New-York tribune., 1921-02-01
Leaders to Ask Congress
to Amend the Law TO
Make Consumer Equal
ly Guilty With Seller
Would Confiscate
Household Liquor
Home Brew Menaced by
More Stringent Search
and Seizure Legislation

WASHINGTON, Jan. 81 (B::. The AS
sociated Press). Prohibition leaders
In Congress are hoping to tighten up
tho Volstead law. They are planr
new legislation to provide fat .
sentence for the first ofRense of se -z
liquor, without giving the courts the
q tional right Of imposing a fine.
Other changes being discussed s.1nong
the prohibition leaders relate TO the
search and seizure clause, SO as to
reach the home brew and to make more
sweeping the present law under which
q person buying liquor may be punished
equally with the person selling it.
Confscation of every drop Of liquor
held by citizens, regardless as to when
or how it was acquired, also is being
urged. This would legalize seizure Of
all stocks lsald in private cellars or
safety deposit vaults. Objection to
that, however, has been made by some
dry leaders, on the ground that little
such liquor finds it way into channels
of bootleg trade and that it won't be
long before all such liquor will be used
up. =
Federal D0ckets COngeated
Unless a pending bill, which would
permit Federal commissioners to try
minor liquor cases, is passed, pro-
posed amendment to the Volstead law
would take care Of this. Federal court
dockets are now badly congested with
Volstead violations, and government
officials have reported change Of pro-
cedure necessary.
The big fight for amendment will
start with the opening Of the new ses-
sion In April, according te dry leaders.
They say they have enough votes in the
House now to put through any added
restrictions they may desire, but that
there is not enough time left.
Meanwhile Chairman Volstead of the
House Judiciary Committee, on whose
shoulders will fall the bulk of revising
and Tightening up, is awaiting word
from prohibition enforcement officers
as to suggestions for making the law
bulletproof. He wants the advice of
the men charged with responsibility Of
breakS1 sup the outlaw traffic. se
Willing to Add More Teeth
Chairman Volstead has expressed
satisfaction with the law, believing ii
was born with teeth, but in talks with
members he has expressed the belief
that others might be added.
Reports showing heavy transporta-
tion of liquor and wholesale smuggling
prompted the movement to put persons
transporting and selling it in jail with
out delay.
In the effort to stop home brewing
and operation Of kitchen or garret dis
of liquor for sale, prohibition leaders
admit that they will run into storm
of opposition. When the Volstead bill
was before Congress in 1919 the big
fight was on the search and seizure
provision. This, as finally drafted,
stipulated that no warrant should be
issued to search any private dwelling
occupied as such unless it were being
used for unlawful sale of liquor con-
tanning more than one-half per cent of
alcohol. Elimination of this provision,
it was said, would leave any place open
to search.
Regulations covering the transporta-
tion of lawfully acquired liquor from
storage in commercial warehouses to
owners homes have, been virtually
completed, Bureau Of Internal Revenue
officials said tonight. They probably
will be announced within a few days.
The bureau has been at work on the
regulations since the Supreme Court
decided early in November that trans
portation of lawfully acquired liquor
from commercial warehouses to the
home of the owner was not prohibited
by the Volstead act.
Of the 44,500,000 gallons of liquor
stored in warehouses before national
prohibition only about 2,500,000 gal
Ions will be affected by the regulations,
officials declared, as of the total
amount of lawfully acquired liquor re-
naming in storage about 100000
gallons is in bonded warehouses, and
its status was not disturbed by the de-
cision.