New-York tribune., 1920-08-30
Coler Reports
City Is:Getting
Wetter Daily
Hospitals Had Twice as
Many Alcoholic Cases in
August as in Any Other
Month Since Prohibition
Anderson Scores Hylan
Anti-Saloon League Head
Threatens a Move to
Gust Him From Office

Gust Him From Office
Bird S. Coler, Commissioner of Pub
lie Welfare, announced yesterday that
New York is getting wetter and wetter
if reports he received from the alco-
holic wards of city hospitals are an in
dication. The admission figures in
those wards for August are twice as
great as in any other month since pro-
hibition was enacted.
In commenting on the reports Com
missioner Coler said that fragrant vio-
lations of the Volstead law are taking
place daily
"While prohibition has been helpful
in many ways" said the Commissioner,
'its enforcement has been virtually
failure in the last few months. 1t is
apparent that those who desire drink
can get as much as they want if they
have the price. The opportunity to
buy has been somewhat restricted, but
this seems to have caused no very
thirst"
Excessive Drinking
The report submitted by DR.. Morti-
mcr d. Jones, Superintendent Of Kings
County Hospital, shows that the more
severe type of alcoholic poisoning has
come back during the last month and
this is attributed to excessive use Of
poisonous liquors. The number of
patients admitted to the alcoholic
ward, the report states, now almost
equals that of former times.
Most of the patients seem to be suf-
20 Jr;p
than acute alcoholism, in the full sense
Of the medical term" the report states.
ut would seem that the patient had
drunk too much to care for himself
responsibly and for one, or more, rea-
sons was brought to the hospital. The
patient frequently seemed to be more
than just drunk"
Prom stories told me by patients
in the alcoholic ward" said DR.. Jones
in commenting upon his report, IL
gather that a man can get all the
booze he wants if he has the money
to pay for it. But the price is high
and the drink is never generous. Most
of the patients describe the taste of
the liquor they have taken as fierce
and many Of them compare it with
ether. Some say they are unable to
describe the odor because if they
stopped to smell the stuff they would
llOl UTluK IL.
at is a common complaint that they
become 'headachy' and nauseated.
Even in the best places, they tell me,
it is impossible to get anything like
the old-fashioned liquors. The prin-
cipal complaint of the chronic alco-
holic to-day is that the price is high
and that prohibition has done away
with decent liquor and replaced it with
poison"
Dr. George Hanan, medical super
ntendent of Bellevue, reports that the
number of cases in the alcoholic ward
of that institution has increased from
101 for the month of January, 1920,
to more than 800 for August. The
report states:
Anderson Makes Threat
"Thc symptoms manifested by ad-
missions at the present time are not
materially different from those in the
past, except that the patients seem
more susceptible to the action of
whatever they drink After taking
two w or three drinks they find them
selves entirely irresponsible and in
the hospital. Practically all patients
confess to hard liquors as the source
Of their alcoholism. 1t is the general
opinion that the so-called near beer
is useless as a beverage. Many per-
sons who always drank beer now drink
whisky and gin because they can get
nothing else. The patients report that
it is possible to buy liquor anywhere
in Manhattan or Staten Island if the
purchaser is willing to pay the price"
William H. Anderson, state superin-
tendent Of the Anti-Saloon League, who
| long has been convinced that condi
| tions in New York are worse even than
the figures given out by Commits sioner
Coler would indicate, made public a
letter to Mayor Hylan, warning him
that if he didn't enforce the pro-
hibition law in this city he would "call
the attention of the Governor to his
duty to remove you from Office"
Mr.. Anderson declared in his letter
that Tammany was responsible for the
liquor situation here and asserted that
political organization evidently in
tended to raise campaign money for
Governor Cox from bootleggers, the
saloonkeeper, as legitimate contribu-
tor, being extinct
Attacks Tammany
Tt is the New York Tammany
crowd" he wrote, (Which is responsible
for the nomination of Governor Cox as
candidate whom the thirsty in this
vicinity might be god-bricked into vot-
iilB lOi III tlc Dcliel tndt HIS clcCIlOn
would upset the prohibition amend
ment. Tammany to-day, instead Of
holdir > up licensed saloonkeepers for
its campaign funds, is apparently plan
ming to hold up violators of the law on
scale surprising anything ever be-
fore known, and in order to do this
is not only ignoring, but actually en-
couraf ng violation of the law and the
amassing of ill-gotten gains, which are
to be divided with it,
New York City to-day, under the
control of Tammany, is evidently the
center of conspiracy to raise
crooked slush fund, the like of which |
the country has never seen, to be
spent in behalf of Governor Cox direct
ly by the vets il order that it may not
have to be reported as part of the reg
ula. party Campaign fund.
"Your responsibility for its (the
law's) enforcement is indisputable and
even though you may be willing to try
to discredit the l}nest prohibition en-
fOrcement deDartment Of tho Eadero1