The Washington herald., 1921-02-02
DRY FORCES NEED
MORE LOCAL HELP,
WILLIAMS CLAIMS
Says Federal Agents Lack
Numbers to Handle
Entire Problem.

That William NJ Williams. Com
missioner Of Internal Revenue. was
severely Erilled- at an executive
meeting Of the House Arpropria-
tions Committee for alleged failure
to enforce the prohibition law was
revealed when the deficiency appro-
ipriation hill, for 1921 was reported
'to the House Yesterday
The hill carries items that total
S2o3,99&.476.72. which sum is S275.-
33.3O9.6O less than the amount Of
the estimates considered by the
committee
, A deficiency estimate 81 sI,sss, 900
FOR enforcement oG- -.proebiuOu.
which was presented 10y commits
sioner Williams. was sIsshed to 81
100000
Tell Of Troubles.
The plea for an appropriation Of
81. 500. 900 was presented to the com
mittec on January s by Williams
and Paul I. Myers. Assistant Com
missioner. They testihed to the diff
ficu.ty OF enforcing prohibition
un6er the present system.
A reasonable number OF employees
is needed 60 carry on the balance
Of the fiscal year" said Williams
IF we had ia more we might make
a Creditable showing. There are
2,923 employees engaged in the en-
forcement Of the Volstead and mar
Cotic acts and 456 OF these en-
pIoyes OF the. prohibition unit are in
Washington.
If State and municipal officials
will give US the cooperation that
was contemplated under the Vol
stead act we can make a reasonably
good showing with this number Of
men. II State and local officials do
not cooperate these additional men
will not be anywhere near sufficient
to make a Creditable showing on
prohibition. I hope you will give
them TO us"
Scores Record.
Representative Good. chairman or
the committee, scored the work Of
the prohibition agents.
There is not a single agent sta
toned at my home in Cedar Rapids. 90
he said. At little place called Lis
bon and another called Ninton. there
are men assigned and both live at
Cedar Rapids simply to get their
per diem"
Good then presented to the com
missioner a series of charges OF
misconduct against one Of these
agents, and arraigned the depart
ment for permitting the acts out
lined.
Commissioner Williams aTolo-
gized. saying that he would seek TO
prevent such occurrences happen
ing again. Assistant Commissioner
Myers volunteered at this point that
salaries are so low and the tempta-
ton so great among these field men
to do that sort OF thing"
Commissioner Williams testified
that prohibition agents get salarie.
Of Sl,5eO a year, with tho bonus Of
S24O.
I. You can readily understand" he
SAID. that a person occupying a
position which is half detective and
half policeman may be offered
money to do something wrong. You
cannot select for this work a per
sonnel that will entirely withstand
offers of bribes."
still an Experiment.
Impressing his plea for an addi-
tional appropriation OF $500. 600,
Commissioner Williams said.
Prohibition work is yet in the
experimental stage and has not had
fair show since the enactment OF
the NOlstead act. The period sue
ceedlng the enactment Of the law
has been unusual and has been
swept by a crime wave.
1T was never contemplated that
Congress should furnish an entirely
Independent police service for the
entire country. Whisky can be
bought in some places. suppose
there is no doubt about that. But
We have larcenies committed every
day-murders every day-violations
Of automobile regulations. and We
will always have those violations OF
the law"
Admits WithdrawaIS.
Commissioner Williams admitted
that many gallons of whisky have
been gotten from warehouses flle-
gally. He said that a stop had beer
put on sales between wholesalers
and other measures taken 10 pre-
vent Illegal Withdrawal of liquor
Between July 81, 1918, and octo-