The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-02

It was a case of Damned if do, and damned if don't" So he threw up the sponge.
 MT. Roper has been in Washington twenty-six years. He became a wizard | m figures He was the star clerk of the ways and means committee when the Underwood tariff. on which Woodrow Wilson predicated his victory in 1912, 1 was prepared. Likewise. as a tariff coni-
 missioner, he was an expert. As col lector of internal revenue he gave gem eral satisfaction. But as federal po-
 lice judge, in the adjudication of the prohibition statutes. he failed to make good-not that the public so thought, but that Mir. Roper, himself, so believed. At any rate the game was not worth the candle. So he decided to go into busi- f ness or politics. It is known that he
 is very close to W. G. McAdoo, and it
 is certainty that were McAdoo to land manage his campaign.
 l It is not known that any sharp diff ! ferences between Roper and others in au- | thority resulted in his retirement. It IS not believed in Washington that there was friction in administrative ranks. On the contrary, it is believed that the ad- lministration regretted the loss of an un- usually competent man. For. from what is the gossip in authoritative sources of news, Mir. Roper blundered onsy once 1 in the efort properly to enforce the pro hibition laws. That biunder, it is said, consisted in his appeal to the ministers of the country to require their consre- cations to report to them evidence Of law violations which in turn, would be reported to headquarters. Certain minis ters in various parts of the country de- nied the right of MT. Roper to make stool-pigeons of men called by God to preach the Christian religion.
 But MT. Ropers troubles were maN- fold. As is recalled, the prohibition oii- garchy, bent on raising s25,0C0,00 fund for the enforcement of an amendment mbedded in the constitution, recklessly used the name of Roper, notably in Col orado. as bespeaking in the name Of the government, the good purposes to be con served by liberal contributions on the part of the people. This brought con siderable embarrassment to MT. Roper for no one more certainly than he knew that he never would have put the United States in partnership with any political organization or factional class.
 And then came the Michigan scandaa which was widely heralded by prohibi- tion publicity as a revolt. rebenion, against the law of the land. As is re- called, the situation developed from difference of opinion on the part of state prohibition and federal prohibi- tion authorities as the proper method of procedure under the clause in the legls- lstion which gives the state and the fed eral government concurrent jurisdiction. Mir Roper, in the climax, was forced to halt the federal agent who was pro ceeding to Michigan with guns and other sundry instruments of destruction, and order his recall to Washington. Then followed the issuance of the statement that even under prohibition, the state and the people of the state have .cer- tain rights, and that mans home IS safe from search and seizure unless such is Justified by the possession of war rant legally secured and issued.
 Just prior to his decision to retire, Mir. Roper was called upon to make decision in a most delicate situation. The various consulates and embassies or foreign countries, in Washington, had consumed their entire stocks of wines and liquors. Mr Roper by the repre- sentatives of these foreign governments was asked for permits under authority of which to replenish their cellars. MT. Roper denied such permits. Under the previous legislation, foreign embassies, regarded as extra-territoriai. were ex- cluded from the operation of dry stat- utes. But no exception is made in the volstead act under which the government struggles to enforce the eighteenth amendment It was the business of Sir Roper to interpret the cold letter of the law. not to weight the delicacies and niceties involved in foreign relations. the intricacies of international law, the us- ual course of diplomatic procedure. or even the customs which any treaty might firmly have established.
 With customary grace, the various rep resentatves. publicly accepted the de- cision of MT. Roper. and some of them even went to the extent of stating. for the public, that if the United States. despite law and custom, desired that 1 amba ssadors be regarde, as far as pfo- | hibtion statutes were concerned. as | American citizens, they would raise no | objection At the. same time, it is re- l garded as altogether probable that the | state department will authorize the im- l portation of liquors into foreign embas- | sies. just as the state department au- thorized the service on foreign ships in | American ports of wine and beer with l rations. tAA 8
 And so MT. Roper quits The dry forces are already insisting that a Wil- liam Jennings Bryan be appointed in- ternaI revenue commissioner. But as that man will have other business on hand save an enforcement of the eigh- teenth amendment, President Wilson will very probably name one capable of dis charging in an effective and practical way, the duties of that highly important office.
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