Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-09-14

ylded 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 en-
forcement has to do with moving
liquor about from city To- city on forg-
ed permits. Officers questioning the,
movements Of big quantities OF liquor
and attempting To seize IL, have been
confronted time and again with per-
mits showing apparently bona fide
ownership of the shipments. and APP
parently perfect. but actually forged
permits to move specified quantities
from one place 10 another. Much Of
this liquor sold and moved on forged
permits is obtained from distilleries
which arc fiouting the law.
Probably the worst result of the
dry amendment and the Yolstead law.
is the utterly constituencies money
mad brand of bootlegger, who does not
take the trouble to get real whiskey
or even make substitute containing
rure grain alcohol, but puts together
Il connection containing the deadly
wood alcohol. A little of this terrible
dose means blindness. and a little
more means certain death. The
newspapers every day contain ac-
counts of deaths resulting from drink
ing this poison. but ii is doubtful If
there has been a case where the dis
penser of this stuff has received more
than the penalty prescribed by the
Volstead law. As matter OF fact.
a bootlegger knowingly selling this
kind OF stun is guilty OF plain murder.
Government Hunts Big Game Only.
The Bureau OF Internal Revenue is
rot going after the little fellow, the
retailer of contraband and forbidden
tooze. This is not because of any
sympathy with him or his machina-
tions. Regardless of their personal
views on the subject, the officials of
this bureau are sworn TO detect and
prosecute violations os the dry law,
and they do that to the limit of their
funds and capacities. knowing it is
impossible TO go after every violator.
IL has been found necessary to leave
the smaller offender to be dealt with
by State and city authorities, and
concentrate attention on the whole
sale liquor manipulation.
ed, and is moved from city to city 70
try and break up the bootlegging sys-
TENS. Recently this squadron made
important arrests in Baltimore. and
went from there TO New York. Some
arrests will be made. but Baltimore is
not dry nor will New York be. Reve-
nue. officials know this. but plug away
at their jobs as hard as they can,
knowing that complete success can bt,
theirs only when a preponderant per-
of public opinion is in favor OF
hard and fast enforcement of the dry
The attention of the Internal Reve-
nue. Bureau is directed toward the rum
along the Atlantic coast.
from the smaller islands
lying off the Southern States. The
promise of some action in the near
future against these smuggling boot
leggers has been made, and arrests
may be looked for sometime during the
autumn 1t is admitted. though. that
with the thousands of natural harbors
along the South Atlantic and Gulf
coasts, not a great deal can be ac-
A few of the big oper-
rtors may be caught, but there will be
scores ready to step into their places,
attracted by the big fortunes which
may be made quickly in this Illicit
business
Right now the situation is seen by
officials about in this light--the United
States has two long coast lines. filled
with fine harbors for small boats, il
has several thousand miles OF border.
and liquor viii continue to come in on
all sides just as long as people want
IL and pay for it. only reversal of
Popular sentiment can dry up the
American ocean OF rum.