Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-01
I l"eo'ae e. sesas 127lO
TUESDAY. OCTOBER |. 1913.


Wilmington's citizenry generally doubt
less does not know II, but il Is none the
less a fact that tho heron vice, imported
here by Negro drug-users from Philadel-
phia, has attained such proportions as to
become q very serious menace 10 the
peace, health and prosperity of the city.
The police have been fighting it as they
would fight the very worst forms of crime
and Attorney General Roinhardt and bis
deputy for New Castle county. Percy
Warren Green, have waged war upon it
in General Sessions Court with all the
resources at their command. and with the
most commcndqblc and relentless vigor.
But they say qdite frankly that they are
powerlcsS 10 cope with the spread of the
: evil because Of the weakness and in
adequacy of the law They have secured
large number Of convictions here We're
many at the May term Of court and still
more during the present term as
fast as they send one offender to jail ~
least one other begins the deadly business
of selling the horrible drng and ''hor-
rible'' is used IN it's best Websterian form
and adding to the rapidly increasing
numbers of its habitues
The situation was bad enough when
herein was used only by Negroes, but it
has become steadily worse through the
spread of the vice 70 white men and
women Now ii has reached q stage where
l. l.. IL.
thing must be done to stamp il ont utterly
and completely, where the crusade OF the
authorities must be backed by more
power. where the punishment n,ust be
made to fl the crime
The present term OF General Sessions
Court has seen large number OF heroin-
sellers go 10 jail. most Of them for the
MAXIMUM term the judges could impose.
because Judges Conrad and Heisel have
stood squarely behind the authorities and
gwen as much aid as they could One of
the prisoners was sentenced for man
slaughter, in having given heron 10 ii
soldier who died from the effects OF it
Another case of exactly the same sort will
engage the attention Of the November
term, while another Devils Brigade of
sellers of the deadly stuff will face urieS
The situation is TO be put up to the
Legislature at that bodX.s approaching
session-very plsinly, but very forcibIy
As the drug law stands on the statute
books, it is utterly inadequate to deal
with the spread of the vice 1t is in
herently weak and structmally bad What
is still worse, the punishment it provides is
like sending boy to do mans work
Acknowledgement Reinhardt IS in po>-
SESSION of bill, prepared by Mr. Green,
for passage. at the last session, which would
If made law, vastly strengthen the aut hori-
tres IN their war on this menaccful drug
md its vice, because it leaves no loophoie
Of techmcality for evadlng if, and because
ii provides punishment Of sufficient weight
strongly to deter persons from engaging
IN the Illicit sale of any OF the habit
forming drugs This bill was not passed
by the last Legislature for a very good
and sufficient reason lobby killed il.
A word OF gentle reminder and calm
warning at this time ought to be sufficient
to prevent another lobby from dong 50
again For the good Of the whole com
munity and for the honor, peace. health
and safety of the Commonwealth, tn
heroin traffic must be broken up de
troyed as civilization Is destroying the
Hun-and the authorities must have more
law with which to do the job No lobby
must be permitted 20 interfere this time