The Topeka state journal., 1922-12-15
MORE BOOZE NOW
BOOtlegging and Liquor Traffic
Increase, Peace Officers Say.
Mayor CorWine Makes Startling
Statement of Conditions.
MAKE THEIR OWN WHISKY
Conditions Worst for Last Fiji
teen Years, Mayor Asserts.
Responsibility for NOn-EnfOrce.
ment Law Up to, Citizens.

| the remarks which were made at the
opening session of the Kansas Peace
Officers association in representative
hall this morning, may be taken as in
dicative.
Bootlegsing, the drinking of liquor,
the manufacture of liquor. the very
inferior quality of the liquor which is
manufactured, and the use of mar
cotics in the state, are all more prev
alent than they have been, and they
are getting worse, according to the
pronouncements of the speakers.
Booze and narcotics came in for
the attention of the peace officers and
the speakers. with the first speech of
the morning-the address by Mayor
H. J. Corwine. in which he welcomed
the seventy-five sheriffs, policemen
and other law enforcement officers to
the city
There is a particular interest at
tached to the meeting of officers
charged with the enforcement of the
law at the present time, Mayor Cor
wine declared, ION account of the re-
vival of the drinking of liquor in the
state of Kansas, and the revival of
the manufacture of Hquor-of a sort
in the state. which is assuming the
proportions of an industry
Drink More Whisky Now.
I'm my candid Judgment" Mayor
Corwine declared. there is more
whisky being drunk in Kansas now
than at any other time in the past
t1fteen years, and more being manu-
factured than ever was manufactured
in the state before"
w. T. Clark of Hutchinson, sheriff
of Reno county and president of the
association, reiterated the statement
of the mayor, and added another in
dlctment to the count. Clark was not
prepared to agree with Mayor Cor
wine that there is more liquor being
consumed in the state than in pas,
years but "there is more whisky being
made in Kansas than ever was made in
Kentucky" Clark said Also, Kan
sas liquor is of different brand than
the Kentucky whisky, and it raises
more HE'LL
Average Citizen Is Responsible.
Clark checked the responsibility for
non-enforcement of the prohibitory
law in Kansas, Up to the average citi-
zen, who is either lukewarm on the
law. or antagonistic to it.
80 'The so-called law abiding citizens
of Kansas who sit on juries, don't have
the backbone to convict bootleggers on
the evidence which would convict a
murderer or a burglar" the veteran
sheriff asserted. 1T takes more evi-
dence to convict a bootlegger than a
murderer L shall take to the peni-4
tentiary next week a woman convicted
of murder on evidence on which a
jury would have turned a bootiegger
loose in fifteen minutes. There are
places in Kansas where a merchant
who interests himself actively in the
enforcement of the prohibition law
commits financial suicide, and the av-
erage man calls him a 'snitch' and
says he ought to be run out of town"
Public sentiment seriously devoted to
the enforcement of the law. the up |
holding and assisting of the officers
who do enforce the law. and the de-
for law violations. is the only means |
of ending the officers inability to en-
force the law. Clark said.
Urges Reverence for Law.
Urging reverence for the law, Clark |
declared that no officer or citizen /
or malicious law, he |
should work for its repeal, but he |
should never object to it in public. |
Just how the repeal of a law might |
be brought about without criticism of |
it in public, Clark did not point out.
Then Tinkham Veale, county at
torney of Shawnee county, addressed |
the law officers. After detailing the
necessary to success as
4 law enforcing officer, Feale de-
clared that these qualifications made
1t an honor to be considered an ally
Of the officers
He endorsed the plan of Charles
Brandon Booth for the putting to-
work, at a fair wage, the prisoners
who are sentenced to the state peni-
.entiary; the passage of law provid-
ng for the sale on the open market of |
he products of the penitentiary labor,
and the application of the prisoners
wage to the support of his dependents
while his term is being served.
VcaIe Endorses Booth Plan.
The question of what is going to
become of the wife, the children or
he parents of the man who is sent to
he penitentiary is one, which hinders
very Sheriff, every county attorney.
very trial judge and every jury. in
long his or it's duty in the punish
nent of law violators, Neale declared,
md said he was convinced that the
Booth pan would Solve the problem.
Station which would permit its adop-
ion in Kansas at the next session of
he state legislature
Another Big Problem.
Booze isn't the worst thing that is
to Kansas, by several thou
'ta tes district attorney for the state,
eclared when he appeared before the I
'eace Officers The use of narcotics ;
nd the traffic in them, is thousand .
Q the belief of the federal attorney. ,
rho proceeded to recite some of the
ondiions which are being met with
y government agents in the drive of
he federal government against the
arcotic dealers and users
We have grabbed them literally by
he score. IT all parts of the state. The .
professional classes men and women
like seem to furnish the lost num-
rous addicts to the habit" Willia ms
aid Il believe the growth of the use
f habit-formiDg drugs and the Traffic s
n them is second in growth only to !
he increase in the theft and. trans
of automobiles"
Williams warned the peace officers
ot to bother him with booze cases
(Continued on Page Two.) II