The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-13
ENFORCEMENT IS
 STATE AS WELL AS FEDERAL DUTY
Proper Effort Will See Dry Law Effective
 Says Mrs. Willibrandt

hardest jobs in this country where diff 4 ficult' tasks of countrywide scope abound is held by a woman. Mrs. Ma. bel Walker Willebrandt, one of the < six assistant attorneys general of the United States, has charge of the legal end of prohibition enforcement, says the New York Times.
 What has been her experience? What is her opinion as to actual and possible enforcement, based on three years intl- mate acquaintance with the legal end { of this work? l-s Little Aid From The States
 Prohibition has never had fair chance" Mrs. Willebrandt said. Ever since it first became a national issue it has been a political football. Both democratic and republican administra- tions have used it as such. Nossarnest effort has been made to carry the law into effect until recently. Appoint ments of prohibition agents have been regarded as juicy political plums, and have been made regardless of whether the appointee was trustworthy. or ca pable. Consequently the work Of en- forcement was slowed down to snalls pace. "One reason why the work has been so slow is that there has been lament able lack of cooperation between the states and the federal government. am sometimes asked what assistance the states are giving us ; it is not case of assistance, it is a case of the states doing or not doing their duty. Eacn state has a definite responsibility. Many of them have left the lions snare of the work to the federal governlneht' tying us up with vast number or un- important cases which take the tlne ina ought to be devoted to the big ones; If should not be the task of the Unlted States government to see to It thaC saloon in some obscure street pc closeu that is local offense and should pe handled as such. In some states esen in some cities, their part or the Jop naS been admirably handled, but where suon an attitude is most needed-tnat ls, on the seacoast and on the boroer-i' 10 seldom found. .-.,-
 "As an example of what can or pc uonf of let me cite Chicago. Mayor UeNei ITs;+sd d that city is a democrat the o,snn i'is ;s States District Attorney, MT; oieeH, ;,aJ Y. aSrepublicap. Nevertheless, they SnrIv SoI forces and together cleaned up e;t,;i. n s00 nlaces. Then, on hls fesponoii; 1oi;oe
 itv, using city detectives anH noo Sl pnSSl' inc mayor closed up about Low ~
 CT places !. ;s less A matter of state policy and more .;u,d an ;n- i1fa. s,efarept and sporadic appreciation Gl ooaassnans;bility. Smuggling is not mucn aa sespnhI sa nrohIem in that section,. except hOTder,
 esai saIn The south the activities or tne .4.ta enforcement officers depend on Sotbor sLSo or not the territory IS neaE ths xnIf or Atlantic coast. Most ol tSe ssacoast sections leave matters LCi t.e Federal. agents to. handlei mianu' sars t there is comparatively little to. pe Sa-a the state machinery or enIorce- Inent works .L.A us have to deal with is right up Tn tnls sees. eror the northeastern states. SmQgenls hv tLo .o Canadian border, rum-runnlns pS tno o,nd Toanufacture of liquor are cun
 se",% se" factors. The greater part or Ine sioa,sL,tn sso work has been done by 1eqerai Satt;b;tion agents. It is not only Ipos+tsr of nolitics here, but great ecn, erc;o1 interest, the tentacles or Tntcn hHrs wound themselves about alnoS' every form of business -..oo+ ;s
 AIr. Wiilebrandt's last statement ls ;11,,-o;nsting in view of statement al
 tn:L.,tad to New York bootlegseE; SVs have S3O 100000 backing us' ano ea: 4Ss 1vbo1e business is organized eIIl- c;sntlv." he said. "Our best cus.ome.. sra io ygvers. who buy for their clients then come doctors. All businesses deai m;th .Itb ns In one office building tnere ssnsa to nrohibition headquarters. .
 aye TX bootieggers; and the Dullolns ls s;cn to the work of the coast guaros,
 Mrs, WiIlebrandt turned ner dlscus
 -ssone of our present helps is the coas. guard. and we expect 1t to pc or nuvn .a more help now, because there mas
 gently been a most encouraglns SO,Ja tI
 dination between the coast guaEu;s sonnI 1ni customs officials and the <. tguela. a., oeents." she said. Obviously eacn gan be of invaluable assistance '0 '
 other" s;.r, advocate of the paddock feature ot the law. nn9 was asked if the recent closing ol eeS
 eral Broadway cabarets was not very drastic move. :. .h. 70. ,Iisd "I have urged the injunction lInoosdnra llle~,d whenever possible for two ressons. First, it is the most effective featnre of the .Volstead act; second, because it gets the maximum results ~ith. the minimum congestion Of the conrts. As it is now the dockets are so crowded with Volstead act cases that often more important business IS thrust aside I believe that, ultimately, the nsdlock law will be brought into. state tribunals. That will be vast reiler for the federal courts. Some day states will handle all local violations of the law and the federal government will be free to take charge ot cases that involve several states.
 . The Savannah Conspiracy
 'DThe work of our department in han. ding big cases has increased a great deal Three hundred like the Savan- nah conspiracy, are worth much more than A greater number of smaller con victions. For a long time all that was done to arrest the driver of the truck, or -the waiter, or some, other un1mpor- +ant' person, and call it a case. Now, we are going after those who are re- sponsible for the driver or the waiter, and in that way we can accomplish mnch more. Take the Savannah con spiracy, for example. =.
 -Four men; or rather families, were +he principals in the Savannah con spiracy. They practically owned the town, through mortgages and business deals. They had a fleet of ships that brought liquor to the coast and fo- tilla of small craft that conveyed 1t to shore. They had storage caves espe- oially constructed, small army of negro laborers to load the stuff and they shopped the liquor in refrigerator cars. disguised as fruit. .,
 Those men admitted that they had made ns-millions-yet all we