Evening star., 1924-05-09
Odtrunning Rum-Runners
The Problem Of Obtaining Cooperation
Ashore-The Plan Of the Coast Cuard-Impor
lance of a Successful Campaign
In Five Parts-Part V.

, court. with coast guard officers on
district attorney where the evidence
was. The attorney admitted he
hadn't thought of that, but assured
the court it was in warehouse.
and the bootleggers went free: A
boat was seized and brought into
Connecticut port the other day, and
the United States commissioner was
hearing had been arranged a United
States attorney from neighboring
| city was on the long distance tele-
phone, arranging with the commits
sioner for bond Here was the case
of a man supposed to do everything
he could to hold the boat and punish
| the men caught in 1t. Instead, he
was using his influence 10 obtain the
boats release.
Convictions Are Exceptional.
But United States attorneys have
hard shedding at that The court
| dockets are crowded, the wheels of
justice move slowly and the boot
leggers hire skilled counsel. The
| coast guard endeavors to seize rum
| runners under the customs laws in
stead of the prohibition laws. for the
former have teeth in them But the
| statutes are so involved that convic-
tions are exceptional Vessels seized
| under the customs laws may be
bonded until their owners are con-
| victed Placed under bond, the rum
boats set to work Immediately at
their trade to make up for the money
lost
| The other day q coast guard vessel
| seized the tug Timothy of New
York with 1.500 cases aboard. The
! Timothy had been caught and re-
| leased on bond five times before and
4 af hA iynn of hnF
last capture. The bonds are put
| under the head of Operating ex-
penses" in the bootleggers ledger
and fail to dent his total profits. In
some communities juries refuse to
convict bootlesgers, and before the
| case ever reached the jury a low
| salarfed United States attorney be-
comes 50 entangled in the navigation
laws and customs regulations that
he throws up his hands and quits in
| despair.
win the coast guard succeed under
| It's new program?
Hope Fur Remedy.
The S15 1000. 900 recently provided by
! Congress will give the service 20 de-
| stroyers, 800 smaller craft, and an In
| creased personnel of 1000 enlisted
men and $50 officers Bids have been
let for some of the smaller craft, the
destroyers are being reconditioned
and the coast guard is now recruiting
its additional force. How much they
| can accomplish is a question for the
future The plan is to make rum
running such a difficult, hazardous
| and expensive operation that 1t will
not pay, and when a thing doesn't
| pay it usually fails. With 20 de-
stroyers patrolling the fleets day
and night at sea, and with 800 small
craft plying the waters between the
row and the shore, there should be
different story to tell But the great
est promise is in the spirit of the
| coast guard itself. It's a seagoing
| outfit which has never failed in any
| thing ii undertook.
Appeal to Patriotism.
And no matter how a man may
feel toward prohibition, the new
duty of the coast guard should ap-
peal to the patriotic American cit
| izen. To this gallant little service
has fallen the task Of enforcing its
country's laws, which are f1outed and
laughed at by foreigners and dan
gerous class of so-called American
citizens who have combined to make
huge. profits out Of a nations con-
fessed inability to do what 1t has
set out to do. 1t comes to be a
serious thing, something to think
about when a nation which sent
100000 soldiers across the Atlantic
Ocean to fight in Europe is unable
to clean its own coast line of a lot
of booueggers and dirty, foreign rum
ships. That Is the way the coast
guard feel. They have been as
signed task. 1t is a tradition of
their service to carry out orders.
(The writer is indebted to Rear Ad-
miral r. c. Billiard, commandant of
the coast guard: Lieut. S. s. Yeandle
aide to the commsandant: Capt W.
V. E Jacobs captain Of the port of
New York and commanding the New
York division; Lieut. Commander p
H Scott commanding the coast guard
cutter Seminolee and to Lieut. Com
mander C II Dench, Lieut. R NJ
kaufolA. Lieut. r b Hall and Off
GERS aboard the Seminole for their
unfailing courtesy and assistance in
enabling him to obtain much of the
| material contained in this series of
| articIes.)