Evening star., 1933-02-14
Commissioners Pledge Strict
Enforcement and Deny
Truth of RumorS.
PROHIBITIONISTS HEAR
LIQUOR TO BE PLENTIFUL
DR.. Ellison Declares Carloads Re
ported Ordered to Have wide
Open" City March 4.

Inc prOnlDlClOn laws Will De SLIlCtly
enforced here during the inauguration
of PreSident-elect Roosevelt, Commits
sioners Luther H. Reichelderfer and
Herbert B. Crosby told group OF 78
persons, interested in the dry cause, at
meeting of the Board of Commission
erS today.
Rumors that Washington is to be
wide open" during the inauguration
festivities were recounted by speakers
selected to present the case of the pro-
hibitionists. The Commissioners said
nothing coming from them or the
Police Department had been responsible
for these rumors. Dr. Reichelderfer
pointed out that at the Commissioners
request Congress had recently appro-
priated $25,000 for assisting in main
tanning order during the Inauguration.
The group of prohibitionists was
marshaled by DR.. Everett M. Ellison,
president of the Citizens Service Asso-
citation for Law Enforcement, who Sc
lected five speakers to address the
board. DR.. Ellison first said that there
were rumors to the effect that carloads
Of liquor would be shipped to Wash
ington to assist celebrators at the In
auguration. Recently, he added, more
lntoxication has been observed in Wash
ington than ever before. However. the
majority of the best people in Wash
ington," he said, wanted our city dry
now and always.
Anxious to Stop Rumors.
Dr. william S. Abernethy, pastor Of
the Calvary Baptist Church, said he
was not anxious for the news to go
out, as it has gone out, that this city
is to be- wide open" during the in
auguration.
Dr.. Reichelderfer asked him If the
rumorS in any way connected the Com
missioners with this statement. DR..
Abernethy said he and all present had
the utmost faith in the Commissioners
and knew they were doing all In their
ppower to enforce the law. This view
was stressed frequently by all of the
speakers.
Deets Pickett, who said he repre-
sented a constituency Of eight or nine
million people, said he, too, had heard
the rumors of the "wide-open" city
during the Inauguration. He said he
had recently seen bottle of liquor sold
here on the street
Capt. Edward Page CASTOR who has
recently organized an association known
as the New Vigilantes In New York,
said he had lived abroad for many
years until he became convinced it was
his duty to come home and enforce
the prohibition law and all other laws"
He said "the inspiration which a dry
Washington can give to the country
will be tremendous help to the cause
which we hold dear. Our association
proposes to enforce, by militant means
II necessary, the prohibition and all
other laws. I mean especially the laws
against murder, pornographic literature
and opium or other narcotics"
Capt. CASTOR said he had approached
President Hoover and President-elect
Roosevelt and asked both to issue a
proclamation calling for a dry In
augural.
Laennmle Plea Quoted.
Andrew Wilson Of the Anti-Saloon
League said he had helped frame the
legislation which cut down the number
OF saloons in the city to 800, and the
Sheppard act, as well as the eighteenth
amendment to the Constitution. He
supported what the other speakers had
said, and read printed statement from
Carl Laemmle, movie magnate, urging
all Of the motion picture industry to
oppose the return of the saloon, as
money now spent in moving pictures
would then be spent In saloons.
Mrs. Jesse w. Nicholson, president of
the National Woman's Democratic Law
Enforcement League, said there was no
such thing as drinking a nation into
prosperity, and said she hoped the
Commissioners would let the Nation
know Washington would be dry on
March 4.
Commissioner Crosby took issue with
the speakers, who had said conditions
now are worse than before. He said
Sergt. George M. Little of the liquor
squad had told him only yesterday that
liquor imports are on the wane.
After the meeting, CASTOR addressed
a separate meeting of the drys in the
board room Of the District Building.
He told them the New Vigilantes
wanted a quarter of a million yolun-
teers who would take the law into
their own hands, Every time a VOL
unteer found bootlegger operating. he
said, the New Vigilante would take the
liquor away by force and DESTROY IT,