Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-03-06
LIQUOR AND THE LAW

Withdrawals Of whiskcy from bonded
warehouses were IN soroc cascs put ON
the market. The complete figures up
to the end OF the last fiscal year, June 20,
1921, show that since the prohibition
amendment became effective little less
than Is months before, 100000
gallons Of liquor were withdrawn on
permits. Commissioner Haynes said
recently that this situation wac looked
into and THAI the rate Of Withdrawals
has been reduced considerably.
Charges Of violations Of the Vol,tesd
law are many, and there have been
numerous convictions The figures show
that in the last fiscal year 1882 con-
yictions were secured, and acqntal re-
suited in only 1856 Of the cases tried. In
many courts, however, the cases have
piled up tremendously, and very many
cases have not yet'con TO trih
This tremendous percentage OF con-
victions does not seem 20 deter the boot
Logging fraternity much. In this city
recently one man was arrested three tunes
within the space Of a month, showing
that he continued to operate right after
being eaught. They have the mental
attitude typical Of the criminal class.
Every old-time safe-blower and yegy
has, tucked away somewhere, sum OF
money which he viii not lay finger
on even if down and out. This is "iall
rnoney'--the fee for O good lawyer TO
defend him in court Il be iE caught.
The average bootlegge, after being
caught. apparently figures thst the
worst that can happen 70 him is 70 have
fine assessed against him, and that
IL behooves him TO keep At his trade and
pile up all the money he can, pending ms
trial.
MANY of the boo,leggers are not
playing fair with their patrons. Flnding
that they can command lch high
, prices. they are not satisf d ven with
, these, but doctor their prC'.0ct 30 that
= the actual return is still greater. A
| dispatch from one Of the West Indian
( Islands WAS published recently, describ-
A inv how Scotch whiskey is mixed with
2 other ingredients 40 that the taste II not
- impaired very much, but the cost Of the
product TO the bootlegger il very much
less. This synthetic Scotch Is made ZIP
with some OF the real whiskey, some
: creosote. some alcohol, and q lot Of
y water. The bottling is done, according
J 10 the dispatch, before this mixture ~
: brought into the United States by wsv
: of some of the obscure little natural
harbors on the South Atlantic or Gull
=, coasts
Big Money for Vioiators..
= The amazing profits made by come 81
- the Illicit operators were shown here n
: Washington not long ago when Negro
!" was captured by revenue officials and
the police and was charged with boot
= Logging. The police say that tins man
!" who had been at the business but shor
= time. owned nix high-powered cars, had
- an armed bodyglsrd who accompanied
~ him nearly everywhere, had built up
~ regular organization, including an offlc
u force which required two adding macnin
10 keen tab on collections. The polio
n said that this man had on his person i
y cash at the time Of his arrest abou
- $4,000.
40 All of the officials Of Mr.. Hsvne'
"a deDartment are not as certain as tbel
ie chief that real enforcement is posslbl
sc in the near future. Some of them VII
~ have had experience with the enforce
~ III ment of the laws for the suppresslo
n of the drug trade have that valuab
~" experience upon which 70 base the
DE predictions. In the early days 1t We
M found that MANY of the courts were M
Wy in sympathy with the narcotic law
~ and that when convictions were secure
the courts would impose the minimum
'h- penalties, sometimes a fine OF 81. TT
ief blame for this the offic'0's did not p'
az upon the courts. Pul % opinion vi
VI apathetic, they say. &c TINS vi
up aroused and the courts responded 20
,t by heavy penalties, the business
re breaking I'D the drug peddling buslne
I'D Id went ahead by leaps and bounds. The
lue men think that public opinion rna
are demand a really dry country IN ord
iloi to make strict enforcement Of the hqu
AL laws possible. Chauncey Depew on
last birthday nmed up the ment
attitude of many Americans when
is said that it was the one law OF 'vhi'
ee- he knew, the violation or which W
no regarded by respectable citizens as 4
zed achievement.