The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-11-02
MAYOR DEVER AND LAW
ENFORCEMENT
Chicago Evening Post)

N1HnCdSo Evening GOStD
If the mayor of Chicago had the
sort of dome" which is admired in
certain quarters he would be zoning
the city for purposes of booze distribu-
ton, and leasing out the zones to boot
leggers.
Mayor Dever could be a millionaire
in few months by such a profitable
exercise of his opportunity. He could
afford to replenish the treasury of the
Democratic party, pay big bonuses to
the police for their non-interference,
and even contribute something to the
city's revenues.
And why not2 If it is evidence of
an ivory dome" to attempt to enforce
the law; if the breaking of the law is
to be justified on the ground that it
is disliked by certain elements of the
population; if individuals and news
papers, assuming to be respectable,
argue for the federation of lawlessness,
why would it not be by far the wisest
thing for the mayor to organize the
bootlegging business thoroughly, reg
ulate it moderately, and divide the
profits with his party and the city?
Why permit the bootlegger to enjoy
the untaxed revenues of his lucrative
business, while the acquiescent author
tiles hold the better government asso-
citation and other trouble-making re-
formers at bay?
Let Mayor Dever tell the people of
Chicago who believe in law to quit
their puritanical and and pestiferous
insistence upon its enforcement, and
convert bootlegging into a municipal
enterprise. Let him send word to
President Coolidge that the governors
were all wrong in their resolution
sustaining the Constitution and the
federal statutes, and that Chicago, dis
liking the law, is going to ignore it.
Al Smith was only half-hearted in his
program. Mayor Dever can go the
full length of secession-and see what
happens.
This would be the frank and open
practicing of the policy advocated by
those who decry efforts at law enforce
ment by declaring them neither desir-
able nor practicable.
Mayor Dever is told that he is Irish,
and that the Irish break laws they
do not like. He is told that Chicago
is not an American city--it is a Ger
man city, an Italian city, Greek city.
So, they say, it is folly for him to try
to enforce the law. The Irish and
the Germans and the Italians and the
Greeks do not want it enforced, and
he is politically dead if he insists on
trying to enforce it. AT the first
chance he will be exchanged for some
body who has the O. K. of Tony
Cermak
But Mayor Devcr has not the sort
of dome which thinks after this
fashion, nor the sort of spirit which
can be frightened by such threats
Mayor Dever is Irish-and justly
proud of the fact. He and his Irish
friends will resent the stupid and in
sulting argument which sees parallel
between the spirit of rebellion against
an alien rule and the sneakng, cor
rupt violation of law enacted by the
people themselves after years of edu-
cation.
Mayor Dever is Irish, but he is be-
fore all else an American, and he will
resent Indignantly the suggestion that
Chicago is not an American city-we
had enough of that druring the war,
when Big Bill advertised us to the
world as an annex to Berlin. More
over his resentment will be shared by
multitddes of good citizens of foreign
birth or parentage, whose loyalty to
America and American law is not to
be questioned any more than that of
the natives and descendants of natives