The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-04-15
NEW LIQUOR PROGRAM IS
 PLANNED

Washington, April 1S.-1n matters
 of whiskey, it depends upon the | viewpoint
 "If you're dry, you wonder why so | much booze is loose In the land, or if
 wet in sympathy, the wonder is why l liquor is so scarce,'' said John Kra-
 mer, dry law boss, in discussing the diyergence of view in the pros and cons in whiskey discussions
 | Kramer and his clan that have had | to bear the brunt trying to enforce prohibition agree that as long as hu- | man hands raise corn and make cop per coils the United States of Amer | ica will be "wet'' somewhere at all times.
 None of the "dry' official crowd after witnessing one years results are pinning any roses on themselves. Officials say progress has been made. But liquor floods seem to come in greater volume. With these ever-fn- creasing new sources or supply, there are cropping out from time to time entirely new liquor problems to con- found liquor law enforcers.
 New interpretations of the Vol stead law, holding that Government officials are not authorized to put linn itationS upon makers and sellers of Congress may have specified. are ex- pected to have a good effect in en- forcement over the country. The new administration foreSeeS a more general observance of the law. New administration officials, having super vision of prohibition. are cutting away from cratic methods which have provoked general criticism.
 The new programme, as now out lined, to combat some of the present hostility to the volstead law. is, to stop needless tinkeringS with the laws provisions, which convey auth ority to certain classes to buy, sell and use non-beverage liquors.
 @f ha v problem is slow regarded as one of the most ing nfoortant In the past even devout "drys'' have hated to walk forty blocks to a pharmacist to ob- And when he locates a druggist, even your ~dry'' enthusiast wants for his sick friend liquor that is pure. He does not want to buy from a mercen- ary druggist a diluted connection and pay for it a price that represents 300 or even 400 per cent above what ought to be a reasonable figure. Until now it has been difficult to obtain good whiskey on a doctors prescrip- ton even after a druggist has been To- cated with one of the coveted per- mits to handle medicinal liquors.
 This peculiar situation has been en- couraged by the attitude of set of enforcement officials who secured much of their inspiration for such a line of official conduct from hidden but powerful forces in the "extra dry'' element at Washington and else where.
 The policy of restricting permits to druggists and doctors. and of dis eliminating between those classes in an effort to limit the number of outstanding permits in given locali- ties simply because dry law officers believed a certain number would be sufficient to supply all needs is about to go into the discard along with a lot of other practices, now shown to have been of doubtful value to the cause of enforcement. Physicians will be encouraged to obtain liquor per- nits and restrictions against drug gistS have been relaxed Other equal ly "Iib beraP' means are to be taken to bring about a. more general respect for the law as it was framed by Con- greSS.