davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21
JUDGE URGES INVESTIGATION OF REPORTS
OF HIGH FEES FOR B0OTLEGGER DEFENSE
Asks Bar Association Inquire Alleged Practice of Attorneys
In Fleeing Liquor Law Vioators, Most of Whom
Are Aliens Dupes.

The Grand Rapids, Mich, Bar Asso-
citation is to be urged by Superior Court
Judge L. d. Verdier to investigate re-
ports he has been receiving of profiteer-
ing among attorneys whom he says have
charged he has been informed, as high
at $1,000 for defending ordinary liquor
cases.
Judge Verdier says he knows OF sew
eral cases in which fees which seemed
exor b ant and unreasonable were
charged. Most of those who fall vic
tins to this class of attorneys, he ex-
plains, are of foreign birth, unable to
understand the significance of the accu-
sations and ready to pay any sum in the
hope of obtaining freedom. He is quoted
as saying,
81 would quit the bench and go into
the business of defending liquor viola
tors if | wanted to get rich quick. 1t
might be said that these huge fees act
as a salutary deterrent upon moonshin-
ers and others, who will hesitate to vio-
late the law when they know it is going
to be so costly to obtain legal defense.
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21

ment respecting the New York Anti
Saloon League Superintendent is in
dicated by Mr.. Best's claim that the
Davey case, which was exposed to the
pastors of the state of New York and
which exposure Mr.. Best read or else
threw in the waste basket, was the
same kind Of case as the case of the
AntiSalocn League Superintendent!
Mr.. Best has continued to insist that
the cases were on a parity although
Mr.. Davey's Board, representing a
statewide organization affiliated with
nationa, organization supported by
the churches, including the Presby-
terrain churches, forced him out, fol-
lowing the revelations concerning him,
whereas the Anti-Saloon League
Board has certified to the public that
it has ratified and approved its super
intendent's actions, and formally states
that they were perfectly straightfor-
ward, in harmony with previous ac-
tons of the Board. and all for the
benefit of the Anti-Saloon League.
This attitude on the part of Mr.. Best
is either wlful perversion or suppress
sion of material facts, and there were
both, or else it assumes the RESPONSE
blity of proving the New York Anti
Saloon League Board of Directors
liars as we'll as incompetents.
Most OF the rest of Mr.. Best's OPP
position to the New York Anti Saloon
Leagues Superintendent grows cut OF
his (Mr. Best's) opinion OF the man
ner in which the $4,000 publicity &C
count was handled, and his (Mr
Best's) refusal to recognize that GER
tain things were necessary to save the
| New York League or to accept the
| Judgment of those who knew the facts
that they had to be done, if at all, in
the only way they could be done-and
that the way he condemns seemed to
be the only way.
A Triangle" for Davey, Best's In
formant, Ties Into Fosdick
This Mr.. Davey, who, Mr.. Best adj
mits in writing, was in close touch with
him and whose stuff Mr.. Best has
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21

But to my mind a liquor law violator
has the same rights as a citizen of any
other type of violator. 1 do not believe
any attorney has the right to charge
$500, or $1,000, to appear for man or
woman who stands no chance whatever
of acquittal Even though the client
were freed, such fees seem to me exorb-
liant"
Is Commendable Move
This is eommendable move on the
part of Jugde Verdier. Many attorneys
who are specializing in bootleg cases are
no better than the bootlegger, and the
class of attorneys who take advantage
of the alien bootlegger by charging ex-
orbitant fees are merely parts of the
bootleg machine that is exploiting these
people.
Fully rs to 80 per cent. of the small
bootleggers in our cities are aliens. They
are the dupes of the big operators in
the bootleg fraternity. This is no. ex-
cuse for their lawlessness. Education
in American government will protect
them equally from the booze conspirator
and the gouging bootleg lawyer.
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21

world have to deal. His duties have
brought him into the closest contact
with Congressman, Senators, and gov
eminent officials of his country, and
he has probably had more to do with
the drafting of the Eighteenth
Amendment of the American Consti-
tuition and plotting it through Con-
gress and Senate than any other man.
Certainly he knows more about the
law enforcement codes of the amend
ment and their administration in the
various states than anybody. His espe-
cial business has been to watch the
progress of these measures through
the various state legislatures, protect
them from the assaults of their
enemies and save them from their
friends. He has wrought havoc and
confusion in the ranks of the trade IN
a thousand controversies, and may
therefore be relied upon to point the
way whereby we may accomplish sim
liar results among the same enemies.
of social order in this countrys"
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21

