The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-16

$2,00O fine and two years imprisonment.
 1 touch with distilling and brewing in-
 terests in the collection of excise l taxes and active in running down
 mo onahiners' Evidence collected
 by the bureau will be used in prose.
 cutions by the Department of Jus tice.
 Commissioner Roper has estab-
 lished an entirely separate division in the Bureau of Internal Revenue
 for the enforcement of prohibition, | headed by John F. Kramer of Mans- field, Ohio, as prohibition commis- sioner for the United States. He will have under him nine federal super- visors in charge of as many districts
 @ director in each state and a mo. bile force which can be shifted from | place to place as conditions demand MT. Roper has made plain, how l ever, that enforcement of prohibi- l ton depends largely on local senti- 1 ment and has appealed to citizens of l the United States to give their co-op- 1 eration to upholding the law of the l country. Federal forces he said, would be used to reinforce local ef- l forts, and where any state officer fail ed in his duty, his constituents would be informed.
 Approximately S500,00o,oo0 in taxes has been collected annually on alco- holic beverages, which now will have to be obtained by the government in | some other way.
 l Prohibition sentiment, eliminating l in the epoch-making amendment to 1 the Constitution, has been growing ] steadily in this country since 1908, l according to records compiled by the 1 Board of Temperance of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. At that tims | a demand for moderation in the use | of ardent spirits arose, followed ten years later by an even broader move- l ment for abstinence from ardent | spirits and for moderation in the use | of malt liquors. This in turn gays way, in 1S40, to sentiment for ab. 1 stfnence from all alcoholic bever. ages.
 l Agitation for abolition of the prac- | tIce of licensing the sale of liouors did not come until 1S47, resulting four years later in the enactment of pro- hnbltion laws in Maine, the first state to put prohibition into effect Kansas was second in 1880 and North Dakota third in 1889. Meanwhile, the move ment had grown to such proportions that a National Prohibition party | was formed at a convention in Chi cago, September 1, 1869
 l Women, always in the forefront of the activity to stop the sale of alec. holic drinks organized for a concerted fight after the famous Women's Cru. sade, 1S73-4 Their association was | later to become known throughout the world by the name of the Women's ! era TYoin little white ribbon.
 | Another powerful Influence in the fight for prohibition came into exist ence in 1893 iA the form B ion of the Anti-Saloon league. It is noteworthy i that both these organizations had their inception in Ohio.
 The modern wave of prohibition legislation began with Georgia in 1 1907. Since that time, the movement
 gained strength more rapidly than
 any other reform in the history of
 the world, so that S3 states already l have prohibition by state action, in 21 adopted by popular vote and in the others by legislative measures. At the time the constitutional amend
 ment was submitted, A of the 4S states and considerably more than half of the territorial United States had prohibition. In states where pro- hibition was not statewide. it had i been adopted under local option laws by many communities.
 l In addition to state laws there have kbeen in effect stringent measures adopted by Congress as aids toward winning the war, which gave a tre- mendous impetus to the prohibition movement. Studying the examples of foreign countries, a law was passed
 making it unlawful to provide any man in uniform with alcoholic bever- ages Making of beer and whisF1ey was stopped under the food control act and the sale of drinks was ter minated at midnight, last June 30. Shipment of liquor into any states was prohibited by the bone-dry law. The constitutional amendment was finally adopted by Congress on De- 1 cember IS, 1917, with g. restrictive 1 clause, hitherto unknown in legisla-
 tive procedure, that it would be in- l operative unless ratified within seven I years It required only 13 months
 The vote in the House was PSI to 128
 and in the Senate 65 to 20.
 1 Submission of the amendment to
 the states came at time when many
 legislatures were assembling. Missis-
 sippi quickly put its approval on the
 amendment and was followed in or
 Der by Virginia, Kentucky, South 1 Carolina, North Dakota, Maryland, 1 Montana, Texas, Delaware, South Da- 1 llota, Massachusetts, Arizona, Georgia,
 Louisiana, Florida, Michigan, Ohio,
 Oklahoma, Maine, Tennessee, Illin-
 ois, Colorado, West Virginia, Idaho
 California, Indiana, Arkansas, North
 Carolina, Washington, Alabama, Kan
 sas, Oregon, Utah, Iowa, New Hamp.
 shire and Nebraska, making the re- l Sta +I,-
 union for the amendment to become
 effective Nine more states likewise
 gave their ratification, 45 in all, as
 follows: Wyoming. Missouri. Min
 nesota, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mex. 1 leo. Nerrl ont New York and Penn.