Evening star., 1929-10-06
SPECTACULAR is AVOIDED
In DRY LAW ENFORCEMENT
Policy Of Hoover Administration Is to
Administer Prohibition Statute
With Steady Energy.

said, making use of current slang, 1T
won't be long now"
In the course of the commotion such
origin as there was for the misstate-
ment was revealed Undersecretary Of
the Treasury Mills, being concerned by
the reflection on esteemed public ON
cials in his department, undertook to
find out how the stories could have
started. He found out and gave the
true story to the newspapers, not all
of which printed it.
Source of Story.
It appeared that Mr.. Lowman, the
head of prohibition enforcement, was
about to demand the resignation OF
negligent enforcement ofhcial in MID
die Western city. Having this purpose,
Mr.. LoWman procured the customary
blank form of dismissal and took 1t
to the White House to get the Presi-
dents signature. While Mr.. Lowman
was in the executive offices carrying
the blank form of dismissal in his
hand, he was observed by a reporter
who was familiar with the blank form.
The reporter jumped to the conclusion
that Mr.. Lowman himself had received
from the President a notice OF dis
miSsal.
with only such facts-which were no
facts at all-this particular story about
prohibition enforcement blazed from
ocean to ocean.
One could parallel this story over
and over.
1t goes without saying that such
stories are unsettling to prohibition
morale. Equally it goes without saying
that when the newspapers have printed
such a story they fall. by familiar
psychological process to which all OF
us are subject. into a disposition OF
hoping to make the story true. In
short. the continued tenure OF these
two highest prohibition enforcement
officials was made difficult by the mere
fact of the widespread printing OF a
wholly untrue story that they had al
ready been dismissed
There was a similar case little over
two months ago. About the middle OF
July at a public conference Gov. Roose-
welt of New York State read to several
other governors letter from George
w Wickersham. Mr.. Wickersham's
letter suggested that the governors at
their conference might profitably dis
cuss relations between the State and
Federal governments with respect to
prohibition enforcement. Mr.. Wicker
sham was and remains the head OF
President Hoover's Commission on Law
Enforcement Because of this asSocla-
ton the newspapers picked up his let
ter, made it the basis Of inferences and
then piled further inferences upon the
first one. "Wickersham Seen Acting for
Hoover was a characteristic headline
of a type that blaZed from coast to
coast. 1t was said and reiterated and
insisted. first, that Mr.. Hoover intended
to make a change in the method OF
prohibition enforcement: second that
he had instructed Mr.. Wickersham to
write this letter so that the subject
matter might come before the gov
ernors.
Wickersham's Views Personal
After about a week OF this Mr.. David
Lawrence printed what many of US In
washington knew to be the true story.
Gov. Roosevelt, being about to preside
at a conference of governors, asked Mr..
Wickersham for ideas to place before
the governors-ideas about anything.
Mr.. Wickersham, in friendly spirit,
scrawled a long hand letter IN Wnlcn
he mentioned some ideas. Mr.. WICKER
sham supposed the letter was personal:
he did not suppose that Gov. Roosevelt
would read the letter; he supposed that
Gov. Roosevelt merely wanted the ideas
as suggestions which he. Gov. Roose-
welt, could elaborate upon IN his own
speech.
It is not too much to say that this
sort of alteration from fact-more ac-
curately, this type of story having no
foundation in facts characteristic OF
the news that is printed about prohiol-
ton.
Not all the alteration is on the
side of the vets. Similar absurditles
appear from time to time in stories put
out from over-zealous dry sources: Sen
sational stories of a sort that do dam
age to prohibition and to enforcement
and to the dignity of the Government
appear most often, no doubt. IN wet
newspapers. But no newspaper. unoer
the difficult circumstances under which
they labor, can always guard itself
against printing such stories.
The two typical stories recited above
must have been printed in literally
every newspaper in the country. Prob
ably every reader of this article Will
recall the stories Probably a good
many readers must have reflected al
readE as respects the first story about
Mr. Lowman and Mr.. Doran. that some
three months have gone by and that
these two men are still in office. Since
the original stories said that the two
men had been fired" or that their
designations were in Mr.. Hoovers hands.
any newspaper reader must have in
the stories could not have been true.
One admits the difficulty under which
newspapers distant from Washington
labor Once such story blaZes out,
hardly any daily newspaper can have
time and opportunity to make its own
inquiry before the tyrannical deadline
of publication hour. Nevertheless,
speaking broadly and admitting many
qualifications there is room for greater
zest for accuracy on the part of news
papers. Newspaper work aspires to be
a profession, such as law or medicine.
If any lawyer has made mistake COM
parable to that of the newspaper men
who drew an untrue inference from
seeing blank in Mr.. Lowman's hands,
that mistake, in the world of law, might
have meant hundreds of thousands Of
dollars. If an analogous mistake
had been made by physician, 1t might
have meant death.
The superior of Mr.. Lowman and Mr..
Doran is Secretary Mellon. He alone
can fire" them. One wonders Just
what the austere banking mind of Mr..
Mellon thinks about the standards Of
accuracy in newspaper work compared
to the standards exacted in banking.