Evening star., 1925-01-22
LOW DRY-LAW FINES
IN DISTRICT SCORED
President Is Told Failure of
Courts to Impose Heavy
Sentences Ridiculous.

The District of Columbia was cited
to President Coolidge today by Rep
! resentative Stalker of New York
! as an example of how the prohibition
| law is falling into contempt because
of lax enforcement and the imposing
| of ridiculously small penalties for
| violations Of the law.
/ While urging upon the President
more severe penalties for dry law
| violators, Representative Stalker de-
clared that a small money fine is
weak deterrent to such violators and
that many judges are taking advan-
! tage of the fact there is no mini
! mum penalty in the law and are
melting out small fines, which tend
to make the law joke in those COM
munities.
According to this New York repre-
sentative, the District leads the Ma
ton in low penalties, He told the
President that in 1922 the average
fine for violation of the national pro-
hibition law IN this city was S43.67
and that in 1923 1t was $7s.43. This,
he contended was much less than for
the United States, which was s17o in
1923.
Urges SITTER Fines.
such fines" Representative Stalker
| said, ARE much less than a license.
| Much of the congestion of the dockets
of the court would be eliminated II
| heavier penalties were imposed. In
| the Jurisdictions where the judges are
dealing out heavy fines there is a
much greater respect for the law"
Mr.. Stalker is author of a bill
which would amend the enforcement
law so as to require jail sentences
! for dry law violations. While eN-
! planning his measure to the Presi-
dent today he said that his bill
provided for the first and second
offense no Jail sentence for
possession of Illicit liquor. He said
that he told the President further
that "a money fine Of from 500 to. 500
| is provided for the first ofrense in
transportation and possession of IL
| licit liquor, a fine of from $500 to
| 81 900 or imprisonment for not more
| than 90 days for the second offense
and fines of not less than $500 nor more
| than $4,000, with Imprisonment for
| not less than six months, for subse-
| quent offenses.
81 States Have Minimum.
For forging permits" he continued.
manufacture and sale, the penalty is
! a minimum fine of $500, with A maxi
mum of 81 600 and Imprisonment from
three months to year. The only
change in section "a, relating to
| liquor nuisances, provides for man
| datory instead of optional imprison
ment, and fixes a minimum fine of
$500, leaving the maximum fine at its
present figure, $1,000
"Thirty-seven States" he continued
TO explain to President Coolidge,
have fixed minimum penalties for
violation of the dry laws. But where
there Is no minimum the fines gener
ally have been far too low"
Says Law Must BE Enforced.
tRepresentative Stalker assured the
President that his bill, which has
been favorably reported to the House
judiciary committee, does not inter-
fere with the discretion of the judge
in fixing the penalty between the
minimum and the maximum. Be-
cause of the low fines imposed, he
contends, the Department of JUS
tice has been compelled to use the
original provisions of the revenue
laws for the enforcement of prohibit
ton. He stated that there Is no evil
dence that the eighteenth amendment
is going to be changed. His stand is
that the law must be enforced If the
Government is to endure, all of which
means, according to his viewpoint,
that Congress should provide ade-
quate penalties for violations, and
district attorneys and judges should
impose them upon all who violate the
Constitution and the laws, If 1t is to
be made operative.
Representative Stalker declined to
make any comment upon President
Coolidge's recent announced opinion
that jail sentences for persons con-
victed of carrying a flask was too
severe. nor would he touch upon
President Coolidge's comment during
the conference today.