Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-04
s. F. RUTTER
On Problems Of Prohibition enforcement

THE Prohibition Law can be enforced
l. according to s. f. Rutter, Associate
Director of Prohibition in the State ot
Pennsylvania and the chances are that 1t
will be before very long,
"Pcnnsylvania, said Mr.. Ruttcr, lis, or
ut least has, the reputation of being one
of the hardest States in the Union to control
in the matter OF prohibition. In TINS re-. re-.
spect it stands next TO New York. and for
that matter in some ways it is an even more
difficult State to handle.
"In New York State the bulk Of the viola
tions are confined to New York City, while
in Pennsylvania this condition extends al
most all over the State.
Big Cities Are Troublesome
THE States which contain the large cities
are always those which give the greatest
amount of trouble in enforcement.
But in this State the very large foreign
element gives us the most concern. 1t Is
our greatest problem, and this clement Is
concentrated principally in Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh and the mining districts, where
the greatest number of infractions occur.
'Of course. l do not include every one
Of foreign birth in this classification. There
is n vast difference in them as there is In
the native American. Nevertheless, the
bOotlegger as Il rule Is foreigner and the
American is usually simply the customer.
Evidence" in Pittsburgh
when the present organization arrived
to take charge of the situation in PcnnSyl-
vana, we felt, in the Pittsburgh district at
least that the saloon men in that territory
had not yet asccrtained that prohibition
law had been passed. Signs were actually
behind many of the bars to the effect that
no evidence could be obtained there.
That is, they would sell all the whisky
that any one cared to buy AS long as ii was
drunk on the premises, but none was allowed
TO be taken away TO turn up later as evil
dcnce that the law was being violated. These
signs are all down now.
1--WE also found bad condition in the
Wilkes. Barre district. This is in the heart
Of the hard coal mining district, where again
the foreign reputation Is large. Up to the
present time. therefore. 1t has been necessary
for us II concentrate our efforts urOn these
three districts. Pittsburgh, Wilkes Barre
and Philadelphia.
us to know that we have met with success
in reducing the amounts of Illegal traffic in
drink in all three places. To what extent
this Is true may be seen by the price of
bootleg whisky in the Pittsburgh district.
IL has recently risen from the 500 or $50 Il
case that was asked only Il short time ago
to $l05 Il case, and it is still rising.
Striking at the Source
"It has been our cndcavor to strike at
| this we have had as much success as we can
| expect Hundreds Of thousands, | might
ray almost millions, of gallons had been
| illegally put upon the market throughout the
| state But ] can safely say that not ~
per cent of the quantity Of whisky and
| alcohol is now released that was released
every month since the time that prohibition
went into effect.
Under the former conditions, the whole
| snlcrS took advantage of the Nituution
| created by former members Of the force who
| ure now under indictment and themselves
released an immense amount of alcohol and
| whisky. 1t was the same old situation over
again when an employer is not honest. 1t is
vain to look for that quality in the men
! under him. Between them, about mill Ion
and q quarter gallons were released which
were easily made into two and half million
gallons of salablc liquor.
eve have met this situation by rcvokinc
! we permits to obtain alcohol, and now 4
person obtaining II permit has TO show ar
| undueSti0nably honest use for it. Many al,
legged barber supply companies formerly got
| alcohol and after preparation Of ii put it or
! thr market instead Of making hair tonic
| with IL ns the !iPrmit demanded. The sam,
| nrorcdurC was followed by certain patcnl
| medicine houses. Our problem now Is ant
! hns been from the start to eliminate thai
Illicit trade
The Forged Permit Problem
"Anothcr problem has been 10 stop ,h,
| releases OF alcohol and whisky by forged pre
J l,yscriptions OF physicians. An enormou,