Evening star., 1923-02-26
u. S. to Fight Bootleggers
So Long rs Dry La,o Stands
Enforcement To Be Rigid and Success Is
Believed Certain Within 10 Years. Hard
Liquor Considered Banned Forever.

pull would get about as far with him
as with the Anti-Saloon League itself
IL ever came to question of en-
forcing the law against the friends
President Harding stands back of
Commissioner Haynes and the latter
pursues his task with all the enthu-
siasm Of Wayne Wheeler.
Mobile Forces Effective.
Indeed. prohibition enforcement,
which at first was looked upon as a
half-hearted affair, is beginning to be
taken seriously. Mr.. Haynes has
among his agents as he could in the
last year and knows there's more to
be accomplished in that direction,
but he also has learned more about
handling mobile force of men who
problem, make raids and arrests and
depart to another community while
another mobile force of agents ar
rives to continue the work. Success
has attended this policy and 1t will
be kept up. Expert investigators are
being developed and where there is
the right kind of cooperation be-
tween state and federal forces the
cleanup will come sooner than most
people expect.
Public sentiment, of course, is the
main obstacle in some states while
in others It is the bulwark of law
cation will be kept up for the next
several years in the hope that the
business and professional men will
gradually cease to encourage Illicit
uphold the structure of law and the
Constitution. Wherever the speakers
of the Anti-Saloon League as well as
the government go. they address their
appeals to the upper classes in the
community-the poor man who was
deprived Of his beer is believed to
have adjusted himself to the situation
while the richer citizen with his cell
lar supply being depleted is begin
ming to deal more extensively with
the "bootleggers."
Plea for Inv Upholding.
1t is a violation of law to buy from
a bootlegger, a violation of law to
have liquor in ones possession which
one didn't have prior to January.
1920. How long will the law con-
tinue to be disregarded? Anti-Sa-
loon speakers by the hundreds are
filing the churches every Sunday and
appealing to public sentiment They
is a good thing or bad thing, but
that anarchy and bolshevism will re-
suit If the majesty of the law isn't
upheld.
relentlessly. Plenty of funds are
available for the purpose. The states
-are being brought into closer Coop
GRAFTON with the federal government
every day. President Harding has
not made an empty gesture in his call
for a conference of governors. He
plans to acquaint them with the main
tasks that lie ahead and he has re-
ceived assurances in person from
practically all of the governors that
they will follow the lead of the fed
eral government.
Watch Pennsylvania Case.
The experiment in Pennsylvania is
being watched with particular inter-
est by President Harding and the en-
tire prohibition force of the govern
ment Pennsylvania is densely popu-
lated. Gov. Pinchot has asked the
legislature to pass drastic enforce
ment laws. They may become models
ior other states to copy. Gov. Pin
chot has had placed at his disposal
all the information and experience Of
the federal government in fighting
ylolators of the VolStead law. Pro-
hlbition Commissioner Haynes makes
frequent trips to Pennsylvania and
speaks to business and trade bodies
and other important gatherings there.
Pennsylvania is so close to New
York and New Jersey that what hap
pens in the Keystone state is bound
to become known across the Delaware
river in short order. II Pennsylvania
can be made dry, the skepticism of
some of the people in the other So
called wet" states will not last long,
That's the reasoning Of the prohibit
tionistS, who are making their hardest
drive in Pennsylvania, with the state
and federal machinery at their dis
posal.
Cite Dope Traffic.
And speaking Of skeptics, there is
a significant lesson to be learned
about the power Of the federal gov
ernment. when it is once exerted, and
that lesson concerns the traffic in
dope.
If "bootleggers" are har1 to catch,
then dope peddlers are doubly diff
cult to apprehend. They operate even
more clandestinely and with a skill
fulness born of years Of furtive ex-
perience. And what has been the
record of the federal government re-
Gently? The statistics show an in
crease in 1922 of 65 per cent in the
number of arrests and a 100 per cent
increase in the number Of convictions.
Publicity Is Opposed.
Some people have endeavored to
show that the dope traffic has been
stimulated by prohibition of the sale
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