Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-04
L|NTH|CUM CITES
PROHIBITION EVILS
Paints Picture of Corruption,
Increase in Arrests and
More SpeakeaSieS.
CONTINUED From FIRST Pagel


mentS.
Linthicum told the committee at the
outset that prohibition enforcement had
broken down and that it was impoSsi-
bic to enforce the eighteenth amend
ment and the Volstead act.
1T has been shown" he asserted
shat the use of liquor gradually de-
creased until the approval of the eight
zenith amendment and the passage of
the Volstead act, and that just after
the passage of the VolStead act drunk
enness gradually increased year after
year.
stills and Liquor Increase.
''For instance, the number of pieces
of distilling apparatus has increased
from 95,933 for the first full year of
prohibition to 247,052 in 1929. The
total amount of liquor seized has in
creased from 5,805, 900 gallons in 1921
to 30.429 ,301 in 1929. Federal arrests
of prohibition violators increased from
34,I75 in 1921 to 66,195 in 1929, and
convictions in Federal Courts have in
creased since 1921 from 1926 to &c.
546 in 1929"
Linthicum said the result of in
creaseS in arrests had been that the
courts had been crowded and that in
order to dispose of numerous prohibition
cases many of the Federal courts had
established what is known as bargain
day. which guaranteed to the offender
a fine and no imprisonment If he pleads
guilty.
cit has been found" he said, that
liquor is manufactured by thousands
of stills throughout the land-the State
of Georgia today holding the banner for
its number of Illicit stills. It has been
shown by the witnesses here that liquor
can be had throughout the entire land,
and that in many places saloons are
wide open. It has also been shown that
the number of speakeasies now outnum-
Der the former saloons by 8 to 1, and
that the liquor dispensed by them is
injurious and dangerous for human
consumption.
THE Government in its endeavor to
prevent the use of industrial alcohol
has reSorted to all manner of denatu-
rants, some of which are destructible
poiSonS, causing blindness, cirrhosis of
the liver and at times death. It has
been testified that in the enforcement
of prohibition that / 1861 American citi-
zens have been shot down and killed,
sometimes merely under suspicion that
they had liquor. The Coast Guard, one
of our most honorable institutions of
our American Government, has been
DECEASED"
Iran VI anu OOEEupSlOHs
Prohibition, he added, had left a trail
Of fraud and corruption wherever it
had touched the National Government
and had become menace to the people
of the Government. He commended foes
of the dry law had the same right to
work for repeal of the eighteenth
amendment as proponents of prohibition
had right to work for its adoption,
adding:
I'VE have the Anti-Saloon League
and its friends to thank for the elimina-
ton of the saloon" Let them now help
us TO eliminate the speakeasies and the
underworld who are profiteering under
the VolStead act"
Linthicmum asserted much had been
said about the prosperity brought about
through prohibition.
mo one is in position to say" he
added, whether the prosperity of the
country was due to prohibition or
whether it is or was due largely to re-
construction and increase of manufac-
tirers resultant from the late war"
There also should be drawn, he went
on, distinction tween the elimina-
ton of the saloon and prohibition,
adding:
I'VE all agree that the saloon is
detrimental to the prosperity of the Ma
ton, and the question is whether just
as much prosperity could not have been
had by the elimination of the saloon
anc the regulation of the liquor trafic.
Had this been done, the challenge to
American liberty and our rights under
the Constitution would not have been
brought about"
Approved SABBATH Plan.
Specifically, Linthicum said he be-
heved the SABBATH resolution propos-
ing revision of the eighteenth amend
ment to the Government the right to
regulate liquor in dry States approach
ed the question in the best way This,
he said, would be regulation on the
order of that now exercised in such
cases as bankruptcies
Linthicum said he favored action on
the SABBATH resolution by State conven-
tions rather than by legislatures be-
cause in a number Of cases in States
where there were large cities, the cities
were not equally represented. He named
New York Chicago, Philadelphia, De-
troit and Baltimore as among the cities
he referred to.
Denies Smiths Statement.
Liggett wrote at the outset of his let
ter that it had just come to his atten-
ton that Smith had described his state
nnents about Kansas enforcement con-
ditions as false, libelous and untrue
and not based on any real investiga-
ton
ct also understand Attorney General
Smith stated that Walter Liggett has
long and unsavory reputation in this
State, and in my opinion is unworthy
of belief Liggett's letter continued:
'Allow me first to refute Attorney Cen
eral Smiths unsupported and wholly
false allegations regarding my long and
unsavory reputation in Kansas, which.
in his opinion, renders We unworthy of
belief
THE facts are that prior to my re-
cent investigation in November, 1929,
] never was inside the borders of the
State Of Kansas but once in my life,
and that was in May, 1927, when made
three speeches, one at the State Un1ver-
Etty, another at a prominent Topeka
church and the third at dinner given
by Senator Arthur Capper. At all times
during my brief stay in Kansas on that
occasion I was in the company Of
United States Senator Lynn j. Frazier
OF North Dakota-a lifelong dry, by the
way-and think it will puzzle Attor-
ney General Smith to bring out the
slightest scintilla of evidence showing
how this brief speechmaking tour con-
stitutes long and unsavory reputation
in Kansas
Neither can Mr.. Smith sustain his
allegations that my charges concerning
liquor conditions in Kansas are not
based on any real investigation
Il not only stopped in the three
largest cities of Kansas, but visited
some l6 counties by automobile. I also
spent some days in research among the
records at the State Capitol and his
torical library. found conditions Just
as had the honor of describing them
before your committee. Since my ar
ticle appeared in Plain Talk Magazine,
have been deluged with letters from