The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-07-12
BY BRUCE CATION
MA Service Writer

/ - acts Of their own knew about the
words "bootlegger" and "speakeasy"
long before 1920; but it was not I'M
til after Jan. Is Of that year, when
the eighteenth amendment went
into effect that the words passed
into the vocabulary of the country
as a whole
The illegal liquor industry seems
to have got under way with no loss
OF time. The federal prohibition en-
forcement service made it's first
raids on Jan. IT, selling two stills in
Detroit and two in Hammond, Ind.
In the first six months of that
year, the government seized 1888
stills
Nevertheless, the era of the
amendment began with the prohi-
bitionists supremely confident that
the law would be made effective
without too much trouble.
The first prohibition commissioner
was John F. Kramer of Ohio, a law
yer and former legislator.
He took over his new job an
nouncing that "the law will be
obeyed and where it is not
obeyed it will be enforced" adding
that his men would see to it that
liquor was neither made, sold, nor
transported "on the surface of the
earth or under the earth or in the
air"
A FEW glances at the calendar
L n may be interesting.
Before the amendment had been
in effect month, customs officer
was complaining to congress that
veritable flood of booze was being
Struggled in over the borders, and
demanded an appropriation of
100000 to help choke it off.
On Feb. 10, 1920, two prohibition
agents were arrested for selling out
to bootleggers.
Before spring had come, federal
agents had found that certain drug
gists were selling medicinal whisky
without waiting for doctors permits.
BY May, federal agents in New
York were complaining that the
New York police didn't help them
enforce the law.
BY early summer the federal dis
trict attorney in Chicago revealed
that the federal court there was
congested with prohibition cases,
more than 500 such cases awaiting
trial.
All these announcements were to
he duplicated many times during
the coming years. Meanwhile, the
illegal liquor industry was getting it's
feet on the ground.
A T first, smuggling was the
L N most important source.
The United States has more than
10000 miles of border. In 1920, to
prevent smuggling along those
$4,000 miles, it had 1850 dry agents
and 5000 customs agentS-and the
coast guard. 1t soon developed that
this combined force hardly was ade-
quate.
Booze came in by automobile and
lean borders. At sea, especially along
the north Atlantic coast, there
sprang into existence the famous
rum rowS"-lines of liquor-laden
ships, safely anchored or hove-to
outside Of territorial waters, which
transferred their loads to smaller
boats for the trip ashore.
For a time this went on in amaZ-
ing proportions. BY 1924, however,
congress reorganized the coast
guard, spent $13,O0O,000 to equip
twenty old navy destroyers for its
use, and built a large fleet of small,
fast boats armed with one-pounder
rapid fire guns and machine guns.
In addition, the state department
negotiated treaties with such
foreign governments as Great Brit
ain, France, Germany. Italy, and
Holland, by which its revenue cut
ters we're permitted to stop and
search suspected liquor boats any
where within one hours sailing dis
lance of the coast
This proved much more effective,
and rum row lost lot of its
prominence. Nevertheless, in 1925,
General Lincoln c. Andrews, pro-
hibition commissioner, told the
senate that only about per cent
of the struggled liquor actually was
being seized.
INDUSTRIAL alcohol also was
l. proving problem. Certain
plants had permits to make alcohol
for industrial uses, and it soon be-
came evident that a lot of this was
finding its way into various bev-
erages
The government tried various for
mulas to make this alcohol unpala-
table, but the bootleggerS had their
chemists, too, and they were able to
counteract practically all these
! formulas.
The near-beer plants-or, more
strictly speaking, some of the near