New Britain herald., 1929-12-28

and other witnesses at the scene or the shooting. which is this case was in Buffalo, stoutly declared that the coast guardsmen left the wounded man lying on the bottom of his boat. bleeding to death, for more than an hour until policeman took pity on his and summoned an am- bulance. Here, indeed, if the last straw. for some of us, at least.
 The rapid prohibitionists, first of all. will pooh-pooh the statement of these witnesses. Somehow the radi- cal dry. apparently in all sinceritN. many times seems to believe only what he wants to believe. and see, as facts. only such facts and suu- posed facts as he desires. He will also say. perhaps, "Nell, you nave little sympathy for q burglar who IS shot by q policeman in the act of escaping from q house. Why shoui1 you have any more sympathy for this supposed bootlcggor, who is breaking the law just as surely &s the burglar?'
 The question. of course, answers itself. Laws Arc mlde-or are sup posed to be madc-by the peopl" themselves, If the people of any state want to repeal laws against burglary. it is undoubtedly thcr right to do so. Of course the Ia" will not be rcpcalcd-and for th'5 rcason-pubic sentiment is again-' it's repeal. The public is convlnc"I that theft should be curbcd. in "o- far as possible. How about prohibl ton" Well. ask an average EroGr of citizens, not particularly affiliated with cithC; a Cry or wet camp, what each ono thinks this Buffalo kill ing. While this group. 10 the last man. would insist that laws against burglary arc needed. it is extremely doubtful if more than two thirds of such group favors the slaughter Of a rum runner, even granting that this man was one. The probability IS that the two thirds estimate is too conservative.
 The battle cry of poor, innocent prohibition agents. who have been shot in the glorious performance of their duties. will be raised in thlS case, as in all others Some publicly dry and privately wet senator from an arid state will spout in the seu- ate, when that body rcopcns. thit many a courageous federal man has been killed while bravclY stamping out the liquor evil. Of course the fact is that in many cases of fed- eIal agents killed there has been T grave suspicion that they were nos doing their duty. but were shot fol' trying to eNtort additional mon"N from their bootlceger friends. il will be difficult. though, to get the drys to think that one over They will brush it aside. Here is little proof, though. Of seven prohibition agents working in the city of Spring field only q few years ago, six were indicted in conSpiraCics to dctraud the government or divert stores Of alcohol whiskcy and beer from gov clnmcnt warehouses, Several were jailed. Furthermore, corruptio3S among the mon and officers of tha coast guard has been and still lS widespread. Graft in police depart mcnts, in some sections of the CouI- try. among state policemen, ant along the border, with customs anl bcrdcr patrolmcn involved, still goas merrily on.
 Every DootlrgGcr shot by custo"S Or border patrolmcn increases tho disrcspcct for the prohibition laW. There can be no doubt about thiS, for the American people are not in hercntly bloodthirsty and they do rot regard such q killing as th"% would regard the slaying of a bur glar. The murmur against such taH- ties grows pcrsis,cntly louder, Per haps it may eventually get to the point where 1t will make itself de l fiantly heard. It is not q pleasant thing to think of. It has latent pos abilities that arc far from Amc"~ l ican in their foundations.
 Every man, WnO lnlnkS LOT lllII- self and who is not an ardent dry, i nor rabid wet; is privilcged-unIl some law IS passed 10 change even ! this-to consider these things. Pup l lie sentiment. at least in the east, s not with the prohibition law ll many, many instances. The thought full man cnvisions the liquor law as a wonderful ideal. but an impra2- teal reality. The Observers advi~a to the treasury department, worth less as it may be, is to cut down tn" ! amount of ammunition given to l Coast Guards. The less shooting thcv do, the better the chances are Of winning public opinion over to thcIr | sidc-and the hope seems slim, even ! at that.