proved he swallowed, was a tool of
Mr.. Fosdick. To just what extent
Mr.. Best was in touch with Mr.. Fos-
dick on this question we are not in a
position to say, although we suspect
the matter has been talked over be-
tween them perhaps more than once.
Davey once tried to get some of the
Anti-Saloon League directors corralled
in a meeting in Mr.. Fosdick's office
arranged with a view to eliminating
the New York Superintendent and
perhaps making the directors party to
action by the district attorney who
was presumably to be represented at
the meeting. This was about the time
Mr.. Davey was in touch with Mr.. Best
according to Mr.. Best's own admis-
sions.
Further, Mr.. Best's proposal in his
editorial that the New York superin-
tendent retire under fire, his cold
blooded proposal at my interview with
him to the same effect, is exactly the
proposition that Mr.. Davey worked
upon for months. He found one
preacher in the state of New York
mot Presbyterian to say it pub
licly and found one other preacher Ga
Presbyterian to work most assdu-
ously to try to put it across secretly.
And he may have found little hand
! full of other pastors to raise it quietly
as a question. There have not been
enough to raise even a squeak in the
face of the solid backing of the super
intendent and the state board by the
denonlinational bodies.
Mr.. Best has Forced Me to Give the
Facts
| would have allowed all this to go
without any comment if Mr.. Best had
not broken out in another editorial
after the indictments were returned
against me. But when on August
he attempted editorially to discredit
the Board, and me its employee, longer
silence could not be a service to the
cause or to the League constituency
within the Presbyterian church and
the Continents sphere Of influence.
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21
ALABAMA'S OFFICIALS ARE
REAL ENFORCERS OF LAW

A report for August, 1923, by Chief
Law Enforcement Officer McAdory to
Governor Brandon OF Alabama shows
total of ga arrests. Ninety seven of
these arrests were for violating the pro-
hibition laws. Under the item, Prop
erty Seized and Destroyed, the Chief re-
ports the seizure of $50 stills, 80, 100
gallons of beer, SCI gallons of whisky, 80
gallons of wine, and 3T5 bottles of home
brew. Six autos, two wagons and four
mules were confscated.
There were l39 convictions with six
cases nolle pressed and seven acquittals.
There were four sentences of one year
and one day, and one of two years, with
cash fines totalling $l4,l33.27. The ex-
penses of the Department for the month
totalled $4,7ll.79.
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21
YES, 1T PROHIBITS

There were not half as many
arrests for intoxication in CO.
lumbus, Ohio, during the entire
week of the recent State Fair as
there were often made in a sim
gle evening in the old saloon
days with nothing special going
on. The population of Column
bus is about 25o,ooo. The week
of the State Fair there was a
daily average of $4,000 visitors.
1t is safe to say that for the
week there. were 100000 people
daily in the capital city. The
total arrests for the actual time
the State Fair was in progress.
covering six days, was only 2o.
When Columbus had saloons it
was not uncommon for so or
more arrests to be made for
drunkenness in a single Satur-
day night.
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21

The knows OF but religious semegous pubca
unend attitude Superintendent Will
5000 Protes
City These The Continent Nolan
Il. Best, editor; and The Outlook
reply the
friendly Outlook reproduced edi-
Brooklyn Standard Union leading IN the
most populous York THIS week the American Issue
carries unendy the Continent and
by way Fods Dear
born Indep
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21
(By William H. Anderson)

