Evening star., 1923-06-04
S5O,O]0,o(O DRY
/ FUND BY U. S. seen
Federal Authorities Undis'
mayed by New York's
f. "SeCeSSion."
Ey FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


Representative Louis C. Cramton
of Michigan. successor of Andrew j.
Volstead as dry leader in the Sixty
eighth Congress, is quoted as author
ity for the statement that ''if neces-
sary," the sum of s50,0O0,000 "can and
will be appropriated" for prohibition
enforcement. This writer is authori-
tatively informed that heavy in
crease over the present ss,000,o00
budget may confidently be foreshad-
owed. Sinews of enforcement war
FIVE times more formidable than
those now available may be the dry
reply to the wet onslaught signalled
by New York state. Mr.. Cramton is
said to favor spending federal funds
on educating public sentiment along
law enforcement lines rather than
devoting them all to actual enforce
ment effort.
During the week end administra-
tion leaders chiefly concerned with
prohibition recovered from the early
effects of Gov. Smiths action and
discussed il dispassionately. 1t can
be stated that they are far from
viewing the dry cause as lost or
even seriously damaged. Mrs. Mabel
ney general in charge of liouor-law
violations. thus sums up the situa-
tion: We have not been taken Dy
surprise. The anticipated challenge
has been thrown down, and we snail
take it up. 1t will pile new burdens
on our already overloaded shoulders,
but we shall carry on.
Effect "PsycholosicaL"
The effect of the New York re-
pealer. federal dry leaders believe,
will be wholly psychological" 1t
is bound to build up wet hopes, they
Say, that states will now tumble over
another in emulation of New York's
secession from the Constitution.
Such hopes, it is believed, are doomed
to prove illusory. The states that
enact enforcement codes-forty-f -fve
in all. not counting New York-did
SO deliberately, and in more than one
case reluctantly. Having adopted
enforcement laws, Washington Is con-
ftdent they will not lightly be up
rooted New York always has been
notoriousIy wet, due to it's vast
cosmopolitan and urban population.
The spirit of backsliding is not likely
10 spread elsewhere as rapidly as 1t
did in the Empire state Only few,
weeks ago. Massachusetts, which,
with Maryland, was one of the two
states that had declined to enact en-
forcement statutes, passed one
through its legislature 1t becomes
iaN IN a year ana ndlI, dIleT lHe
holding of Il referendum.
The federal prohibition unit does
not place much faith in Gov. Smiths
assertion that. despite local repeal,
the federal liquor laws viii continue
to be inforced in New York. 1t is
pointed out that the repeater. by
making it impossible to use the state
rclice and courts for apprehending
and puni&hinC liquor-law violators,
rohs the United States of the punitive
WI birh is "a NJ a.
pendent. Under those circumstances
il is asserted that Gov. Smiths pro-
lie itation of unyielding fealty to the
federal Constitution is largely stage
play. The ma ational prohibition author
tiles frankly fear that 'federals" en-
ga ged in running down Illicit vets
will encounter the experiences they
have suffered in Maryland and Massa
chuGet In those states. particularly
in Maryland, they not only have had
no cooperation from local authorities.
but actually been hindered in the
performance Of their duties. Many
have been assaulted and several
Killed
achievements Lacking"
Enforcement in New York state.
even with ostensible local concur
renee" as contemplated by the Con-
stitution. has not been marked by
very notable results. During the en-
tire fiscal. year 1922 and during the
first five months or the nScal year
1928 there were only 6.127 prohibi-
ton cases reported to the four fed
eral court jurisdictions of New York.
OF that total. there were 1915 con-
victions. resulting in gross sentences
for all convicted persons of only fif
teen years, six months and twenty
four days.
Fines were the form Of punishment
in the overwhelming majority of cas-
es and these aggregated but $685.
eS4 During the past few months, ow-
ing to application of the spur by the
Department of Justice. certain New
York jurisdictions have been q bit
more potent. In the eastern district
in January there were 202 convic-
tions in a month. compared to asa
for the entire fiscal year of 1922, but
prison sentences continued to be
grotesquely low and fines in the 200
odd cases only reached S13,935. In
April. in the New York northern dis