Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-23

prosecutions.
But district attorneys are not the
and have nullified the effect of good VIC
down the enforcement line. from top to
bottom. there ia plenty of room for
human nature 10 display itself at its
worst.
The Power of the Commissioners.
Near the middle nj the line Is the
United States commissioner His duty
is similar to that of a Justice of the
peace or magistrate in cases under State
law. After arrest, bootlegger is taken
before d United States commissioner
for a preliminary hearing. Before the
arrest. II is the duty Of commissioners
To Issue warrants for offenders. upon
submission 10 them OF proper evidence.
and also to issue search warrants. The
commissioner hears the Governments
evidence or enough Of it. to convince
him that there Is sufficient cause to
warrant holding the prisoner for the
action OF the Federal grand Jury,
The commissioner. then. is the first
Officer In the line Of effective law en-
forcement. He ran help or he can
hinder the administration OF Justice His
compensation IL on fee basis. and IN
der the law, he can only receive fee IN
one case per day. In other words. II
H6STS III EdSCS III OilC uGS' O192S
receives fee in one of those cases. The
result is that some United States COM
missioners are in no hurry to hear the
cases. They have. in some instances,
refused to hold more than one hearing
dav. even though there were dozen
or more cases ready 10 he heard and
that could have been heard. with prohl-
hilton agents waiting In tell thor
stories and meanwhile leaving their
districts unguarded. The agents would
have to come back day after day. before
thew could present their cases. simply TO
enable the commissioner to earn more
fees.
Another Trick IN Reat the Law.
I have in mind another type NJ COM
missioner. who. nv granting rontlnu-
ance after continuance, sometimes as
many as dozen in single case. re-
duced the effectiveness of the prohibit
ton force. Other commissioners have
refused to hold bootleggers for the &C
ton of the grand jury in cases Of direct
proof by the agent of a violation OF the
law on the excuse that the commissioner
did not believe the officers. In other
words the commissioner practically
tried the prohibition agent for perjury
instead Of letting the evidence against
the prisoner be presented to the grand
Jury SO that they might determine
whether or not the man arrested should
be indicted and held for trial by an
other jury.
The facts about a United States COM
missioner in VIGOROUSLY wet" city
will give an idea of the weakness OF the
judicial machinery In some places
About wear ago under-cover agents.
acting under instructions Of prohihi-
ton administrator, we're Investigating
certain night clubs and other suspected
They were sitting in
one of the places. with bottle of wine
which they had purchased adjoining the
TOP of their table A waiter came up
to them and whispered to one of the
agents. You'd better he careful with
that bottle Of wine. because one Of the
men a. the next table u commits
The agents promptly removed the bot
tie. whereupon the waiter smiled and
said he was only Joking. as the COM
missioner was %. X" and was in the
place often. The agents then observed
hat the commissioner and the man with
him ordered and consumed several
drinks which had the appearance of
u hiskv The agent then asked The
waiter II the man referred to was a city
and the waiter said NO;
he Is Government commissioner.
That's Mr.. X-.'
On Top at = AM.
A little later the agents made appli-
ration IN Commissioners 4 for
'earch warrant. with the purpose OF
-aiding a place that had been re- ided IL
times previously and vet never pad
ocked. The commissioner issued the
search warrant. but when the raid was
made the place was found closed and
some Of its fixtures had been removed.
There was every evidence of tip Off
Vt the raid. A week later the place was
again in full operation. with liquor be-
ng sold almost openly. Five more
aids on the same place we're made In
he next month and half and then
he place was closed But when agents
were sent there again TO ascertain
whether it had reopened they were
handed card directing them to an
could get anything they wanted there
Accordingly they raided the new place
md arrested the two men in charge.
The police blotter shows that these
,Wo men were released at : o'clock IN
he morning on a bond approved by
x. One of the men
% released stated to prohibition agent
hat Commissioner x had personally
appeared in police headquarters and
signed his bail bond. If Commissioner
K had a telephone. it was not listed
n the telephone directory. Apparently,
however. the bootleggers had no diff
Guilty in locating Commissioner x
at 3 o'clock in the morning. and evil
IDENTIFY he was quite willing to oblige
hem by leaving his bed to release them
IN bond So that they might not be in
by few hours In isil.
Only the other day I received the
following report from an outstanding