Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-09-17
THE GREAT &C
Tracy

p'e%S tnal inc people t!tlleE listUe ior
their own use OF bought of their
neighbors Organization, that mag
zeal instrumenta!ity for doing things,
does bad things as well as good. II
fastened itself on the nakin, 81 and
dealing in booze and then turned to
fasten itself on the government or it's
victims. We ought not to have for
gotten that fact III the past few
years since this dc ably grapple on the
throat OF this country was Ioosened
by the prohibitory law We surely
can remember hearing the liquor
men themselves say that because
Of their greed and their consequent
disregard OF decency they had dis
gusted the public. They made dives
of the places in which their product
was sold and to quite a degree they
came to consort with the criminal
elements of society.
The stranglehold has been loosened
but the organiza ton behind it.
though doubtless changed sonewha
III personnel. is yet strong, we'll fl
nanced and become a part OF a world
wide conspiracy to defy the laws of
the United States. The smuggling
and bootlcgging of liquor is but a
part of its operations. Being SNUG
glers and outlaws and thrown into
intimate association with other GRIM
inals. it is in undoubted collision
with the smuggling of drugs, es-
pecially the narcotics so dreaded. of
aliens. and is conniving at the escape
Of criminals. Rich and influential
men are back Of it. beyond a ques-
ton, and are gorging themselves on
the proceeds. Those operating are
but the tools of the conspiracy
Their boats are now stealing out of
yellow fever ports in the Bahamas
and sneaking into our ports in def
ance Of quarantine. Their enterprise
has become altogether bad, beslimed
with the filth of the underworld. and
yet it's spokesman pirate about the
law invading the sanctity of the
home!
Invading the sanctity of the home.
This from the most insidious, the
most dreaded invader of the sanctity
of homes that the world has ever
known!
Considering such a gigantic, rich
and ruthless conspiracy in league
with the criminals of the world in
their scheme to defy our laws it is
almost unthinkable that there should
be collision or even encouragement
to be had Of Federal officials, yet
here Is what the Philadelphia North
American has to say on that phase of
it:
THE federal enforcement act be-
came law under an administration
which was openly hostile to its pur-
poses and which strove persistently
to destroy its validity. When it be-
comes operative--after a presidential
veto had been overridden by congress
virtually all OF the vast quantity of
liquor in existence in this country
was held under bond in government
warehouses. and could be released
h,r -
self. thru designated officers"
No other law passed for the pro-
lection OF society was ever so scan
GalouslS administered or SO flagrantly
violated. There was hardly a pre-
tense OF applying the statute in good
ruth; permits for the withdrawal of
liquor We're issued by wholesale, and
were obtainable by anyone willing to
pay for the stuff with the added cost
OF graft and corruption. The men
appointed 20 enforce the law and to
limit Withdrawals to stocks appoint
ca Tor legitimate uses were in many
cases former liquor dealers, whose
affiliations with the bootlcgging in
terests were but thinly disguised.
Eighty thousand permits. many of
them forged. were honored during
the first year, and the country was
= flooded with liquor which was dis
tributed by peddlers and thru saloons
enabled to operate by delay in the
enactment of state enforcement
laws"
II this isn't putting it up to the
country, what is? The whiskey In
surrection that George Washington
put an end to, was a small menace in
comparison. 1t is time the Govern
ment inspected the permits and gave
bigger demonstration than has yet
been given of it's ability to put an
end to smuggling. The headlines
have been filled with Getting the
Higher Ups, but the jails haven't
been filled with them. not yet,
though there are indications of sim
. certify behind much of the effort now
being made to suppress this traffic
May It also be successful.
WAJcOme EJinthorioa Venizaloa