The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-01-26
REVENUE FORCE
Sees TROUBLE
Prohibition Enforcement Is Ex-
pected to Be a Difficult Task
in Many States.
(Bv Georqe n. Mannine.)

! ty for depending for assistance large
Iy upon state, county and municipal
! authorities, over whom it has no direct
control, will prove the greatest OBJ
stacle the internal Revenue Bureau
win encounter in enforcing the con-
stitutional prohibition amendment
which went into effect at midnight,
Friday. January 16., officials OF the
bureau admitted today.
without the ready assistance of these
officials suppression of the whiskey
traffic may prove a farce. With
whiskey, which has been manufactured
heretofore for so cents a gallon, now
selling at $40 a quart, the Internal
Revenue Bureau can hope for but
little success in enforcing prohibition
without the assistance of the local au.
thorities.
When John Barleycorn was in his
prime and the manufacturer and sale
of liquor was sanctioned and licensed
by the federal, state, county and muni>
cipaI governments all persons legiti,
mately in the liquor business We're reg
istered. The local authorities then had
a peculiar interest in seeing that there
was no illegal liquor traffic because
Of the taxes paid.
But now with all manufacture and
and no taxes accruing from the traf-
fic the state, county and municipal Of
ficials will be laclSipg Ia sntive 10 go
out OF their way to put down the traf-
fic. And the federal authorities can
not easily force them to be active in
running down the bootleggers.
The Nolstead enforcement act makes
provisions for enforcement of tho pro
hibition amendment by all officials Of
the law, including federal. state, county
and municipal officials.
But with the state, county and mu-
nicipaI authorities not directly ac-
countable to the Internal Revenue
Bureau the bureau is expecting con-
siderable difficulty in putting zest in
to their work, it was admitted by
bureau officials today.
The Internal Revenue Bureau has
no way Of furnishing state. county or
municipal officials who are lax in law
enforcement, it was admitted and the
only way to get at them is through
the ordinary methods of getting at Of
ficials who are negligent in their duties
These charges would have to be well
proved, however, before a state official |
could be dealt with because of com !
plant of the Internal Revenue Bureau
of taxity in liquor law enforcement. |
it is expected.
Prohibition is already proving to be |
a very costly undertaking for the gov |
ernment, and the cost of enforcing
it is increasing by leaps and bounds. |
To begin with the federal government |
loses one and a half billion dollars
Isl 500, ,000,000) in taxes annually on |
liquor, the amount collected during the
last fiscal year that the liquor traffic /
was sanctioned. Then the state, coun-
ties and municipalities lose amounts
much greater even than that.
Now the 10000 gallons of wbis-
key in bonded warehouses is begin
ming to prove a costly elephant on the
governments hands, with the value
of whiskey going up steadily until it
is now more valuable to crooks than
diamonds and jewelry the Internal |
Revenue Bureau has asked congress
for a special appropriation Of s2,500, 900
to place additional guards about the
warehouses for the next six months
Whiskey is getting scarcer and
more difficult TO obtain every dav. so
much so that crooks who previously
stole other valuables are now turning
to whiskey," said L. S. Deputy Internal
Revenue Commissioner Hurrey $50
we are going to place additional guards
3Ioulu the DOnueu warehouses. We
shall not materially increase the num-
ber now, but if the situation should
become such that armed bands OF
yeggs should attack the warehouses
20 steal the whiskey we shall have TO
meet them with large forces"
This 6O,000.o00 gallons of whiskev
s now practically worthless TO its
owners and everybody else. II has
changed from an asset to a liability. 1t
an be sold only for non beverage pur- t,
poses, and can be exported only for ,
lon- beverage purposes. With the :
,ountryS annual consumption of
vhiskey at 100000 gallons for non
purposes the stock in the
warehouses would last for thirty-five
ears. by which time it would probably
The government has given its guar
lntee to the owners to guard the
in the warehouses and may
AVE this task on its hands for forty J
ears or more The owners cannot
ell it or export il because il Is unIaw- {
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