Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-28
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

Has the American home lost its soul?
Have modern conditions taken from the
home it's sanctity, its rest, its safe
guarding of the family and replaced all
these with distillery beyond the reacn
of the Prohibition Bureau? Out IN
Minneapolis and ST. Paul an Assistant
United States Attorney has Ventureo W
ask the Federal Court for padlocks upon
Is homes in the Flour City and 10 IN
the State capital, but Mrs. Mabel
Walker Willebran.., the Assistant Al
torney General in special charge OF pro-
hibition law. has her doubts as 10 the
law which will enable the court to ap-
NV such drastic measures to Home,
Sweet. Sweet Home" tmade so much
sweeter by many barrels Of sugar. !.
unless within that home there is proved
10 have been a sale of liquor.
Congress recognized that home" Is
sacred: il must remain its occupant
'.castle"-or his distillery-undiStur
There may be still in every nursery
half the bedrooms may be clogged WIN
the markings of intoxicants, and on the
hottest day the chimney OF the 1ur-
mace may pour forth smoke, indicative
of other uses than making steam. the
surrounding air may reek with the
smell of liuuor. men may reel as they
come out of the house and the Sound
of clicking bottles may. disturb the
midnight stiffness, but 1t is alleged by
some LAWYERS. no policeman nor Fed
eral prohibition officer may enter. with
or without search warrant, unless
FIRST. without fraud or deceit or SHOW
of authority. he can step into the dining
room. Law down his unmarked money
and with crooked elbow eXclaim
Here's to your health"
The making of liquor is home eco
ncnics" with which. according to the
Assistant Attorney General. the courts
cannot interfere with search warrants
ONLY an actual sale of the contraband
cop-titutaS ground for a search war
rant. The Federal attorney in the
West is to he commended for his en-
thusiasm. but cautioned as TO the law.
The cases brought last week in Min
nesota bv Assistant UNITED States Al
torney Clifford have not vet been de-
cided. but Mr.. clifford declares: In our
proceedings in Minneapolis the entire
building. be 1t home or place ot bust
ness exclusively, usually has been
affected nv the paddock provision. IN
ma ioritv of proceedings the paddock
has closed the whole house and there
have been cases where families have
been forced to move" Precedents!
From Peoria. H.. another Assistant
Tinted States Attorney. Mrs. Gertrude
Warner. wires. I'VE have been EMPLOY
ing those provisions for some time and
nlaA ~
homes under paddock proceedings be-
cause of prohibition law violations
Yet the Department of Justice holds
that homes cannot be padlocked ''un-
less they are saloons maSquerading as
homes,
Has the beauty OF Longfellow's appeal
become a Serdonic mcckery under too,
too legalistic interpretation
STAY. stay at home, my heart and
rest;
Housekeeping hearts are happieSt.
For those that wander they know not
where
Are full of trouble and full Of care;
To stay at home is best.
Then stay at home, my heart and
rest,
The bird Is safest In It's nest
Over all that fiutter their wings and ny
A hawk Is lowering in the sky;
To stay at home is best"
Now the Department of Justice adds
another verse:
oh, little bootlegger. STAY AZ home;
The hawks will get you IL you roam,
Feed raisins and sugar To your baby
And youll be Safe-~we don't say maybe
Laws motto is. God bless our home =
OF course. Longfellow referred TO
bird as hawk. but who does moi rccog-
niae the prophetic significance now of
the hawk Daily We read OF how
the hawks" destroy stills out in the
woods or in caves. but ito stay at home
is best E.. safest for the bootlegger,
Congress had heard speeches about
the Magma Charta and about how the
home was the EngliShman'S castle,
impregnable and secure; II must not be
entered without the owners consent,
So, according to the Assistant ATTORNEY
General, that is now the Achilles heel
Of the VolStead law, and home brew Is
beyond the law so long as a hawk" Is
unable to buy II in that home He may
buy il In the house next door and that
next door house may then Ne raided,
but not the home where II is made TN
the still and where the baby sleeps IN
the fumes Of its making
-
This is one Of the mootcd pcculiart-
ties of law and Justice
II Is not Seemly for layman 10 argue
about the law but let lawyer tackle
II In the Illinois Law Review, No. H.
t923-'2A. page 333, Is communtca-
ton discussing this same principle rs
applied To violations of the lottery Law
by obtaining evidence Illegally, Quot
ing IN part
Suppose the Government has te-
nofed amendment 4 has unlawfully
carried III certain thing What Is to
be done, when, during the trial, the
offers the things seized
III evidence against the defendant Prof
Wigmere contends that the evidence
should he received because the general
rule Is that "the admiSsibility Of evil
denee is not affected by the illegality
ot tho means through which the party
has been enabled To obtain the evidence
THE .eiusion o the evidence Is re-
ferred TO as "A quaint method Of en-
forcing the law and the imaginary
court, according 10 Prof, Wigmore SAYS
10 Titus the defendant. and Flavius,
the high handed marshal,
Titus, YOU have been found guilty
of conducting lottery: FlavtuS, YOU
have confessedly violated the eonStittl-
ton Titus OUGHT To suffer impriSon~
ment for crime, and Flavius for con-
tempt, But, no. We shall let YOU
both 90 tree