League OF -NCW iolhi hiSANuiiS ~
, Presbyterians on it, is elected annu-
ally by the Board OF Trustees in which
the officially chosen representatives OF
the UNCONVENTIONAL bodies are in the
overwhelming majority and have and
exercise complete control, Mr.. Best at
this interview expressed contempt for
the League Board OF Directors as "a
bunch of small-bore men OF no stand
ing or influence in the state, or words
of exactly that meaning.
AT this interview concerning which
Mr.. Best has written such misleading
statements ~and following which he
published an editorial false in its
necessary implication in vital par
ticular Mr. Best dismissed, as he with
such cocksureness dismissed other
things in this case, as ''preposterous'
the idea that l might be indicted. The
FIVE Tammany political indictments Sc
cured with the help of the men Mr..
Best was helping indicate the sound
ness of his judgment on this point.
Mr.. Best's Solicitude Over Ethical
Standards
Mr.. Best had much to say about
ethics, and tore passion and pathos to
fatters over an alleged fearful self
revelation | had given in my state
ment that however unwise certain
perfectly honest transaction may have
| been, there was nothing even unethical
about it. Now let us check up the
worst that can possibly be said truth
fully about the transactions which
have been the basis for this frame-up,
these indictments and the wet press
propaganda which Mr.. Best has helped
along is that in the press of work, in
an effort to advance the interests of
the Anti-Saloon League and to save it
money, in perfectly honest transac-
tons which did both advance the
cause and save the League money, l
failed to protect myself sufficiently
against tie possibility of falsehood on
the part of an employee whom trusted
and befriended but who has proved to
be one of the most unconscionable and
unscrupulous individuals that ever
worked his way into or was planted
by the enemy in the ranks of moral
movement
On the other hand, Mr.. Best's mis-
take OF judgment has resulted in false
witness against representative OF his
own cause who, by Mr.. Best's own
statement, has performed services
which entitled him to the benefit of a
reasonable doubt. Further, if Mr..
Best had had larger personal follow
ing and if the churches of New York
state had not in effect repudiat.d his
recommendation, his mistake would
have deeply injured in New York state
the one agency the liquor traffic in
New York is most afraid of and which
he himself testifies is most effective.
Best Close to Fosdick
Mr.. Best presumably would have had
the Anti-Saloon League of New York
refuse to accept the official representa-
tives of UNCONVENTIONAL bodies elected
on the state board and apparently
would have us go by Presbyterians
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21

VCShly, Vi "a
In New York City. where opposi-
ton to prohibition is a profitable pro-
fession and is very closely allied to
racial, religious and political interests,
the State Superintendent of the Anti
Saloon League, William H. Anderson,
has at las. been indicted. The wonder
of those who have watched the proc
ess is that the indictment was delayed
SO long. The delay itself is first
class confession on the part of the
alien prosecutors that their case was
pretty hard to make up and is scarcely
expected to hold together for more
than political and publicity purposes.
The whole matter would be entitled to
much more respect if opposed to Mr..
Anderson there could be found one
official with an American name, but
apparently the Americans have kept
out of it.
This is not defense of Mr.. Ander-
son nor of the Anti Saloon League. 1t
is recognized that those who fight the
devil with fire sometimes get burned.
When the League went into politics
and won, it won by political methods,
and it is not going beyond the facts
to say that as many political tricks
were pulled in the interests of decency
as we're attempted in the interests of
evil. The country has so long been
accustomed to good men who were
good for nothing but talk about good
ness. that it does not easily accustom
its thought to good men who are just
as sharp as the agents OF evil and
sometimes little sharper For exam
pie: the liquor business never had a
"Pussyfoot" Johnson; if it had there
would probably be no prohibition to-
day. The liquor business has never
developed any statesmanly represen-
tative. All its policies have backfred.
The brains and the strategy have been
on the other side.
Being in politics, aided and abetted
by the moral sentiment of the country,
the Anti-Saloon League did not al
WAYS use church parlor methods, and
| it may we'll be that an examination OF
its program will reveal some interest
ing things, but the hope of its enemies
that anything criminal will be disclosed
is almost certainly doomed to disap-
pointment. The directors of the
League in New York are men whose
long lives of public integrity and splen-
did service really give profound weight
to their statement that they have ex-
amined all the affairs of Mr.. Anderson
and find him right.
| If to reimburse himself for funds
which he personally advanced to wage
the fight Mr.. Anderson yielded to the
foreign iGea of splitting commissions
rather than the American idea of fixed
and definite pay for labor performed
he made a grave mistake. (See note
below.) 1t was mistake especially
in New York where the idea of COM
missions and percentages is developed
to its farthest point. New Workers
from brokers to gamblers, know to the
smallest fraction the ms and outs OF
the rake-off and commission game
They know percentages backward as
we'll as forward. When any American
attempts to adopt their commission
game to his uses, they know quite well
how to punish him. That the metrop-
oils should utilize the split commission
as means OF getting" man it hates
would be humorous, were it not that
the grave issues involved transcend
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21

