Evening star., 1926-04-20


effect Of prohibition completed ar
enumeration Of prisoners in the penal
institutions Of the United States as oi
July /, 1917. and July /, 1922. The
Der Of institutions reporting in 1922
was 1874, as compared with 1872 ir
1917, and as there was g larger mum
ber of institutions reporting in 1925
we are justified in believing that there
was an actual decrease In the number
of persons per 100000 OF population
"It is utterly unfair, nothing less
than a SANDER upon America, q
slander which wet propagandists are
sending around the world, to say that
America Is terrorized with criminals.
Delinquency on Decline.
1.-THE Children's Bureau Of the
United States Department Of Labor
has just issued a statement effectually
controverting the contention that
Juvenile crime in ethe country is in
creasing. The period covered Is from
| 1910 to 1923 and lower delinquency
rates are reported at the end of the
period than at the beginning. In Chi
cago the rate has fiuctuated around
lower levels since 1920, the first year
Of prohibition. The decrease In New
York has been marked. The bureau
says:
Contrary to the opinions which
| nave been expressed, there seems tC
have been no marked decrease in the
| age of commitments to prisons, re
| formatories, jails and warehouses;
Between the ages of 35 and Al are
contributing n slightly larger percent
age OF the total commitments at pres
| ent as compared with earlier years
| I'm 1910 there were 91.5 paupers ir
almshouses per 100000 of population
and In 1928 there We're IT'S. The
| death rate, which in 1910 was Is per
! 1000 and which in 1916 was ii pei
1000, in 1923 was 1873 per 1000. The
! figures in regard 20 deaths from alco
holism. which have been seriously
| misrepresented, deserve more com
plete treatment, which will doubtless
be given them, but the bald fact re
mains that the deaths from alcohol
| ism in the registration area in 1916
were 5.4 per 100000 Of population
and in 1924 the rate was 3.2, the same
| figure as 1923, which was an increase
| over the remarkably low rate of one
per 100000 in 1920, the first prohibi
| tion year, but which, nevertheless, in
| dicates clearly that the high point OF
reaction, reaction directly traceablt
| 10 propaganda, was reached and Is
past.
What do those wet bills propose
| In brief, they propose to destroy the
! eighteenth amendment and restore
| the conditions which were changed
as the result Of 100 years of dissatis
faction and effort, or SO to modify the
| enforcement law as to bring back
the so-called light liquors.
Beer Would Aid Brewery.
Prohibition of wine in the United
| States is constitutional and cannot
| be changed by statutory, legislation
| Specifically, however, these bills pro
pose to restore the trade in beer OF
an alcoholic content identical with
the beer sold at the time the prohibi
| ton amendment was adopted. There
need be no mincing OF words in say
ing that this would defeat the pur
| pose of the people in establishing that
| amendment. It would restore go pei
| cent of the liquor trade. and in add
| ton would give a monopoly of that
trade to the brewers. Do the brewers
| deserve this monopoly? 1t Is notorious
that they owned approximately SIS pei
| cent Of the saloons, and what the
| saloon was the brewery made It.
"The contention that we should per
| NIT the sale of beer is evidently based
upon the belief that this would i'm
mediately stop the sale by bootleggers
| of so-called hard liquors. There Is
no basis whatever for this belief. In
| 1916 the American people consumed
approximately 100000. 900 gallons OF
distilled spirits, despite the fact that
they consumed that same year 1918.
266, ,448 gallons of beer. An investi.
CATION by the Board Of Temperance
Prohibition and Public Morals Of the
Methodist Episcopal Church in 1914
revealed that there were in Michigan
3.204 Federal tax receipts in excess OF
the number OF local liquor licenses
and excises in other States.
On behalf of our board and the
people it represents, / urge favor.
able report upon the measures offered
by the administration for the pur-
pose Of strengthening law enforce
ment, known as the Goff bill. and
protest against any of the bills offer
ed for repeal of the eighteenth amend
ment, or for the devitalizing OF pro
hibition. by permitting any form OF
licensed liquor traffic or any form OF
the liquor traffic under Government
control, or any permission for the sale
of beer and with an alcoholic content
in excess of oneh half of l per cent, or
any provision which by its nature Is
intended to permit such sale or to
make it difficult to prosecute viola
tions of the existing prohibition law.
Enforcement Held Possible.
The Volstead act can be enforced
relatively as we'll as other laws, Mrs
Mabel Walker Willebrandt, Assistan
Attorney General in general charge
| of liquor prosecutions. told the Sen
ate committee yesterday. Mrs. Willie
brandt said that the enforcement o.
the law is increasingly effective eacf
wear, depending in considerable par
| for effectiveness on the co-operatlol
given by the States.
Mrs. Willebrandt urged that more
teeth" be put in the enforcement ac'
and that more judges be provided tc
+rv cases and heavier penalties fol
yiolators be provided.
Her formula for law enforcement
"Stop talking about it. Let your
work do the talking for you ant
make your best effort to obtain re
suits"
Opposes Buckner Plan.
Mrs. Willebrandt did not agree tt
several suggestions made by UniteC
States Attorney BucXner OF NE"
York to the committee earlier in the
hearings, among them system Q,
minor courts to take the work OF
I handling prohibition cases out Of thu h
FEDERAL courts, and also a suggestion
that jury trials be done away Witf
in case Of minor offenders agains'
the Volstead act. She did agree, how
ever. with Mr.. Buckner's recon-
mendation that the number OF Juoses
he increased so as to brng aoou'
~, 1000 Mrs. Willebrandt said