The Washington herald., 1919-06-12

New York. June 1.-THE police hear
that the professional philanderers Of
the underworld are welcoming the
advent Of national prohibition. In
their haunts. the fungus Of graft. easy
money. and the shady practices that
characterize their ilk. they see In
boot-leggins roseate career. The
vocation Is for both men and women.
From a certain Tenderloln hotel re-
Gently, some scouts were sent out
over dry States to see what the pros
poets were for easy pickings." The
scouts were representatives of that
peculiar brand Of metropolitan buzz
yards who live without working.
The reports that came back were
alluring. In Oregon, for instance,
, which is supposed to be n model dry
State, it was discovered that one
, boot-legger made s2J0,0oo in Portland
alone during the past three years.
1t was also said that nearly all of
the boot-leggers were as affluent as
the gambling fraternity along Broad
way during the days when Bald
Jack" Rose and Police Lieut. Becker
held sway in the gaming world
They are wearing silk shirts, stud
ded with diamonds, riding in huge
limousines. smoking dollar cigars and
building big country homes. The New
York grafters believe that II Oregon
bootleggers can do II. II will be a
regular lead-pipe cinch in New York
In Portland twas reported that the
ooot-leggers get SIS quart for
whisky. The Broadway crowd believes
that so a quart will be easy to get
among the thirsty when the old town
goes dry. 1t is easy to see that his
Royal Dryness, King July the First.
oners some fine speculative dreams
for those who prosper by disobeying
the law-but whether or not their
dreams come true depends upon the
operations of those who will enforce
the prohibition laws.
Up at the Museum of Natural
History all the old mammals have
been newly upholstered and in
! stalled in the Synoptic Hall on the
third floor. One can see the SeGti-
sorex Congicus. from the Belgian
Congo; the Pseudochirus Archeri.
| from Australia, and the equally un-
! speakablc and absurd Cryptoprocta
Ferox and Madoqua SquayneI, both
| from Africa.
If they are not enough there is a
giant anteater that lays eggs, or
did in its day. a pigmy armadiIlo,
the skin and skeleton OF the hero
shrew. which has a funny backbone
that looks like Brooklyn Bridge
and can support the weight OF a
man, the green phalanger. who al
though a native Of Great Britain,
wears green hair and seems to en-
Joy a contented life while alive in
Australia.
Finally there is the dik-dik. or
dwarf antelope. graceful little
animal about the size of a cotton
tail rabbit, and has short unsafety-
razor-like horns.
Slipping a frosted sarsaparilla in
my favorite Den of Iniquity the
other morning, the pretty young
lady who waited upon me handed
me with my change the copy of a
New York evening newspaper
noted for its devotion to the higher
culture. In the righthand column
| Of the first page 1 learned this
startling bit of ornithological in
formation. The yellow-breasted chat
is a queer acting bird. the Ameri-
can redstart is just like the pea
| cock, while the wrens are friendly
and like human society. With
these vital facts at his disposal al
most any homecoming soldier should
be able to get a job forthwith.