San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-04-06
)UTLER FAILS
ITO CLEAN UP
| PHILADELPHIA
bb Is Hopeless Unless En-
tire Citizenry Gets
Behind Him.
EAL BEER IS SOLD
nderworld Is Repressed
But It's Only a Surface
indication.
EAI BEER IS SOLD
By MAXWELL HYDE.

By MAXWELL HYDE.
Philadelphia, April 5.-Philadelphia
; not been cleaned up" and will
b cleaned. up unless the entire
|izenship of the city gets solidly be-
Pd Gen. Smedley Butler, the fighting
prime who became safety director
|nuary z.
And the citizenship IL not 100 per
BIT behind Butler.
Crime still exists, major criminals
bandits, burglars, gunmen-still
Ike the city their headquarters, vice
ks openly on the streets, bootleg
be continues to be sold, and real
f-prohibition beer may be had for
\ small sum of 10 cents a glass.
The majority believes Butler can
J last much longer. They realize
Re Buffers activities may be com.
red to q fist held wrist-deep in the
lantic ocean-when the fist is with
iwn, the water rushes in leaving no
&c of a depression. They feel But
has made too many speeches. They
bw he is making an hone.t attempt
rid Philadelphia of undesirables,
secretly good percentage of them
ieves even Butler has begun to feel
problem too monumental.
Buffers pressure is being felt most
that part of the public which must
v for its liquor on the corner saloon.
ich has no friends ION the inside"
that there is no question. I talked
Eh scores who complained the saloon
~ had been used to frequenting had
tie selling real beer, and that they
3 to look up other more fearless
ces-of which there are many.
Vice Still Rampant.
Among others, the writer had a long
4 with a man generally acknowl-
led to know more of Philadelphia's
herworld than any other single in
idual in the city. This man is
but So, looks like a retired banker,
stops at one Of the most exclusive
Fels in the city.
Before the writer talked with him
had been told: "Should the man
are about to talk with suddenly be
bued with a desire to clean up the
;, he could do more in one week
n a million Buffers could do in a
lion years."
All his life this man has had close
tact with underworld characters.
big fellows who "pull" big jobs, who
for a price, who sell booze in huge
lntities, who rule their world.
md this man told me: "Not one
ierworld woman has left the city
ce Butler took hold. Not one boot
ger of any consequence has been
hight. Gambling, dopeIpeddling,
ze-selling is operated today on as
a scale as ever"
t must not be supposed Butler has
le nothing. He has reduced the
Of poisonous booze. He has raid
gambling halls and shut them up.
has forced the underworld woman
cover. He has made it more diff
to get a drink in public cabaret.
has arrested scores of petty crooks
kpockets, shoplifters, purse-snatch-
He has clogged the police court
kets.
n January Of this year $500 arrests
he made by police. In February the
nber Of arrests totaled $40. OF
January figures only go were for
berry, the great bulk of arrests be-
for petty crimes.
'he police do not give out figures
number of persons released on in
hplete evidence, or dismissed out
hit because a case has not been
we'd. l am given to understand
m authoritative sources that this
hber runs as high as So per cent.
Real Beer Flows Freely.
other words, Butler is scratching
surface. "For instance, just before
Her took hold" a newspaper friend
me, 81 happened one night to be
king with a city detective. We
bd in a theater lobby. The detec-
saw a pickpocket in the crowd.
grabbed the fellow by the trousers
threw him out on the curbstone.
In he told the manager not to allow
fellow inside again.
THE pickpocket protested he had
nothing. That was true, and
is why the detective made no ar
But under the Butler regime the
kpocket in such an instance is
ked up and police announce the
He comes before the magistrate
next day. OF course there is no
Hence togainst him and he is dis
sed, but the police do not announce
Philadelphia has long been noted as
lace to get good beer. 1t has not
the reputation since the prohibi-
enforcement measure. So that the
{ thing / wanted to know on COM
TO the City of Brotherly Love was !:
openly are they selling real beer?
ME first place l was taken was a
bination cigar store-barbershop-
bon. OF the three, the saloon proved
busiest. 1t looked like the old
s. Men were lined up at the bar
their discussions ranged from the
que of Nations and Soviet Rus
TO burlesdue shows. Which indi-
Ks they might not have been drink
near beer. The beer sold for 10
IS, which, discovered, was the cur
price.
but wasn't interested in beer-sell-
! wanted to find out what prog
Butler is making with major
ne and major criminals. i discov-
that philadelphia resembles a
be honeycomb. Outwnrdly it is
and quiet. Within, the bees are
n,,-v Ea~u,.. Cbrscff Mon