Evening star., 1923-10-11
FIERCE RUM WAR .
RACES IN CHICAGO
Mayor Determined to Make
City as Dry as Any Small
-f
Town in U. S.
BY j. p. YODER.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
CHICAGO, October 11.-Whatever
motive there may be behind Chi
cago's knockdown and drag out wet
dry fight, the most spectacular fight
any large city in the country has
ever seen, one fact stands out to-
De"er intends to make the second
largest city In the United States as
dry as the driest small town.
AS a matter of incontrovertible
fact, Chicago, which in the pre-vol-
stead days had 7,500-odd saloons
more per capita than any other city
in the world-already is drier than
at any time in its history. To get
the real significance of this fact, 1t
must be remembered that Chicago
percentage of foreigners, whose
proclivities lean toward something
on the side"
OF course, there are q lot of per-
sons who say that Mayor Dever is
playing to the galleries. But II you
an hour. as the writer has just done,
that opinion would be waited away
like spent steam on a breezy day.
Mayor Dever believes in his fight.
tainly has SO far. The most favored
cafes in the Loop, the heretofore air
tight protected cabarets in the out
lying districts, the coffee shops" and
soft drink "cheater' saloons, to the
number of thousands, are selling
nothing but soft stuff and near beer.
Furthermore, all but the most emf
nently respectable and law abiding
brewerieS are closed.
True there is a little-a very little
illegally alcoholic stuff being
brought in over the roads. but Mayor
Deyer says even that Will be stopped
by Sunday, when he expects drinks
to be fewer and farther apart than
they We're that day when the Cover
nor of North Carolina made his his
toric remark to the Governor of South
Carolina.
"a 90 per cent honest police force
has made it possible for me to sue
ceed," says the mayor. The three
so-called beer murders brought the
thing to a climax. / am not a prohi-
bitlonist, but l do believe in law and
order. The law says what we can
not have. L would be fool, now
wouldn't I. if I did not carry this
thing through 10 q finish? You can
tell the world I'm going to-"
The mayors statement that 80 per
cent of the police force was honest
comes as something OF a surprise in
face of the general knowledge that
something like Il half million dollars
Il week is paid out in graft to the
police and others higher up But
members of the force say he is right.
The situation in the large cities to-
day, they agreed. is much the same
as 1t was in the old red light days. ,
The police captain and handful OF
his satellites shared in the tribute
from illegal places, while the remain
ing hundred or more policemen In a
precinct not on the inside, stood
back and watched the favored few
get all the breaks" So the rank
and file are giving Mayor Dever the
best they have.
Mayor Dever told several thousand
German-Americans the other day in
a public address that he was going
to apply the law until it hurt. They
seemed little stunned at first But
the writer's interview with the mayor
was interrupted four times by Ger
American leaders who had come
10 tell him that the German element
--anti-V Volstead though it be-is with
him. tooth and nail" They hope that
rigid administration of the law will
ultimately bring an amendment legal
izing the sale of beer and light wines.
Mayor Dever frankly says that tha [.
is what he would like to see, too.