Evening star., 1928-12-26
Mai. Mills Wins a Prize.

as a bad Job the task Of trying to en-
force prohibition In New York, takes
his pen in hand and wins nice prize
of twenty-five thousand dollars in cash
by writing out the best plan to enforce
the eighteenth amendment. The pen,
indeed, is mightier than the badge OF
an enforcement officer. And what would
overshadow in public interest the ap-
parently logical and simply told plan
of Mai Mills would be statement now
from the Government agencies Involved,
either telling why Maj. Mills plan cam
not work, or why, If it is a good plan,
it is not put into effect.
Mai. Mills resigned from his position
as prohibition administrator for New
York and blamed his failure to enforce
the law there on the activities OF poll
ticians. Unhampered by the politicians,
however, he now sketches an interest
ing picture of the leaky holes in the
walls of prohibition and explains how
they may best be plugged. In the main,
he would make bootlegging more diff
cult by curbing the illegal diversion of
alcohol, by suppressing independent de-
maturing plants and by putting under
closer scrutiny the holders Of those
golden permits which permit the pur-
chase and sale of specially denatured"
alcohol. Mai. Mills points out that the
large distilleries manufacturing grain
alcohol are in the majority responsible
and self-respecting organizations, which,
if for no other reason, could not afford
the financial loss of conviction for law
violation. He thinks less, however, OF
the independent denaturing plants and
believes they have no place in the eco
nomic world. He suggests that they be
eliminated by Treasury regulation or
by amending the Volstead act. Their
product has two outlets. One is in the
form of denatured alcohol, labeled
Poison" and incapable of redistillation
or human consumption. The other is
to holders of Government permits, who
use specially denatured alcohol in the
manufacture Of perfumes, etc.
In both of these outlets Maj. Mills
points out that the independent dena-
turing plants are in competition with
the distilleries, which by law must
maintain denaturing equipment. And
the manufacturers who receive the de-
natured product from the independent
establishments have developed system,
commonly known, for Disgusting their
business transactions. Instead Of SELL
ing perfume" many Of them really
sell this specially denatured alcohol to
the bootlegger. Maj. Mills believes that
ninety-eight per cent of Illicit liquor
is derived from alcohol thus distributed.
More stringent supervision and exami-
nation of the uses Of alcohol by manu-
facturers would cut a big swath in this
ninety-eight per cent, he believes.
Coming from the pen of man who
has looked at prohibition enforcement
from the inside, Maj. Mills plan is in
teresting and was considered by the
Judges as the most practical. No less
enhancing, however, are other plans
submitted. Some six thousand urged
more effective use of the Federal en-
forcement machinery. While about five
thousand wanted to modify the Vol
stead act, only seven hundred odd
wanted to weaken the eighteenth
amendment. The most popular sugges-
tion-there were over nineteen thou
sand such plans-believed that educa-
ton and propaganda would solve the
difficulty. The next most popular sug-
gestion was for stricter penalties for
law violators.
If w. C. Durant, donor of the prize.
had as his objective the publication on
the Nations front page of the best plan
to enforce prohibition, he has attained
it, And, at that, it was cheap at the
price of twenty-five thousand dollars.