Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-09-14
A Sea of Rum and
a Government Spoon
n< Frederic I Haekin
by Frederic ]. Haskin

Washington. u c., Sept. 10.--That
public sentiment in the United States
| Is SIS per cent opposed to prohibition.
and that under these circumstances II
| would take fair-sized standing army
to enforce 1t, is the statement of one
of the officials who lis charged with
that onerous duty.
These men of the Bureau of Internal
Revenue feel like the prince in the
fairy tale, who was handed spoon
with a hole In the bottom of IL 10y 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 a much
larger percentage of the~ population
really favors prohibition, and that the
future will see n great change. Every
cne, however. admits that great
change is necessary. and the men who
are trying TO enforce the law are es-
pecially convincing along that line.
They do not pretend to be enforcing
the law more than few per cent.
I here are enormous sources of contra
band liquor which they know all
Cbout and have never attacked be-
cause 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 II can only go
after a 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 infinite
~ smaller, the number OF offenders II
mere fraction of those involved in
bootlegging. 1t was found impossible
to enforce the anti-narcotic law until
public sentiment for it had been
aroused by publicity.
Public Sentiment Rules.
The same branch of the government
the Bureau of Internal Revenue
is 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 dollars, il will be a long
day before this country really is dry.
Except for the fact that drinking is
far more common than addiction to
drugs, the enforcement of the Vol
stead law would be easy in comparison
with the drug law. Enough morphine
or cocaine to kill dozen men can be
hidden easily about a mans or wo-
mans clothing without the chance of
attracting attention. The ordinary
dose of either given by a physician to
a non addict is quarter or half grain,
and hiding hundreds of five-grain tab
lets is not difficult.
The necessity for keeping the con-
traband in as small bulk as possible
has resulted in practically all of the
bootleg business discarding beer and
handling only whiskey and gin. Every
modern means of transportation is
brought into play in moving the stuff
into the country and from city 10 city.
The price which could be secured for
p thousand gallons of beer is not high
enough TO tempt the bootleggers, but
on a thousand gallons of whiskey
or grain alcohol they can make a
small fortune.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue is
aware of many avenues of entrance
for liquor from Canada. Booze is
now regularly brought dnto the coun-
try in airplanes, the points of landing
being many miles away fom the border
so as to allay suspicion. The extent
of the rum running from the islands
bordering the South Atlantic coast Is
well-known also, but the money pro-