who are loyal and open their churches,
and link up with men of the type OF
his special friend DR.. Harry Emerson
Fosdick, the preacher in the First
Presbyterian church in New York City
who said, according to the statement
of his brother Raymond, that he would
under no circumstances admit the
Anti-Saloon League to his pulpit,
which by the way has never beer open
to the AntiSaloon League.
The Presbyterian friends of, the
cause, and that means most Presby-
terians, have right to know that in
addition to being a staunch supporter
OF Raymond B. Fosdick's brother,
which ought not to make any differ
ence in this question, Mr.. Best lives
in the same community with and is a
personal friend of Raymond B. Fos-
dick, Rockefeller representative and
the man responsible for the district
attorneys activity against me.
Best and Robert u. Davey
Good friends of the cause have a
right to know also that Mr.. Best &C.
cording to his own written admission
was in touch some six months or
more before these charges broke"
with Robert G. Davey discredited
ex-employe of the League, and that
Davey poured into his ears all of the
stuff which later in spirit appeared in
Mr.. Best's editorial utterances.
We have reproduced in facsimile in
the New York edition of the Ameri-
can Issue rake off" contract in Da-
vey's own handwriting, made, unknown
to the League and in violation of its
rules and Instructions, while he was
engaged with the League, and not dis
covered until after he. was dismissed,
which contract proved that while Mr..
Davey was supposedly Fdisinterest-
eddy" advising communities to hire de-
ftectives. lie was then compelling the
detectives to pay him certain amount
of the pay they got. We even pub
lished facsimilies of the checks given in
such payment and told also how he
did that at the expense ofnthe local
law enforcement organization Of; the
community in which he lives. ~
Almost anybody but Mr. Best would
have discerned the motive for Davey's
trying to hang something of the sort
on me, and the unlikelihood that I
would have exposed Davey if equally
guilty.
Best Not Only Swallowed but Re-
peated Davey Falsehood
Mr.. Best has stated that he paid no
attention to Mr. Davey's charges
against me, but stung by public ref
erence to his protection of Davey as a
preacher of his own denomination
while going out of his way to help
railroad" me out of the state super
intendency, Mr.. Best made admissions
in writing which indicate the he had
in fact accepted Mr.. Davey's state
ments He also made the absolutely
untrue statement that the Anti-Saloon
League had kept Mr.. Davey in spite
of these things as long as we could
use him, when we have abundant tes-
timony that this is not true.
The soundness of Mr.. Best's judg-
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21
BY WAY OF COMMENT ON ONE
POINT

There was, of course, no commits
sion-splitting" in any true or ordinary
sense of the term. The League Su-
perintendent saved the League some
thousands of dollars by doing extra
work, as pointed out by the Board of
Directors, and turning his payment for
same over to the League instead of
keeping it as he might legally have
done. Even the prosecution has
dropped this charge and jumped to a
charge of "extortion." The fact that
so fair an editorial as the above should
consider such a possibility even hypo-
thetically indicates the widespread and
persistent character of the propaganda
designed to put across this and other
falsehoods, but which failed to accom-
plish its object because of its trans
parent animus and -yirulence.
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21
WHEELER'S WORK PRAISED
AT GLASGOW CONFERENCE
I'm NO LICENSE CAMPAIGN

Wayne B. Wheeler, General Coun-
sci of the Anti-Saloon League of
America, has recently returned from
a strenuous overseas trip. He was a
delegate to the international Con-
gress Against Alcoholism held in
Copenhagen in August. A week of
his time was spent in Scotland,
where he delivered numerous adj
dresses under the auspices of the
United No-License Campaign Com
mttee. At conference in Glasgow,
DR.. Wheeler was introduced by Mr..
R. A. Munro, joint chairman. The
Scottish Temperance Reformer gives
the following report of his introduc-
tory remarks
when ex-President Taft, explain
ing how prohibition was carried in
the United States, referred to the
Anti-Saloon League as the most won
derful organization on EARTH he prob
ably did not exaggerate. And an or
ganization capable of such achieve
ment must have had some remarkable
men to inspire its policy and carry it
to successful issue. 1t has been our
privilege, during the last few years
especially, to welcome as our guests
some of these leaders, and have in
yariably received from them vaIuah1a
testimony and wise counsel which
have been most helpful to us in the
fight we are carrying on here.
DR.. Wheeler's Record
"Dr. Wheeler is one of the most
important officials of the Anti-Saloon
League, the hero of hundred fights
against the greatest enemy of social
welfare and clean and orderly gov
eminent with which the nations of the
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21


