Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-12-07
VOlstead Repeal
Inevitable Unless
Modification Made

amendment of the VOlStead act IL
inevitable, unless there is modif-
cation of the present system of ap-
pointing enforcement Offices, William
Dudley Foulke, president Of the Ma
tional Civil Service Reform League,
asserted tonight before the forty
third annual convention of the
League.
The administration of the prohibi-
ton service was described by Mr..
Foulke as "a frightful yet profitable
objection lesson of the inherent vices
of the spoils SYSTEM" which he said
was resulting in a serious public
reaction against the Volstead law.
He predicted, however, that attempts
to repeal or amend the law during
the present session of Congress
would not be successful.
Cases in which prohibition agents
and state directors had been Con-
victed of corruption under both the
Democratic and the Republican ad
ministrations were cited by the
speaker as merely samples from the
bulk"
"The posts Of state director and
enforcement agent were the most
coveted of the patronage plums," he
continued, because bribery rendered
| them very profitable. Appointments
were made on the behests of Senators
and Representatives who in their
turn generally followed the demands
Of the state, county and local
political organizations, and the worst
men with the strongest political
backing secured the places"
Prohibition Commissioner Haynes
and Attorney General Daugherty
were accused by Mr.. Foulke of pur-
suing a policy of concealment re-
garding violations of the law by their
| subordinates, the effect of which
had been to- lull the friends of law
and order into false sense of
security. Now that the real condi-
ton is becoming known, he added,
public confidence in Commissioner
| Haynes official statements has been
utterly destroyed.
"Since the prohibition commits
| sioner was appointed through the in
| fiuence of the Anti Saloon League"
/ said Mr.. Foulke, that League must
accept it's share of the odium not
| only for the lack of enforcement but
| for the concealment and false claim
| that the law was well enforced"
The Civil Service Reform League,
| the speaker said, would enter no
compromise, but would resist all
| current proposals looking to partial
classification of the prohibition force.
I'VE insist" he added, that any
| classification which leaves the seeds
| of corruption still in the enforcement
| service is not reform at all but a
perpetuation of iniquity and that the
whole service must be classified and
competitive examinations held for
all. The horrible corruption in the
! enforcement unit warns US that we
| must leave no loopholes. We may
we'll be defeated and get no classifi-
cation at all but even that is far
, better than to classify part and
| thereby perpetuate the scandal"
While Mr.. Foulkes address was
| devoted principally to prohibition
| enforcement. he took occasion to
| criticise Attorney General Daugherty
| and other administration officials who
| he said had sought to have "key
positions" in the government SER
! vice excepted from civil service re-
! Quirements.
where key positions are given to
| partisans," he said. the other places
| fall like a row of dominoes under
| political control and the whole spoils
| system with it's paralyzing abuses
is back again. 1t is not only the key
! positions that .hese office peddlers
desire; their ultimate aim is to get
/ all places restored to the spoils
| system"
Attorney General Daugherty was
| said by Mr.. Foulke to be acting on
| the principle that the most juicy
plums of office ought to be given
not for public purposes, but to those
who would best promote to the
political fortunes of his party" After
citing various political appointments
made by the Attorney General, Mr..
Foulke continued:
1T was natural to expect that in
a department thus controlled the
subordinate officials would give cause
for scandal in enforcement of the
Nolstead law; and so it was. Before
Mr.. Daugherty became Attorney
General, large quantity of liquor
was seized and stored in a ware
house in Washington, and on May
IL, 1872, more than a year and two
months after Mr.. Daugherty took
Office. the Federal Grand Jury re-
ported that certain representatives
of the Department of Justice dis
posed of the liquor in various ways,
viz: by appropriating it to their own
use. Though this report was
published and n copy sent to each
member of Congress there were no
indictments and some of the guilty
men were long retained in the SER
vice in important positions"
Recalling the charge of Rep
resentative Upshaw. Democrat,
Georgia. that bootlegging f1ourished
= in the Capitol Building, Mr.. Foulke
added:
yet, Mr.. Upshaw gave no names.
except confidentially to the prohibi-
ton commissioner. who did not pub
fish them. If his charges were true,
congressman themselves were pro-
tecting bootlegging, and by their
secrecy, the Prohibition Commits
sioner and Representative. Upshaw
himself had protected the Congress-
men,"