Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-03-01
81 Booteggers in Radius of 10 Blocks---Ewald
COUNTY ATTORNEY TALKS ON PRO-
HIBITIOn n---SAYS WOMEN ACIN IT

Sixty bootleg '.joints" within rad
nus of 10 biocksl
Moonshine to right of them-moon-
shine to left of them!
Thus prohibition in Great Falls.
And out of 81 bootleggers, only
three Of them sell good hkker.
County Attorney F. A. Ewald, in an
address on liquor prohibition enforce
ment, before the Mems club of the
Congregational church Monday even
ing, made these statements. And he
talked slowly and referred to his fig
ures and his list of addresses as he
talked.
voicing an optimistic viewpoint with
respect to the ultimate control Of the
liquor, County Attorney Ewald did not
mince matters.
II do not say that Great Falls is
actually worse than any other town
it's size-I do not say this gentlemen, =
he concluded after barrage of local
facts that stiffened up his audience,
but it is far from being dry"
If the local "soft pedal" profession
is laboring under the illusion in which
the well-known ostrich takes delight,
it is far from secure. They county at
torney outlined the history of the local
bootleg profession, and even the elect
of its membership was immune. And a
name and address, here and there,
gave color TO the history.
at all goes back to the sentiment
of the people, which must be changed"
asserted Ewald. "People-respectabl
people-who drink and serve liquor at
their gatherings, must acquire re-
spect for the law before it can be
successful. The attitude which now
gives touch of adventure to the OBJ
tanning and drinking of liquor must be
changed. Men and women must learn
the seriousness of their offense and
become aware, of its effect.
"The ever growing stringency of the
liquor laws is aiding enforcement con-
siderably. The bootiegger now who
pleads guilty gets 5000 fine and so
days in Jail. A plea Of not guilty gets
the offender a $500 fine and 80 days,
and the man caught making moon
shine is given 5000 fine and four
months in Jail. Two men from here
have been sent to the state prison and
this had a marked effect upon the
traffic for the period following.
Bootleg whiskey sells locally at So
q gallon at the wholesale quotation.
At retail it brings the dealer $32 for
the same gxlIon--a profit of $24 for
the dealer.
"One of the problems of enforce
ment is the lack of cooperation be-
tween state and federal officers. More
or less friction exists between these
two factions, and the effectivness Of
the machinery is lost. Another prob
lem is the securing of competent dry
agents. A man must have special
ability for this sort Of work to be
successful in it. And frequently the
able man falls down on the job.
Eve recently had an example of
this when a new man was given 500
with which to go out and secure evil
dence. At the end Of the day he had
spent the hundred and written three
checks for $25 each, with no personal
funds to cover them His crowning |
achievement, however, was to get
thoroughly drunk himself. Of course
we had to make his checks good. And
this man had been recommended and
we had no reason to believe that he
was other than competent man.
"Still another agent who had done
good work in another district was
provided with 1896 with which to Sc
cure evidence At the end of three
days he returned to the office and an
nounced that he was broke and de-
manded more money. He declared he
had spent the fund in getting ac-
.quainted.' Naturally he was refused 1
any more money and he had to make
good on what he already had spent
He did, too.
Then we have wet juries to con-
tend with-juries composed Of men
who are in sympathy with the liquor
traffic We lose convictions through
them and we have no remedy for this
condition The men are taken from
the public at large and we have no
way Of knowing their personal view
points. AS matter of fact. the chief
part Of the criminal business Of the
courts now is composed Of liquor vio
htsous
'4One Of the biggest factors of all in
the hindrance of enforcement il the
sentiment Of the women. I hsd always
believed that women wers wholehears-