The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-12-12
VETS REPORT
INCREASES IN
rum ARRESTS
Drinking by Youth General,
Moderation League
Survey Shows.
DRY STATES NOW GASES
Police Records Since 1916
Are Searched for Data
on IntemperanCe.
By ROBERT TALLEY

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12.-Prohi-
bition hasn't only come in the Uni
ted States-it has come, and gone.
So, in effect, contends the Mod
Grafton League, Inc, an anti-prohi-
bition organization, in a national
survey issued today which declares
that drunkenness has increased 1856
per cent over 1920, the first year of
national prohibition. The calcula-
ton is based on police department
reports from various cities.
u. S. Leaders ON Board
The league has headquarters In
New York. Among its directors and
advisory board 1t lists william N.
Dykinan, president of the New York
State Bar Association; Bishop
Charles Fiske, bishop Of Central
New York; Haley Fiske, president
of the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company, and Newcomb Carlton,
president of the Western Union.
Conclusions set forth in its 1927
report are:
/. Drunkenness increased almost
as fast in 1925 as it did in 1925, and
somewhat faster than In 1924. In
the 602 places reporting, arrests for
drunkenness increased from 650,961
in 1924 to 687.812 in 1925 and I'll ,889
in 1926.
Peak Was In 1916
2. In 534 cities, arrests for drunk
enness in 1925 increased 1876 per cent
over 1920, the first year of national
prohibition.
3. In the 403 cities reporting from
1914 to 1925, arrests for drunkenness
in 1926 were higher than any pre-
vious year. save only the war-boom
peak of 1916. The 1916 peak was
563, 1872 arrests for drunkenness and
1925 almost reached it-being $751;
074.
4. Conditions in the former So
called dry" States are very much
worse today, compared with 1914,
than are conditions in the so-called
wet" States. In the dry States, the
number of arrests for drunkenness
went up rather sharply in 1926, and
exceeded any year heretofore;
whereas in the former wet States,
1925 slightly exceeded the 1914 level,
but did not quite reach the 1851
peak.
Charts are offered In support Of
the argument that there Is more
drunkenness in specified cities now
under national prohibition, than
there was before the Volstead law.
Dry South Cited
Birmingham, operating under a
Statewide restrictive law in 1915
(Which permitted the importation
Of two quarts of spirits, five gallons
of beer or two gallons of wine every
fifteen days for personal use), had
3,461 arrests.
In 1916 arrests fell to GOT and the
yearly average from then until 1919
was 924 arrests. With 1919, the
year Of the Volstead law, Birming-
hams dropping curve turns upward
until Tor 1926 1T shows 1885 arrests
for drunkenness.
Despite New York City's reputa-
ton for "wetneSs," the survey dis
closes that drunkenness was at its
peak there in 1908 with 1896 ar
rests; that this number declined TO
$685. in 1919, or one-eighth the 1908
level. Since 1919 arrests have risen
to about $4,000 year.,
Candidly enough, the survey adj
mits that no effort has been made
to estimate changes in population in
the 6O2 reporting cities, as such
estimates necessarily would be spec
ulative. n
The survey paints dark picture
Of increased drinking among boys
and girls, especially those Of high
school age, and quotes several police
chiefs in this connection.