The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-03-01
Frederick Haskln's Letter
Liquor and the Lasu.

the legalized Withdrawals of wbisEv
from bonded warehouses were in
some cases put on the market. The
complete figures up to the end -
the las$ fiscal year, June 80 1e91
show that since the prohi@tie7
amendment became effective a III
tie less than Is months before Al
600, 600 gallons of liquor were wit5-
drawn on permits. Commissio1ap
Haynes said recently that this sit.
uation was looked into and that tba
rate of Withdrawals has been re-
duced considerably.
Charges of violations of the Vol
stead law are many, and there
have been numerous conyfctiors
The figures show that in the last
fiscal year 1852 convictions wers
secured, and acquittal resulted IN
only 755 of the cases tried In
many courts, however. the cases
have piled up tremendously. and
very many cases have not yet come
to trial.
This tremendous percentage ot
convictions does not seem to deter
the Bookkeeping fraternity much. In
this city recently one man was ar
rested three times within the spaea
of month, showing that he con-
tinued to operate right after being
caught. They have the mental atti1
tude typical of the criminal class
Every old-time safe-blower and
yegg has, tucked away somewhere
sum of money which he will nof
lay a finger on even if down and
out. This is fall money''-the fsa
for a good lawyer to defend him in
court if he is caught. The average
bootlegger, after getting caught
apparently figures that the worst
that can happen to him is to have
a fine assessed against him, and
that it behooves him to keep at his
trade and pile up all the money he
can, pending his trial.
Many of the bootIeggers are nat
playing fair with their patrons
Finding that they can command
such high prices, they are not salts
fed even with these, but doctor
their product so that the actual re-
turn is still greater. a dispatch
from one of the West Indian Is
lands was published recently. de-
scribing how Scotch whisky IS
mixed with other ingredients so
that the taste is not impaired very
much, but the cost of the product 10
the bootlegger is very much less.
This synthetic Scotch is made uD
with some of the real whisky, some
cresote, some alcohol, and a lot Of
water. The bOttling is done, &C
cording to the dispatch, before this
mixture is brought into the United
States by way OF some of the OBJ
scure little natural harbors on The
South Atlantic or Gulf coasts.
Big Money for Fi0latOrs.
The amazing profits made BY
some of the Illicit operators were
shown here in Washington not long
ago when a negro vas captured bv
revenue officials and the police and
was charged with bOotlegging. The
police say that this man. who had
been at the business but a short
time, owned six high-powered cars,
had an armed bodyguard who ac-
companled him nearly everywhere,
had built up a regular OTganiza-
ton, including an Office force which
required two adding machines to
keep tab on collections The po-
lice said that this man had on his
person in cash at the TINA Of his
arrest about $4,000.
All of the officials OF Mr.. Haynes
department are not as certain as
their chief that real enforcement is
possible in the near future Some
Of them who have mad experience
with the enforcement Of the laws
for the suppression OF the drug
trade have that valuable experience
upon which TO base their prediC-
tionS. In the early days it vas
found that many of the courts were
not in sympathy with the narcotic
laws, and that when convictions
were secured the courts would in
pose the minimum penalties, some
times a fine Of ST. The blame for
this the officials did not pat upon
the courts. Public opinion was
apathetic, they say. once this was
aroused and the courts responded
to it BY heavy penalties, the bust
ness of breaking up the drug ped
ding business went ahead by leaps
and bounds. These men think that
public opinion must demand
really dry country in order to
make strict enforcement Of the
liquor laws possible Chauncey
Depew on his last birthday summed
up the mental attitude OF many
Americans when he said that it
was the one law of which ne knew,
the violation of which was regard
ed by respectable citizens a5 aa
achievement.