Evening star., 1935-01-16
D. c. FACTS CITED
IN ASKING RETURN
OF BAN ON LIQUOR
Traffic and Jail Toll Since
Repeal Listed by Shep.
pard.
SALOONS IN COUNTRY
HELD MORE NUMEROUS
Sponsor of Eighteenth Amend.
ment Says Bootlegging Is
Still Flourishing.

Increased traffic deaths and iail
commitments in Washington since re-
peal were cited today by Senator
Sheppard, Democrat, of Texas, in the
course Of a speech in the Senate urg-
ing immediate return to national pro-
hibition.
Speaking on the fifteenth anniver-
sary of the adoption of the eighteenth
amendment, which he sponsored, SEN
ator Sheppard gave statistics from a
number of cities in various parts of
the country and declared the evils of
the liquor traffic have multiplied so
rapidly since repeal las to call for
the immediate return of prohibition"
1884 Fatalities Cited.
Referring to the District of Colum-
bia. Senator Sheppard declared
According to figures from the
Washington, D. c. Police Department,
the all-time record in automobile ia
talities and injuries for this city was
made under repeal in 1894. during
which 1875 persons were killed and
1878 injured. During the previous
year. 1898, the number killed in auto
mobile accidents was 80. The first
year of repeal showed an increase,
therefore, of 6875 per cent in these
tragic deaths.
Jail records for the District Of Co.
lumbia show that in 1882 there were
8430 commitments for intoxication,
that in 1888 with beer legalized after
April z. these commitments rose to
ll,6l8, that in 1884. under repeal, they
reached a total of 1882"
Says More Saloons in U. s.
Referring to the country as a whole,
Senator Sheppard asserted there are
already more legalized saloons in the
United States today. only 13 months
after repeal, than there we're in the
| entire country at the time of the
adoption of the eighteenth amend
/ ment"
The vets joined with US in de-
| nouncing the saloon" Senator Shep-
| pard continued. They said it would
not be permitted to return. They said
they could not tolerate the idea of
going back to the bar room of the days
before prohibition. In fact, so general
| and so pronounced was this sentiment
among the vets that it may be ques-
toned whether a majority of them
would have supported repeal if they
had known it would result in the re-
| turn of the saloon on a bigger and
more devastating scale than ever,
| Where are those wet voices now?
| Where are those propagandists who
mingle expressions of horror against
the saloon with denunciations against
prohibitions"
Bootlegging Held Prevalent.
| Declaring that repeal has not done
away with the bootlegger, as the vets
predicted, Senator Sheppard said:
1T was the favorite claim of the
patron of the bootlegger in prohibition
time that prohibition was making him
a criminal. And yet, more than a year
| after repeal, the bootlegger and his
client are still functioning. The buyer
| from the bootlegger. who charged that
prohibition made him drink, must now
find some other excuse for his dis
regard of law and continued support of
an outlaw trade. And those who de-
nounce prohibition as one of the
| principal causes of crime must find
some other explanation for the con-
tempt of law and its increasing viola
tionS which surrounds us today on
every side Is months after repeal"
Senator Sheppard cited the recent
budget message to show present indi-
cations are there will be no decrease
in the number of prisoners that will
have to be provided for. and that not
only will reduction in appropriations
made by the last session of Congress
have to be restored, but that further
funds will be required because of the
advance in commodity prices. He
said the budget requested an increase
OF s2,789,445 for the Department of
Justice, of which 81, ,646,87 is for penal
and correctional institutions. He also
cited request for more money for the
Coast Guard.