Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-17
Auto Metropolis Presents All
Prohibition Problems
Before Nation.
HOME "DISTILLERIES"
VIE WITH CANADIAN
Battlefront" of 100 Miles to Be
Covered by Agents in "War"
to Enforce Liquor Law.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
DETROIT, June II IN A. N. Al
Those who have been following closely
the efforts to enforce the prohibition
law believe that Detroit has been Sc
lected by President Hoover as the
laboratory in which to test the noble
experiment" of prohibition.
There is every indication that in the
Automobile city, the largest community
anywhere on United States border lines
and into which flows a constant stream
Of liquor from land where brewing
and distilling is lawful, the Chief
Executive plans to learn whether the
eighteenth amendment as it stands can
be enforced.
Dozens of strangers" Arrive.
From nearly every train coming into
Detroit during the past few days from
New York, Cleveland, Buffalo, Philadel-
phia, Washington, Chicago, the Pacific
Coast and the South keen-eyed, alert
strangers with a military bearing have
alighted here and vanished into hotels
Various groups of them have assem-
bled later at secret rendezvous. Others
were seen along the shore of the Detroit
River studying the near Canadian
shore.
Some could be easily identified as
members of the United States customs
border patrol by the belts of steel
nosed cartridges around their waists,
pistols in holsters swinging backward
from their left sides, ready for quick
drawing and rapid firing. Their num-
Der has suddenly increased to marked
degree.
More are arriving daily.
To a foreigner trained to note the
preliminary sitting in of agents in ad-
vance of general mobilization in Eu-
ropean countries, what is going on in
Detroit today would appear instantly
as the f1rst nervous wave OF troops pre-
pairing for an assault He would think
Of war. q =
War, With Full u. s. Strength.
It is war. war With the full strength
of the United States Government be-
hind 1t.
The outcome of the battle to be
waged on the north border is of tre-
mendous Importance to the inhabitants
of every other village, town and city in
the country.
What happens here within the next
few months will have its reverberating
echo throughout the United States, and
will have an effect, which cannot be
measured now, on the political fortunes
of the two major parties in the CAM
paign of 1882.
The showdown to which the events
OF the past 10 years have been pointing
Is to be had here in Detroit.
70 f1n4 I1fl fNfIn
ton" in the tiniest rural hamlet of
Texas, California or Maine, in the larg-
est metropolitan centers of the East and
Middle West is being sought here by
Washington.
Observers See Defeat.
Some observers do not believe this
new experiment will be permanently
successful and that many other tests
will have to be made. They admit, how
ever, that the motor city is a fitting
selection for the present trial.
Detroit has every element OF the
problem facing other cities and, because
Of its position on the Canadian border,
in an aggravated form.
1t is fourth in population among the
urban centers of the United States. IL
is separated by river 81 miles long
and about three-quarters of a mile In
width from country where the manu-
facture, sale and consumption OF liquor
is entirely lawful. A speed boat takes
you across in less than three minutes.
Detroit is on a river which is one OF
the worlds greatest water highways. 1t
is bound by steel links to Canada
railroad tracks in tunnel now-With
great international bridge and a
vehicular tunnel nearing completion
and by ferry lines. 1t is connected by
railroad and motor highways with every
part of that country.
Great Detroit Distilleries.
In addition to the enormous traffic in
the smuggling of liquor from Canada
with which the United States Govern
ment will first come to grips in its i'm
pending enforcement drive, Detroit has
vast illicit breweries and distilleries,
$4,000 to $4,000 blind pigs or speak
easies and thousands of citizens who
make their own home-brew or synthetic
liquor.
The problem which must be solved
includes those domestic breweries and
distilleries as we'll as the swift fleets of
rum runners boats and the freight car
loads OF liquor disguised with forged
seals go.
Detroit has a large alien population
unfavorable, to prohibition. 1t also has
IIS gangs VI TdCkeIeeTS, nl-JdCKeTS ana
gunmen. 1t has had machine gun slay-
ings. ~
OF deep concern to the Government
also. is the fact that bribery and cor
ruption of its trusted servants has been
nowhere so widespread as in Detroit
Finally the city is claimed by the
"wets" as one of their own.
This. then, it is pointed out, is an
ideal spot for the great test.
Battle Ground 100 Miles Long.
The ground work for the enforcement
drive was laid at conference here last
week of national prohibition chiefs with
their Michigan subordinates. Those
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