Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-09-15

wv public sentiment in the United States
is IS per cent opposed to prohibition,
| and that under these circumstances it would
| take fair-sized standing army to enforce it.,
| is the statement of one of the officials who is
charged with that onerous duty.
| These men of the Bureau of Internal Reve-
| nue. feel like the prince in the fairy tale who
was handed a spoon with hole in the bot
tom of it by an old witch, and told that he
must dry up the ocean with this instrument
| as the price of his liberty.
| Others, of course, say that much larger
percentage of the population really favors
| prohibition, and that the future will see a
| great change. Everyone, however, admits
| that great change is necessary, and the men
| who are trying to enforce the law are espe-
cially convincing along that line. They do not
| pretend to be enforcing the law more than
! a few per cent. There are enormous sources
! of contraband liquor which they know all
| about and have never attacked because they
| have not the men, They make no pretense of
| combating the small retail bootlegger. He
is left to the local police, if they care to both
| er him. The Government goes after the big
! fellows, and it can only go after few of
| them.
The officials compare the prohibition law
to the anti-narcotic law to show the difficulty
of enforcement. Despite the fact that the
problem was infinitely smaller, the number of
offenders a mere fraction of those involved
enforce the anti-narcotic law until public SEN
timent for it had been aroused by publicity.
Public Sentiment Rules
The same branch of the Government-the
Bureau of internal Revenues charged with
the enforcement of the Harrison Act and the
Volstead Law enforcement. This is being
patterned after the experience secured with
drug laws for many years past. But unless
Congress and the people of the United States
are willing to put up many millions of dol
lars, it will be long day before this coun-
try really is dry.
Except for the fact that drinking is far
more common than addiction to drugs, the
enforcement of the Volstead Law would be
easy in comparison with the drug law.
Enough morphine or cocaine to kill dozen
men can be hidden easily about mans or
womans clothing without the chance of at
tracing attention. The ordinary dose of
either given by a physician to non-addict is
a quarter or half grain, and hiding hundreds
of five-grain tablets is not difficult
The necessity for keeping the contraband
in as small bulk as possible has resulted in
practically all of the bootleg business discard
ing beer and handling only whisky and gin.
Every modern means of transportation is
brought into play in moving the stuff into
the country and from city to city. The price
which could be secured for thousand gallons
of beer is not high enough to tempt the boot
leggers, but on a thousand gallons OF whisky
or grain alcohol they can make small for
tune.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue is aware
of many avenues of entrance for liquor from
Canada. Booze is now regularly brought into
the country in airplanes the points of land
ing being many miles away from the border
so as to allay suspicion. The extent of the
rum running from the islands bordering the
South Atlantic coast is we'll known also, but
the money provided for enforcement of the
law has been too small thus far to make any
serious dent in the activities of these rum
runners.
A large part of the business of enforcement
has to do with moving liquor about from city
to city on forged permits. Officers question
ing the movements of big quantities of liquor,
and attempting to seize it, have been con-
fronted time and again with permits showing
apparently bona fide ownership of the ship
ments and apparently perfect but actually
forged permits to move specified quantities.
from one place to another. Much of this
liquor sold and moved on forged permits is
obtained from distilleries which are flouting
the law.
Probably the worst result of the dry
amendment and the Volstead Law is the ut
terly constituencies money-mad brand OF
bootlegger who does not take the trouble to
get real whisky or even make a substitute
containing pure grain alcohol, but puts to-