Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-27
Director Declares Beer and
Wines Must Be ''Intoxi-
eating in Fact"
QUESTION is REGARDED
AS BEING NOT SERIOUS
Lack of Commercial Aspect Seen
Biggest Hindrance to Dry
Enforcement.

The citizen who manufactures wine
or beer in his home for home con-
sumption with no sales involved was
held today by Prohibition Director
Amos w. w. woodcock to be beyond
the reach of Federal enforcement
agencies.
AS a matter of law, Mr. Woodcock ex-
planned, in his first pronouncement on
this point, the home manufacturer Is
liable to punishment if the liquor he
produces is Intoxicating in fact" This,
he said, is point for the jury to de-
eide.
Practically speaking, however, he con-
tinued, evidence to bring the home
manufacturer to trial cannot be OBJ
tanned unless commercial features are
involved upon which a search warrant
can be issued.
Not Serious Question.
Reports that a huge grape crop Of
this year had prompted producers to
launch a campaign for manufacture OF
homemade light wines was not con-
Sidered as a serious question for pro-
hibition enforcement officials, Mr..
Woodcock said
Mr.. Woodcock said there was prac-
tically no way to get evidence that
wine is being made in the homes The
Volstead act has been interpreted by
the courts, he said, as requiring that
search of a private home can be made
only on a search warrant which has
been issued as a result OF sale OF
liquor.
"As a practical problem in law en-
forcement." declared MIR. Woodcock, "it
is extremely dificult to get the evidence
in a case of homemade wine"
Mr. Woodcock speaks with authority
not only as director of prohibition. but
also because he was the prosecuting Of
ficer as United States attorney in the
famous case of the Government against
John Philip Hill of Maryland a wet"
leader in the House. In the Hill case,
precipitated by the wet" Representa-
tive himself, Col. Woodcock explained
that Jury held that Hills wine of IL
per cent alcoholic content was not in
toxicating in fact and Hill was &C
quilted.
Up 70 Courts and Juries.
Questioned as to his own interpreta-
ton of the question Intoxicating in
fact" Mr.. Woodcock replied that this
was a question for the courts and for
juries to determine.
"Our activities" the prohibition direc-
tor said. ARE directed against COM
mercial violation of the law" The Hill
case and some similar cases of home
manufacture for home consumption.
the director said, were definitely not
commercial cases.
Approached with q question as to
whether in the face of an increasing
number of public men coming out for
repeal of the eighteenth amendment
the new administration Of prohibition
was making any progress in enforce
ment, Mr.. Woodcock declared:
II don't know. can say, however,
that we are getting the force on more
effective basis" He refused to discuss
the wet statement of former United
States Attorney Tuttle of New York,
who has just been nominated for Gov
ernor by the Republican party, declar-
ing hes running for office"
Matter Of Investigating.
The job Of running the Prohibition
Bureau, Col. Woodcock said, was specifi-
cally an investigative Job and was not
concerned with the handling sof public
sentiment, except, he added, that, of
course. any increase of public sentiment
against prohibition enforcement made
it more difficult.
Declining to express a personal opin-
ion about the whole question Of whether
prohibition enforcement generally can
be made nationally effective increas-
ingly, Col. Woodcock declared en-
phatically, however, 1T believe this
amendment can be enforced against
commercial violatorS"
The director has just returned from
a trip of inspection through Pennsyl-
vania, New Jersey and Delaware, where,
he said, that with the exception of
Delaware he found his forces in effec-
tive condition. He was particularly
pleased, he said, with the situation in
Philadelphia.