Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-06
LOWMAN URGES
HOOVER'S PLEAF FOR
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Suggests Border Patrols Be
Placed Under Direction
of Coast Guards.
GIVES VIEWS AT MEETING
FOR LAW OBSERVANCE
Deplores Exaggerated Pictures"
Drawn in Newspapers of the Kill
ing of Law Violators.

1ndorsing President Hoover's recon-.
menoat1on to Congress, Assistant Sec.
rotary of the Treasury Seymour Low.
man told members of the Committee Of
500 for Law Observance and Law En-.
forcement at a meeting In the First
congregational Church last night that
the border patrols of the United States
should be placed under the Coast
Guard.
The fourth and final of the series OF
meetings will be held tonight with
Bishop William F. Mcdowell as the
principal speaker.
While praising the border patrolmen
Tor the record they are making, Low
man said the men are merely employees
of the Bureau of Customs and cannot
be punished for any digressionS except
through the Federal Courts and that
the trials in those courts usually are
long postponed because of the heavy
docketS.
Guards Subject to Court Martial.
Members of the Coast Guard are
regularly enlisted men and can be tried
by court-martial Immediately for any
dlgresSions," Lowman asserted.
He also advocated speedy trials for
persons arrested for violations of prohi-
bition laws and said the system of the
EcOcI6 d COuIbS Is 10 DC I6VlSeQ anu III q
short while the condition of several
thousand cases pending in the courts
will be remedied.
Lowman deplored the exaggerated
pictures drawn by some newspapers of
the killing of law violators by customs
men, and said there we're only five men
killed by customs officials in 1929. In
each instance, he explained, the patrol
men have been upheld by local authori-
ties investigating the case. He added:
we deplore the fact that any person
has lost his life in the enforcement of
laws of the land, but we submit that
the customs agents and the Federal pro-
hibition agents are not the blood thirsty
criminals the newspapers hold them up
to be.
Some well-meaning women have ad-
vocated that the customs agents be dis
armed. If they are disarmed, they
might as we'll be withdrawn from the
border.
I'VE are struggling with very smart
and desperate set of criminals along the
border. Our officers have been told not
to shoot except in self-defense or to halt
a felon and we are proud Of the record
those men are making"
Women usually are regarded as more
lsw-abiding than men," he asserted,
but in the matter of wearing apparel
and fur coats and jewelry many women
seem to feel it is impossible to resist
an attempt to get them by the officials.
If these women are put IN the same
class with pirates and buccaneers their
feelings are hurt. But we should call
things by their right names. Let's call
these women smugglers and be done
with it,"
Lownan held UP for the audience to
see a hollow volume Of Roman His
tory" which he said had contained
enough narcotics when seized by Gus
toms men to supply all Washington
throughout the holiday season. He also
exhibited a small cogwheel in which a
valuable watch movement had been
concealed behind a setscrew. The tax
on the watch movement, he said,
would amount to approximately $3.50,
while the tax on the cogwheel was only
cents. Many of the cogwheels slipped
through before the curiosity of one OBJ
servant off1cial discovered the trick.
Representative Stalker PreSides.
Representative Stalker Of New York,
co-author of the JoneS-Stalker liquor
felony law, presided at the meeting. In
his Introductory remarks he advocated
the passage of legislation to confer pro-
hibition agent powers upon all members
of the District police force. Approx
mateiy 40 policemen hold that power
here, he said.
Expressing the appreciation of the
Metropolitan Police Department, In
spector William H. Harrison said the as
ISOLATION is lending the police a great
service in educating the people to OBJ
serve the laws
DR.. August T. Murray, minister of the
Irving Street Friends Church, declared
the majority opinion in America is dry.
We do not have the right to choose
which laws we will obey and which we
will ignore. That is the way Of chaos.
It is the money Of the decent citizen
that makes bootleggtng possible" he