The Farmington times., 1920-02-20

enforcement so well that we will have
very little to do in them. If weak spots
develop, we will concentrate our own
enforcement organization on them.
"The enforcement agents will have
under them about 1900 officers, who
will be distributed among the various
districts, according to their needs.
Many Of these men have had long eX-
perience in enforcing the internal
revenue taxation laws and are very
familiar with the ways and habits of
moonshiners and other Illicit dealers.
In fact, pretty much the whole of the
personnel that has dealt with the en-
forcement of the excise laws in the
past is now in the prohibition enforce
ment unit; so you see we are not alto
gether amateurs. We are not lacking
in experienced secret-service men, or
in men of courage, force, and re-
sourcefulness.
"The field force will be largely mo-
bile and will be transferred in part
from one district to another, as the
occasion arises. In some sections very
few of the members of this flying
squadron will be needed. In other
sections the rigid enforcement of the
law will largely depend on their eff
forts" Il =
But, in spite of all the forces at pro-
hibition's command, there will be vio-
lations. That is to be expected. Laws
are made for violators. Many a man
will use his wife's kitchen as small
distillery. Not all the smoke that
winds up the chimney will be from the
fire cooking the family dinner. Some
of it will come from beneath little
copper kettle, and the smell thereof
will be tantalizingly reminiscent. This
is the outlook:
Counting the family stills and brew
ing outfits that have been installed,
there probably are scores of thousands
of illegal gin-mills already in operation
or being prepared. The home booze
factory will doubtless flourish to the
end of time. Even the drastic Prohi-
bition Enforcement Act does not give
law offices the right of free run of
every mans home on the suspicion
that he is making tanglefoot or beer
or home made wine. In some COM
munities in the country, as we'll as in
urban centers, whole population
groups will surround and support the
illicit commercial distillers, and the
job of finding them out probably will
be as continuous and as unfailing as
moonshine hunting in the North Car
olina or Georgia mountains. Enforce
ment officers who have given thought
to the subject are inclined to think
that illicit stills will be able to evade
them more successfully in the large
cities than in the country.
In the country there is the telltale
smoke of the distillery fire and the
widely carried fumes of the alcohol
In the cities smokes and fumes may
blend with the Thousand smokes and
odors of congested life and industrial
activity. Little stills may easily be
installed in kitchens. Revenue agents
have already seized hundreds of them
all over the country. Some are per.
manently installed by plumbers, b1t
others are small, light, and portable
and do not cost more than few dol
lars.
A tin pail, some copper tubing, somc
ice, and kettle for the mash will sci
any man up with home outfit. Mos
of these outfits probably will escape
detection so long as the owner doe:
not undertake to sell or widely dis
tribute his product. On the Other
hand, after the novelty wears off mos
of them will be scrapped. Likewise
with the various home-brewing pro
jects, even though they do not involve
much more than a formula and the
raw material. The country will never
be "wet" from the ale, beer, and whis
ky made at home, and the enforce
ment officers are sure that the degree
of humidity will not be perceptibly in
creased by the few commercial still!
that will escape their attention.
The flying squadron of revenue
agents which has been such terror
to the mountain moonshiners in re
cent years, under direction of DAME
c. Porter, now established in New
York, will be many times multiplied