location of those
ing such licenses. This difficulty was
come by the State officials convinc-
the federal authorities that these
Use details were public records and,
4ch, properly open to the inspection
.. 4uV one desiring the information con-
j therein. When this contention
4cquiesced in these records became
lC property, the names and residence
. those IN prohibition States holding
...H licenses were tabulated and pub
q in full by the temperance journals
lch States. thus conveying to law
ing citizens and law enforcing off
a- in each community the names of
t.se among them. if any, who We're
entity contemplating the sale of in
ants.
MS was decisive victory for the law
forcement people, and made it possible
them to locate substantially every
mist, bootlegger and red light liquor
IT IN any prohibition State. But this
was not enough. 1t was one thing to
W that these persons were equipped
he traffic, but quite another thing to
snow that they were actually engaged in
An amendment was secured to the
ted States penal code making it un-
awful for persons to ship intoxicating
JOr from one State into another with
placing in plain language on the out
Of the package their own name, the
aGe and address of the consignee and
nature and quantity of the contents,
making it unlawful for a raj road or
merce to transport or deliver such
Eehandise, unless so marked, and pro-
ug fines and Imprisonment for the
alton of this amendment. This sta
was disregarded and evaded by both
liquor dealers and the carrier com
les, and when an attempt was made,
months ago, to enforce it's provi-
rs by federal indictments in prohibi-
-9n State, of cOnsignOrs living in an
l-prohibltion State, a federal judge
Has persuaded to hold that such indict-
"sHts could only be legally secured in
' State IN which the shipments orlgl-
arad, as that was the State in which the
tense was committed.
his dlscouraglng ruling was at once
taken before the supreme court of the
nited States, on appeal, which tribunal,
the highest in the land, has, within the
asst month, handed down a decision re-
tersing the ruling of the lower court and
Joding that indictments of either ship
per or carrier for violations of the statute
IN question may be obtained either in the
State in which the shipment originated
9r in the State in which it is delivered to
the consignee.
There remains now but one further
!egal contest before the friends of pro-
hoition, viz, the securing of favorable
rnllng of the supreme court of the Unit
ID States as to the constitutionality of
the Webb-Kenyon law, enacted by the
asst Congress, prohibiting common car
tlers from transporting into or delivering
any State which prohibits the sale of
Iquor and consignment of the prohibited
nsrchandise. Such construction, max
ng the Webb-Kenyon law available in
the hands of law enforcing officials,
would make the legal machinery for the
ltorcement of the law in prohibition
2tates complete, protecting the people
If those States against the open or clan
t-stine manufacture or sale of intoXi-
ants and also from the delivery within
.nese States of intoxicants purchased
other States, which still permit this
rsffic.
But whether the desired construction
Of the Webb X ',yon law be secured or
not, the latest decision of the supreme
court, referred to above is a death blow