Evening star., 1923-04-28
ARMY MAY Be USED
TO HELP DRY FIGHT
Likelihood of Early Navy
Participation Brings Talk
of Land Forces Part.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

! Shall the Army of the t.nfte,I
States as well as the Navy be sub
eject to call for the enforcement T..
! prohibition?
) President Harding is wrestling A.,
! the moment with tho legal problem
: OF whether he has tho authority &,
| order the navy into action to stnp
! rum running but already il Is au-
I parent that whatever precedent is eS-
tahlished with respect to the use O.
the navy may be equally applied i"
| the army on shore
The President has found. Of course
that the coast guard and custotu~
! service is unable To cope with the
violations Of federal law in the Iiquor
traffic and the Auti-Saloon League
and dry organizations generally haya
been pressing the Administration to
20 the limit in using the full fore"
Of the United States government L"
see that the statutes are upheld.
Looking Up Precedents.
Mr. Harding has asked the Depart
m"nt of Justice to look up the
rrcTd"nts-that is. whether none
appropriated by Congress originally
! y" utilized to enforce civil and Grim
inai laws. The lawyers have found
plenty of prccedeuts with respect t.
the Army. as. for instance. the send
irg OF troops 10 queil the famous lqu.
rebellion in Pcnnsy lvania in th
carly days of the American rcpui,-
lic when til" first revenue laws weI,
passed, and there WAS difficulty il.
collecting taxes. The military fore
also have been used to enforce sta
ut"S relating to restraint Of inter
stat" commerce. Every governor Ia
II" right TO call upon the fedora
government at any time to furnish
troops TO uphold state government
and quell disturbance
But the waters within the three
mile limit do not belong to any par
tIcular state. and the question *
whether national emergency exists
which permits the Navy 10 be divert
ed from its task of protecting fh..
nation against foreign invasion. into
enforcement of domestic laws
broadly speaking. the Navy can b.
used in AN emergency to put down
ciN!l war. and has been used in tina
connection. so that ii the emergency
We're great enough, there would II.
n" doubt of the power of the Exccu-
tive 10 order the Navy into action
Similarly. if any huge plot TO hreaI
down the tariff wall and smuggl"
goods into America were under wfy
the Navy could be used to put dow
what would be interpreted as rebe!
lion against the authority of the fed
cr3l government.
tsc of Navy Likely.
The general impression is that IN,
lawyers viii find there is ample pre-
Cedaut and viii leave the question ,,f
whether II is wise TO employ the
navy in prob ibition enforcement en-
tirely - the Executive himself to de-
I eide. It Will then become largely n
matter of policy. Does the President
wish TO establish precedent with
respect to prohibition enforcement.
which may compel him some day with
equal logic To order out the Army ii
any state of the union fails to enforce
The eighteenth amendment? The
! "dryS" have frequently talked in fT-
slstent tones about the need for the
use Of the entire army if necessary L.
make populous state obey the fed
eral constitution.
tablishinent being used TO put down
liquor violations. it is admitted would
give the "Wets" new ammunition with
which To appeal to public sentiment.
as the latter would naturally declare
that any laws which do not have suf-
fcient moral sentiment back of them
I" obtain respect without the use Of
the Army and Navy are wrong in
principle. and that no other domestic
laws have needed such drastic meas
ures.
The problem is full Of political dan
gers whichever way it is solved, but
the best conjecture AT the moment is
that the Department Of Justice will
render the necessary legal opinion
and the American Navy will before
long. he engaged in prohibition en-
forCement
Copyright, 1881