Evening star., 1925-11-29
BY ii. Il. ROGERS.


tary Of the Treasury. now winding
up his eighth month as field marshal
OF prohibition. with a record behind
him Of having made sweeping re
orGa nizatton of the old regime. and
the prospect ahead of promulgating
many more drastic changes in the
regulations than have already been
put into effect
The prohibition machine, as regards
personnel, has been all taken apart
and put hack together along entirely
new lines. using. however. much OF
the old material. Authority has been
decentralized and headquarters here
cut down by about 400 persons.
Revising Old Regulations.
Now Gen. Andrews is in the midst
OF the second great phase of his pro
gram or reconstruction. He Is tear
ing apart the old prohibition resula-
tlons and putting them back together
in new form.
Some of these old parts he has found
hauIS worn, some useless, and some
worse than useless. In fact. he dis
covered one old ia shioned piece OF
machinery. introduced before prohibi-
ton. which he believed to he acting
as an actual aid 10 the bootleeginc
fraternity. This he scrapped. 1t was
an oIn exemption, permitting the
manufacture of wine in the home to
The extent of 200 gallons. Thousands
of these exemptions" which were
IN existence have been abolished and
orders issIied for no renewals
Gen. Andrews and his advisers in
the prohibition unit are making a
thorough investigation of every regu-
iatlon which has been promulgated for
me enforcement of prohibition since IL
pecame effective on January is, 1920
IN this process new restrictions have
already been thrown around several
phases OF the manufacture and han
ding of alcoholic liquors. and IL is un.
derstood that from the study now in
process Andrews will issue from time
10 time an indeterminate number of
additional regulations designed fur
ther TO curtatl the bootleg supply.
neither the Government will sue.
ceed In enforcing prohibition under
the new regime in such fashion as 10
mead off the deiuge of anti-prohibition
criticism which has been coming from
quarters opposed TO the eighteenth
amendment remains question the
answer 10 which Will be learned some
time in the future.
IL Is admitted by both the 'wets"
and the 'drys" that agita ton in favor
of altering the Volstead act has in.
creased largely within. the past few
months. Both the Association Against
the prohibition Amendment and the
Antl-Saloon League, outstanding rep
resentatives Of the two opposing
forces. are girding themselves for the
night which unquestfonably looms on
the horizon OF the coming Congress-.
Divergent claims are made by these
TWO organizations. the one claiming
gains for the vets" and the other
gains for the "drys" in, the personnel
of the next Congress
Claims Prohibition a Failure.
The enemies of the Volstead act
claim that the Government by it's big
drive under Gen. Andrews is making
its st stand against the increasing
forces of opposition. and that prohi-
oitlon- has failed, after. nearly six
years OF experiment" to take the
place in national life which its pro
ponents claimed It already actually
occupied by right of legal process.
Defiance Of the prohihit1pn law, By
hrse numbers has led to defiance. of
other laws, the vets" claim.
Friends Of the Volstead act have
risen valtantly to the defense OF the
legislation and the eighteenth amend
ment. denying charges of the last
stand by the Government and claim
ing that instead of returning to light
wines and beer of any more alcoholic
content than the one-half of / per
cent now authorized by the Eolstead
act, America will tighten up on her
restrictions If any change is made.
Congress, the "drys" claim, will not
make America wetter, but dryer
So the battle between the opposing
forces. which has been conducted
through public speech, investiga ton,
attack, counter-attack and propa-
ganda. doubtless will be precipitated
TO the committees and floors of Con
gress while Gen Andrews drives
ahead with his new campaign to dry
up the Nation, If possible.
brief survey of the much dis.
puted status of prohibition today goes
back to record that the eighteenth
amendment became effective January
lh, 1920. This date is now accepted
officially as the birth OF prohibition
In America. although the Volstead act
was passed over President Wilson s
veto much earlier. The House passed
this legislation over the veto on Oc-
toher q, 1919. and the Senate did the
same thing the next day.
Wartime Prohibition.
Although the real birth of prohibi-
ton is officially listed in January, 1920,
wartime. prohibition act went into
effect about six months earlier, or
July 7, 1919. There was no lapse be-
tween the wartime legislation and the
Volstead act effective date
Under a policy approved by the
President for revised enforcement
Gen. Andrews entered the scene of
action last April /. Since that time
this retired Army officer, who has
demonstrated far more vigor than
usually is expected from any retired
person. has been head over heels in
his big job of co oordinating all Federal
agencies for the enforcement of pro-
hibition. including the customs, the
Coast Guard and the prohibition unit
particularly the prohibition unit
This latter outfit Is the one which
has received by far the greater part
of Gen. Andrews attention-in fact,
he has admitted that it has occupied
over 90 per cent of his time, 80 as to
preclude his giving as much attention
as he would like to the other two
arms of the Federal service.
Driving at what was admitted to
be double authority. overlapping dis
tricts and double responsibility in the
old system. Gen. Andrews abolished
the dual program of State directors
and substituted 10 district chiefs of
general prohibition agents. operating
under a prohibition commissioner:
carved out % new districts, in which
he placed prohibition administrators.
and then placed in the hands of these
otto 11y- 1i,,,tt tnI