Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-22
BY MABEL WALKER wILLEBRANDT.

much or more Cnan ne was paying LOT
"Of course. you have no opportunity
Of knowing the kind of men working
under Mr.. K, the prohibition ad-
about them. Nevertheless, 1t is a fact
that neither Mr.. K nor any Of the
present employees of that Office have
had sufficient experience and training
to intelligently investigate and prepare
a big conspiracy case for trial in
Federal court. Mr.. x and his men
have been doing wonderful work along
the line of repression, in so far as 1t
affects the smaller Violators, but they
have not been able to fathom the larger
phases of violation Of the prohibition
act, and have not been able to prepare
cases which involve the real leaders in
these violations.
THE mayor Is serving his second
term here, and the report among those
who are conversant with such matters
Is that he Is the head of the protecting
organization for the violators. My per-
sonal opinion is that this lead from the
Senator is an exceedingly important one,
and calls for a careful investigation by
the best trained men in the Bureau OF
Investigation"
Didn't Have the Money.
And my reply to this had to be that
the Bureau of Investigation In the De-
partment of Justice did not have the
money to make the investigation! 1t
was one that should have been made by
the agents of the prohibition division of
the Treasury Department.
It Is the lack of quality Of the man.
power in the enforcement job rather
made the work ineffective. Too many
of the agents are the ordinary police
man type, without special training or
experience in under-cover inveStigative
work. There are too many little cases
being made against ordinary retail
bootleggers, and not enough against the
real brains of the bootlegging industry.
To detect and capture 10 bootleggers
in one week in town Of any size pre-
sents no great difficulty. But to dis
cover and to obtain proof sufficient for
conviction of the common source of
supply; to find who is furnishing pro-
lection and how; to link these local
operations with operations in cities OF
the same county and perhaps the opera
tions of gang distributing liquor over
not only an entire State but three or
four others, and to show their depen-
dence primarily upon a conspiracy with
a brewery, distillery. bonded warehouse,
alcohol manufacturer or alcohol permit
essential.
The job Of prohibition enforcement
can be well done with the right kind of
men, but it never will be done with any
number. no matter how large, Of the
wrong kind Of prohibition agents, direc-
tors and administrators. And the right
kind of agents, directors and admins
traitors will not be appointed unless
there are the right kind of men at the
very top Of the enforcement organiza-
ton.
Number Of Agents.
am often asked, How many agents.
spies and shoppers do you think ought
to be employed to enforce prohibition?"
the implication being that q limitless
army is needed to secure anything like
effective enforcement.
My answer to that is that the number
of Federal prohibition agents and on
GERS should not be greatly increased. 1t
is no more logical, sensible or feasible
to expect the Federal Government to
set up and maintain an organization
sufficient to apprehend all the liquor
law violatorS in the country than to
set up an organization to snare and
prosecute all the petty thieves, burglars
and hold-up men in the United States.
The eighteenth amendment itself con-
tains the best answer to the question I
have quoted. Section Of the amend
ment provides that the States shall have
concurrent power to enforce the laws
made under it. Certainly that part OF
the amendment having been ratified
with the other part by 46 Of the 48
States. places on those States q respon-
sibility as great and as solemn as that
resting upon the Federal Government.
The States can no more say, well,
the Federal Government has authority
now to deal with the LIQUOR problem;