Evening star., 1927-02-16
''Undercover" Men Engaged
In Entrapment Hit by Press

"tfndercover men" connected witt
the Government who were found tt
have heen officially engaged in boot
Logging operations have been subjected
to denuncation OF a vigorous nature
in the newspa pers. although their oc
casional defenders are equally positive
In general, the attitude of the critics
is that the Government should no,
encourage law violations in the in
terest Of enforcement, and should no,
resort to "entrapment."
1T is not good practice in the
opinion of the Buffalo Evening News
for prohibition agents to open a
speakeasy,' sell out to customer and
then raid him. Nor In it good practice
for prohibition agents to indulge III
wire e.tapping. The law froWns on such
practices, and, SO far az the statute
books show. the law applies To prohi
bition agents as well as to other citi
zens. Besides, who is going to claim
the profits when prohibition agents
run spea kea sies'?" The Hunting
ton Advertiser takes the same posi-
ton and adds that these Govern
ment agents, In charge of speakeasies
are nothing more than common law
breakers, and deserve to be dealt with
as the courts and prosecutors would
deal with the ordinary whisky vender.
Some regular dime novel stuff, ap
pealing particularly to readers of Nick
Carter and Old Sleuth,' should de.
velop," suggests the Louisville Times
But the public will wonder as to the
value Of identifying Government serv-
ants with lawbreakers." The Times
raises the question: "If the Govern
ment is to indulge in rum running, hi
lacking. moonshining, bootlegging, why
should it not identify itself with coun-
terfeiters and make enough money
to pay the expenses of it's lawbreak'
ing Department." That paper Is con.
yinced that the Government needs
the services of persons decidedly un-
willing to be identified as proprietors
Of spea kea sizes operated at loss by
the Government.
at was by accident that the truth
ca me ont. saws the New York World;
-, has been most emba ira ssing. Ev-
ervhody in authority now feels con-
strained to deplore such illegal prac-
tees and to protest that they are
neither necessary nor desirabie but
they heartily favor the use or secret
service funds and methods and under
cover agents-a system that has ci.
rectlv contributed to these Illegal
nrsctices." The Sioux Falls Argus.
/ .aader holds that "the best interests
of urohihition can never be served by
smnloving pa ia sites of this type, and
that ma per argues: 1T will seem to
most people that there are plenty of
actual bootleggers operating to keep
nrohibition officers busy, without its
Incoming necessary to frame People
into viola tions. The men who do this
fra ming do not have the interests
Of nrohibitiOn enforcement at heart.
All thev care about is the pay tslip-
plemented by liberal 'expensesl which
they get for causing the law TO pe
violated"
"The almost solid objection to them
on the part Of everybody was. accord
ing to the Worcester Gazette, not
that thew were engaged in anti.rum
activities. but that they were engaged
in these activities in a most objec-
tfonabl and un-American way Ex-
planning this point Of view, the James
town Journal remarks: "One OF the
most conspicuous instances of un-
dercover work was afforded many
years ago, when the Mollie Maguires
created reign of terror In the coal
region of Pennsylvania. A detective
wormed himself into their confidence,
participated in their plans to murder
those who had incurred their enmity
and eventually secured evidence
which broke up the organization and
assured the punishment OF the ring
leaders. This detective. however. did
not participate in any OF the crimes.
In fact. he blocked contemplated mur.
ders.''
THE entrapmert policy," asserts
tha Yakima. Daily Republic, "haA heen