Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-07-07
Uneasy Lies Head That Wears
The Prohibition Cars CroWn
By CHARLES 2. STEWART

444AC4 LILLE
One way will make him just as
Tnuch an ex-czar as the other.
It is officially denied that Gear
Lowman has been given a limited
number Of days or weeks to abdi-
,Acate in.
Generally official denials are at a
heavy discount but this one has an
air Of observation-disclosures Presi-
dent Hoover is known to believe that
little can be accomplished by a mere
changing of dry czarS-that the
present system of so-called prohibi-
ton enforcement is wrong funda-
mentally the country can be
made dryer without any specifical-
ly designated dry czardom.
One Of the issues upon which Mr..
Hoover may almost be said to have
campaigned for president was his
plan to re-organize, ~re-classify and
consolidate all the activities Of the
executive branch Of the govern
nnent.
This plan included the concen-
tration Of it's prohibition activities
in the attorney generals depart
merit
It is a big undertaking and the
president probably did not neces-
sarily intend to begin with prohibit
ton enforcement-which is includ-
ed in it. Indications are that he
has since decided it will be best to
start with that, start soon and get
~ 0vr& - %Ao uy1xy &c cY.ondily &C
poSSible-inasmuch as it is becoming
evident he will not get a minutes
peace in the meantime otherwise.
Perhaps eX-Czar LoWman will
then be permitted to remain as as
Sistant secretary Of the treasury, in
charge of customs and the coast
guard, but he will have nothing
further to do with prohibition.
However, President Hoover's first
step must be to ask congress to
authorize the proposed r~earrange-
ment.
Congress may balk.
DryS, as well as vets, are divided
on the subject. If anything, the
vets are more favorable than the
drys to the presidential program.
What will its effect be?
The dryS have their own sort of
personnel already pretty well in
stalled in the treasury department.
will the justice department be equal
ly manageable? VIII it improve on
the treasury departments effici-
ency?-or will it regard the dry law
as just one law among many to
be enforced, and give no especial
consideration? viii it shun the
spectacular? If so, will that mean
that prohibition is accepted at last?
Or that it is rapidly IN process of
being forgotten? On the other hand,
will the justice department simply
intensity the treaSury's ballyhoo?-
and who will that benefit?
It is not easy to see how enforce
ment activities can very well be
conducted exclusively by the attor-
ney general anyway.
He can prosecute law violatorS-
but can he catch them?-to prose-
cute.
The treasury's staff Of inland
sleuths can be turned over to his
jurisdiction, yes. But not the coast
guard. Not the customs border pa
troll. These forces must stay under
treasury supervision.
How about the labor departments
anti-alien-smuggling staff?
There has been considerable re-
cent ak Of enlisting the marines
help in resisting the wet invasion.
The secretary of the navy can hard
ly yield command of the marine
corps to the attorney general.
The commerce department is sug-
gested as the proper authority to
superintend releases of industrial
alcohol.
It is easy to propose consolida-
ton; maybe not so easy to consoli-
date.
A glance at prohibitions past may
be enlightening.
In pre-Volstead days, as every
body doubtless is aware, the treas
ury department was interested in
intoxicants solesdly for purposes of
of taxation. From having fought
moonshining on a small scale-and
a very little smuggling-it inherited
the job Of dry law enforcement.
David F. Houston was President
wilson's secretary Of the treasury
then, but prohibition was no such
nightmare to him as it became I'M
der Secretary Andrew w. Mellon,
his successor,
AT the outset the prohibition
unit" as it was called. though a
treasury subdivision, was a pretty
independent institution.
Even the assistant secretary di-
rectly in charge of internal revenue
was not held very strictly account
able for dry enforcement at that
time. Internal Revenue Commits
sioners Daniel G. Roper, William
G. Williams, his successor, and, in
turn. David H. Blair, were closer to
the firing liae-rather unpleasantly
g.
Still the backstop for most trou-
BILE in those days was the prohibi-
ton commissioner, in direct charge
a. the dry unit"-John F. Kramer
Or Ohio, to begin with.
Kramer, appointed late in 1919,
lasted the better part Of 20 months.
A Wilson apointee, there was
nothing brilliant enough in his rec
ord to compel his retention under the
Harding administration, and Roy A.
Haynes, also of Ohio, followed him
in June, 1921.
Popular with the Anti-Saloon
league, Haynes hung onto his post
even after unsatisfactory enforce
ment conditions had resulted in the