Evening star., 1925-05-21
COAST GUARD VIRTUALLY At VAR
WITH RUM FLEET, BILLIARD SAYS
Blockade Is Great Task
and Undertaken With
Zeal, He adds.
Does Not KnOtC Ho,U Long
1t Viii Take to Clean
Up East Coast.
BY WILLIAM r. HELM, Jr.


THE Coast Guard is virtually on a
war footing. Our forces have orders
to seize any American craft that
makes contact with a foreign rum
ship lying OFF our coasts. The enemy
arc well organ nized and have unlimited
funds at their command. They make
every effort to threaten. hamper and
discredit the Coast Guard in all pos
sible ways and they are becoming
more and more desperate in their ef-
forts along these lines"
SO states Rear Admiral f. C. Billiard,
commandant of the Coast Guard who
is directing the spectacular blockade
of rum row OFF the Atlantic coast
Admiral Billiard has been organizing
his forces for the blockade for many
months. He has supervised personally
the building of the new Coast Guard
navy. lie has personally examined
the records of the new personnel en-
listed by the Coast Guard TO make the
blockade effective.
The authorized interview granted by
him to this correspondent in his first
statement made for publication since
the blockade was declared. His state.
ment, prepared with extreme care in
response to many questions, is as
follows:
The press is giving considerable
publicity to certain activities Of the
Coast Guard directed against the rum
fleet lying off the approaches to New
a,t; I'D,
part of operating plans formulated by
the Coast Guard when authority was
granted by Congress to increase the
personnel and material of the service
to combat the smuggling of liquor into
the United States from the sea.
Coast Guard Record.
The Coast Guard has been given
the duty of preventing the landing
of liquor on our shores from rum
supply ships that fly foreign flags and
that hover off our coasts for the de-
liberate and well known purpose of
Haunting the Constitution and Of vic.
lating the laws Of the United States.
at is task of very great magni.
tude and one which the Coast Guard
is undertaking with the same zeal.
earnestness and devotion to duty that
have established its splendid record of
service to the country, both in peace
and in war, since 1870. The standards
Of devotion to duty on the part of the
Coast Guard have been pretty we'll
crystallized through service In peace
and war during 1875 years of our ma
tional life, and its ideals OF conduct
and traditions and record are second
to those of no other military organiza-
ton in the world.
The Coast Guard has so many
other important duties to perform,
chief OF which being the assistance Of
lives and property in danger at sea,
that 1t was evident that II could not
hope to carry out successfully this law
enforcement work without some In
crease In it's facilities. Accordingly,
Congress authorized an increase in the
personnel Of the service and appropri-
ated funds for reconditioning some 20
old Navy destroyers and for building
about 400 patrol and picket launches.
'Reconditioning of these destroyers,
the building and inspection of this
number of motor launches In plants
all over the country, the enlistment
and training OF the increased enlisted
force, and establishment of suitable
operating bases, all in addition to the
regular prescribed work Of the Coast
Guard. have constituted a very large
problem for a small service such as
ours, which numbers only 245 regular
commissioned officers.