The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-11-10
BARBER CONTENDS
SWITCH SYSTEM HAS
PROVED ITS WORTH
Says 1t Is Necessary to
Proper Enforcement of
Law in Birmingham
GLAD TO HEAR OF
ANY BETTER PLAN
Says Detectives and All Other
Kind of Law Enforcers
Must Indulge in The Es-
piOnage System

Arlie Barber, commissioner OF pubic
safety, yesterday wrote to The Age
Herald defense of his methods OF en-
forcing the prohibition laws by the use
of the so-called SWITCHES.
The commissioner contends that this
method has proved it's WORTH and says
if any one has better plan to suggest
he would like to hear it. He writes:
To the Editor Of The Age-Herald:
with reference to the Objectionable
features Of the "snitch" system as
pointed out in your editorial this morn
ing, have the following to say in order
that you and the public may understand
the operations of my department with
reference to this particular matter:
1.-THE violations of the prohibition law
in Birmingham at the present time. on
account of the activities Of the pollce,
have been reduced to practically what
Is known as the two-quart tiger. Two
quarts of liquor may be legally pos
sessed by any citizen in the home and
the only way for the police to discover
whether or not liquor is being sold in
violation of the law from these two
quarts is to prove sale.
ONE POINT OF INTEREST
"our department is not in the slightest
interested in the liquor possessed by
those citizens who do not have more
than two quarts in their possession at
any one time, and consequently, we do
not busy ourselves with these citizens
except when we have reason to oeheVe
they are violating the law by selling from
this legal quantity. These safes are very
hard, indeed, to prove. Our OFFICERS are
known from one end OF the city TO the
other and those who know them best are
those who violate the law most persis-
tently. 1t would be a matter OF impos-
siblity for them to purchase liquor from
any one under any circumstances lHs
question resolves itself then into TINS
shape: shall we abandon the enforcement
of the law or shall we prove sales by
those who are able to make purchases
EVERY plain-clothes man IN the en-
ploy of the city will bear me out IN
the statement that I have repeatedly
warned them that no helper we secure
should under any circumstances use any
undue or improper means or meLnods
to effect a purchase and sale four
statement that these men use all Sorts
of cajoleries, even felgnlns illness. ~
get some transporting man or woman 20
serve them with drink is tale that Is
manufact ured by the defendant in court
and is one of the many statements thcy
make in order to escape convictlon.
ASKS FOR BETTER WAY
.If anyone can point out to the depart
nent of public safety any more satisfac-
tory way to enforce the law than by Sc
curing purchase and sale evidence, they
will confer a great favor on me and my
department, but I absolutely deny the
charge made in your editorial that inno-
cent people are decoyed into the tolls OF
the law by these helpers which you can
SWITCHES.
I'VE are not interested in those VINO
are not selling liquor In violation OF the
law and have all we can attend to In
looking for those against whom persist
ont complaint is made. The question then
is souarely up to The Age-Herald, az
to whether or not it favors the ENFORCE
ment of the law. Besides, If helpers
of this sort are abandoned in the liquor
cases, they should also be abandoned IN
other departments; the criminal depart
ment uses them, the purity department.
uses them, and in fact, the only diner
ences between the operations of detec-
tive and helper of this sort Is that the
detective is a sworn officer of the city
on a monthly salary, while the helper Is
employed only temporarily and can be
used only so long as he can keeps hls
identity from being discovered by the
blind tiger element.
"One of the great objections The Age
Herald has always raised to the prohibit
ton laws is that they could not be en-
forced. They are now being enforced
as we'll as any other law on the statute
books. Notwithstanding some sentiment
In the community. which is engendered
by such editorials as appeared In your
paper this morning, and which can only
serve to create in the minds OF jurors
and our citizenship generally, disre-
spect for law and it's enforcement.
PROVISION OF CONSTITUTION
with reference to what l had to say
about the constitution, said more than
that: Not only do l maintain that it is
wrong for a defendant to be presumed
innocent until convicted, and for this
presumption to go with him through trial
but I also insisted that it was unfair
| for the defendant. to have two strikes a,
the jury to every one given the state
| am told in the republic of France, de-