Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-07
COURT FOR LIQUOR
CASES ADVOCATED
Assistant District Attorney
Hart Addresses Enforce
ment Meeting.

Establishment of separate court for
the trial of liquor cases to speed up
trials in the Police Court and an in
crease in the length of jury duty from
two weeks to one month were advo-
Gated by Assistant District Attorney
David A. Hart last night at the law
enforcement meeting held in the First
Congregational Church.
Bishop William F. Mcdowell of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, who shared
the program with Mr.. Hart, informed
the audience that there is need for a
great renaissance" in behalf of gov
eminent, particularly this one. He in
sisted that "selectivity" in the obedi-
ence of law must cease and that all
men must obey all laws.
The meeting, held under auspices Of
the Committee of Five Hundred for
Law Observance and Law Enforcement,
marked the final of four big gatherings,
and was dedicated as an open forum
on How Can Law Observance and Law
Enforcement Be Made More Effective
in the National Capital?" Daniel c..
Roper, chairman of the committee, pre-
sided.
In advocating establishment of sep
arate liquor court Mr.. Hart said: Let
us try jury cases every day and then
we can give to the bootlegger one of
the constitutional rights he wants
that's a speedy trial"
More Time Needed.
The assistant district attorney ex-
planned his advocacy of the frightening
of the period of jury duty in Police
Court by pointing out that it takes a
week or so to break a jury in. and that
with a month the jury can be edu-
Gated. He informed his audience Of the
practice of bootleggers in having young
men of Is or 19 working for them, thus
remaining safely in the background.
Seeking the cooperation of good citi-
Zens In law enforcement, Mr.. Hart, who
substituted for Representative Gibson
Republican, of Vermont, who was I'M
able to attend, stressed the Importance
of the education of youth. AS this was
a committee of 500, he said, there was
also needed the cooperation OF the
SOC, 900 citizens of the District Of CO.
lumbia If President Hoover'S goal Of a
model city here is to be attained.
The dangerous age" Mr.. Hart placed
at between Is and Is years, and he
asserted that if the purchaser of liquor
is not legally equally liable with the
seller, at least he is morally SO. The
law enforcement officer urged that out
standing citizens make 1t their business
to serve on juries.
Reciting statistics on the enforce
ment of the Jones law in the District,
Mr.. Hart said the District Supreme
Court from October showed there were
SIS convictions by juries, one disagree
ment and one not guilty. The Novem-
Der figures for the Police Court, he ex-
planned, showed that there were II
convictions, disagreementS and 2 not
guilty in jury trials under the national
prohibition act. There were 81 pleas
of r,,iI%y A., %ba DoIica Nol,rt a u,orn
nolle pressed, and there were 2 di-
rected verdicts of not guilty, Mr.. Hart
asserted.
blind Tigers" Fewer.
The assistant district attorney pointed
to the "wiping out" of the so-called
near-beer saloons as such; in lunch
rooms or cigar stores-the blind
tigers" He informed his audience that
he did not believe there were more than
10 or IS of these now operating.
Hampering the further enforcement
Of prohibition in Washington, Mr.. Hart
said, is the manufacturing going on in
private dwellings, as enforcement ON
GERS must have search warrant,
In stresSing that there is too wide
an elective system in the matter of
laws" Bishop Mcdowell told the meet
ing that this is % very serious disease
in our civil life" 1t Is exemplified, he
said, in the maxim, II obey the laws
like to obey"
We've got to get rid of the whole
elective system in the matter of obedi-
ence to law and consecrate ourselves
not to laws which we will or will not
obey, but to the law which is the safety
of the republic" the bishop declared.
There are altogether too many people
who are so-called high-ups, Bishop Nc
Dowell asserted, not only in official life
but in society, the professions and buSi-
ness, who would Scorn to make out a
false tax return or jeopardize life by
their automobiles, that will laugh at the
violation of this law, set up for the
safety Of mankind"
1T would be prodigious thing to
have some high-claSs convictions Of
some high-clasS offenders" the bishop
said He urged his audience to stand
by good officers and insist that the bad
ones do their duty or get out. Follow
ing the addresses, the Aim Deliver
ance," based on Prof Irving Fishers
book Prohibition at Its Worse" was
shown.