The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1920-07-30
Saturday Nights Are :
Quiet in Large Cities
Few DRINKS in Joliet, Springfield,
and Peoria

On Saturday night, July "a, the Ed
itor of the Issue called at the police
station at Joliet. Up TO two o'clock
in the morning, when he left the
station, not single arrest for drunk
enness had been made.
Joliet including territory outside OF
the city limits under the supervision
of the city police has a population
of about $4,000 Seven different
nationalities have little cities" OF
their own in greater Joliet. The cap
tain OF police asserted that he could
drive all over town and not see a
single drunk although it was late
Saturday night. When pressed for all
explanation of this startling state-'
ment and the fact that the Jail was
empty he told how the Prohibition
law is enforced in Joliet, Not long
ago" he said, I'VE got tip that an
ex-saloonkecper was selling whisky.
twenty-five minutes later this mans
brother was paying a fvc-haudred
dollar fine for him for having violated
the Prohibition law.
within that 25 minutes we got a
warrant, searched the place. found
two pints of whisky, arrested the
man, took him before the judge who
Immediately gave him the maximum
fine
The police Captain said that dur
ing the past few weeks thirty men
had been arrested for violating the
Prohibition law. All except three OF
them were fined $500 and costs and
sentenced to 90 days in Jail. All but
one OF the men arrested were
foreigners or negroes. The Joliet
police force has only u men. They
get good results the captain explained
because they act quickly. Whenever
they hear of the law being violated
they Immediately proceed to find and
arrest the violators.
When asked who takes the initiative
in cases OF arrest and prosecution for
violations of the Prohibition law the
police captain said, 1--WE proceed the
same as when any other law is vio-
lated When we get tip that some
one is making or selling booze we get
after them fhat'c al"
Other Cities Drunkless Too
On the Saturday night preceding the
Joliet visit the editor of the Issue
called at the Springfield police station
at midnight. Only one drunk was be-
hind the bars. On the preceding
Saturday night according to the
officer interviewed no arrests were
made for drunkenness in Springfield.
One OF the officers at the station
commenting on the quietness Of the
midnight hour said, 'In the old days
we used to have a busy time at twelve
O'Clock when the saloons closed.
Sometimes there would be half
dozen fights going on at the same
time. Now we have hardly anything
to do. An officer OH duty down town
discussing changed conditions with
the editor said, Our work is lighter
than it used to be. We do not make
one arrest where we used to make ten.
There are no buns airy more.
"On Saturday nights VIC used to pack
the police station with DRINKS. We
even used to send our women prison
ers to the county Jail and put DRINKS
in their cells. hope liquor never
comes back"
The Peoria police station visited
by the editor on Saturday night, June
20. contained only one drunk up to
about one O'Clock IN the morning.
The officer in charge declared that
formerly they had rs to IS DRINKS
night Now the number is seldom
more than three or four.
Anyone who doubts that Prohibition
is setting good results is invited to
visit the police station in any large
Illinois city on Saturday night The
officers will testify that a great
change has taken place and the empty
cells speak eloquently of the wonders
of Prohibition.