/, the personalities of Mr.. Anderson and
the individuals who assail him.
When the Anderson trial occurs, be-
fore a jury of New Workers, the court
room will be pervaded by an atmos-
phere of hate unless the presiding
judge takes extreme precautions.
Enemies of prohibition, if not OF An
derson, may seek to pack the court
room. In so doing, they vii deal
their own cause a bitter blow. The
eyes of the country will be on the
trial. Real Americans lean backward
in their desires for fairness. Should
the Anderson trial develop signs OF
persecution rather than prosecution, it
will hurt ting anti-prohibition cause as
much as Anderson's enemies hope his
conviction will hurt the prohibition
cause.
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21
Superintendent ANDERSON COMMENTS
ON UNFRENDLY CONTINENT" EDITORIAL

Nolan Best Editor of Continent Displays Inexcusab Ignorance
OF Relative Tammany's Attack Mr. Anderson,
Which Is in Reality Attack the AntiSaloon League
Attitude of Fords Dearborn Independent in Striking
Contrast Attitude of Continent
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21
THE EYES OF AMERICA WILL Be ON new YORK

THE Dearborn Independent the Ford Internaona
Weekly, of August II, 1929
The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-09-21
Best Close to Fosdick

Mr.. Best presumably would have had
the Anti-Saloon League of New York
refuse to accept the official representa-
tives of denominations bodies elected
on the state board and apparently
would have us go by Presbyterians
Evening star., 1923-12-15
EPISCOPAL PRIESTS
PLAN CONVENTION
Speakers Being Secured for Ses-
sion Of High Church
Clergymen.

Speakers are now being secured for
the Episcopal priests convention to
be held in Philadelphia next April 20
and 80. AS the date falls at the same
time as the Episcopal Church con-
gress. there has been some talk Of
changing 1t, but since 800 priests
have signified their intention of being
present, 1T was thought best to let it
stand the delegates attending the
congress after the close of the con-
Vention. This convention is regional,
representing the New England and
North Atlantic states. and Is the first
OF series leading up to national
congress. like the Anglo Catholic con-
gress of London.
On the first day of the convention
the subjects will be THE Incarna-
ton The Deity of Our Lord" 1.-THE
Virgin Birth of Our Lord" and 1.-The
Resurrection OF Our Lord" In the
evening the subjects will be "The
Holy Eucharist" "the Real Presence"
The Holy Sacrifice" and The Holy
Communion" On the second morning
the subjects will be Moral Theology"
The Study of Moral Theology" THE
Priest in the Confessional and
Spiritual Guidance" In the after
noon the subjects will be "The Devo-
tional Life of the Clergy" Prayer
and Meditation" and "A Rule of Life"
wednesday evening the subject will
be The Church and Reunion
Evening star., 1923-12-15
"Y" RELIGIOUS SCHOOL
TO BEGIN FIFTH YEAR
Training for Church and Sunday
School Work Shows Wide
Success

TEf School of Religious Education
of the Y. NJ. G. A. will open its fifth
year January T. This school has had
four successful wears in religious edu-
cation, and has been of much assist
ance in training young men and wom-
en- for active work in our local
churches, Sunday schools and Young
Peoples societies. Enrollments are
now being taken for the various
classes at the Y. NJ. G. A., and il is an
nounced that the new catalogue will
be sent to any one interested. The
school will begin on January and
meet each Monday night for twelve
weeks at the Calvary Baptist Sunday
school house. This school is affiliated
with the Sunday School Council of
Religious Education Of the District of
Columbia, with Homer }. Councillor,
secretary of the council, as dean of
the school.
The Y. NJ. G. A. is making a special
effort to raise funds for the work on
foreign fields during the next two
weeks. The Twenty Four ii Hour-a-
Day Club which might be termed the
foreign work committee of the local
association, raises funds for this work
by voluntary subscriptions, and all
Subscribers become members of the
club. of which DR.. George Otis Smith,
director of United States geological
survey, is president.