Evening star., 1923-07-28

A public protest against bankers
is voiced by Prohibition Commits
sioner Haynes. who says that IL the
banks were not helping to finance
bootleggers, the latter could not
carry on as they do.
Some bankers take the position
that they are not concerned with the
use to which their loans are put. SO
long as the credit Is safe. That Is
the same position formerly occupied
by druggists who sold patent mod
icines" bearing labels claiming all
sorts of cures, which were known to
be fraudulent. The druggists took
the attitude that they were mere
dealers in merchandise. and that they
were not undertaking to pass tudg-
ment on the claims of the manufac-
law have changed the oblique angie
of such traffic, and the fraudulent
drugs have been censored. The drug
gist is his brothers keeper" when
he Is knowingly party to fraudu-
lent pretense regarding what he
sells.
Commissioner Haynes arraigns
bankers who become parties to
transfers of illegal merchandise
liquors-between the bootlegger and
his customer. through holding funds
in escrow to be delivered to the
bootlegger, under certain agreed
terms. He holds them to be con-
spirators implicated as parties to the
Illegal transaction. even though their
part is simply to deliver money in
alleged to have guilty knowledge of
the illegality of the transaction.
Confiscations Of the liquor of boot
leggers show that only ! per cent Of
1t is genuine: the rest is dangerous
to life or to eyesight
There may be nothing In the bank
ers' relation to the running
transaction that Is contrary to law.
The present statutes do not cover
it. but there is a possibility that
some legislation at the coming ses-
sion of Congress may reach it. There
is still greater probability that the
subject may be discussed and out
lawed by the American Bankers As
ISOLATION, as a breach of ethics. The
Bar Association prohibits question
able practices Of lawyers. even when
they violate no law: the Medical As
ISOLATION is Jealous Of its ethics. The
better class of banker Is equally jeal-
Gus of preserving high moral stand
bankers forbid any financing of IL
legal liquor traffic. IL will go a long
way toward crippling crime.
Last week Charles Fortune of
Washington. thirty eight years old,
drank bootleg whisky, and he is now
IN a hospital in a critical condition
almost sure to lose his sight. IL not
his life. Police say the stuff he
drank contained lye and wood aIco-
hol. The man charged with giving
it to him: as a beverage. is ar
rested, and charged with possessing
and transporting the poison. Is there
a banker in the city who would want
to be known as helping finance such
an investment? Assuredly not.
Ninety-nine per cent Of the liquor
financed by any banker is of sim
liar Quality-dangerous to society,
according to Commissioner Haynes.
Wheat continues to sell in Minne-
apolis for less than a dollar a bushel,
but there has been no drop in the
price of bread in Washington. The
Consumers League. headed by Mrs.
Harvey ]. Wiley. wife of the former
chief chemist of the Department of
Agriculture. is planning an organized
attack on the bakers to force down
the price of bread or boycott the
bakeries.
About a month ago, in response to
certain comments on the high cost
of bread in Washington, there came
the following letter from the presi-
dent of one of the largest chain
stores:
Thanks for your bread story OF
Monday the 18th Your analysis OF
the situation Is very good. and l