The Vancouver Sun du lieu suivant : Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 36

THE VANCOUVER SUN British Columbia's Great Newspaper SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 6, 1926 PROHIBITION-AMERICA'S LIVJEST PROBLEM Reports of religious bodies and changing views of prohibitionists themselves bringing whole subject up for crucial re-examination. Outstanding facts brought together -r nT -n nil i i By EYAVS CLARK (In Sew York Times) PROHIBITION' takes the centre of the stage. S.x years iso. after a debate which Stirred the interest of the nation, prohibition went Into effect federal decree. Txly.

afier six years of experience with the practical workings of the law, the whole subject ha once again captured the attention of the public. Sereral dramatic Incidents have focused this reawakened Inters. Host important baa been the complete reorganization of the entirj federal enforcement machinery, which began last fall In the ap talk is stni very far from flood. Led by Representative John Philip Hill of Maryland, an informal committee of some sixty members of the lower house pledged themselves In the previous Congress to work for modification of the Volstead act The members of this group who have been re-elected have already sent out invitations to other sympathetic congressmen to form a new committee this year. Those active in this movement plan to pool their tactical resources In a systematic way.

They plan to decide in their own caucus what particular measure is the best to support and propose to hold public hearings to obtain the best advice from others. ESTIMATES OF WET STRENGTH Estimates vary as to the wet strength in the house. Congressman Hill says that at least 170 members would surely vote for modification if the issue were presented today, and a considerable number of others might do so. G. C.

Hinckly, national secretary of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, figures that about 100 representa pointment of General Lincoln I Andrews em assistant secretary of Jubition matters, with blanket orders in his pocket to do anything lie pleased with the service to long as he made It efficient. Then came the general's orders terminating he employment of tht whole prohibition force and the reappointment of those of It whs could be trusted. And now thf process is carried by the Mellon bill presented to the 8cn.it a short time ago providing lor further reorganisation of the eervice and Its establishment as a separate and independent bu reau in the treasury department. terially greater than in other 'Yr Alcoholism Alcoholism per tion opposed to prohibition, has states. 1000 discharges from New Tors The effect of these changes has ifjjMI hospitals showed a marked drop FfclMtffc K'ySiPrJJM during the years of the war and ifafe 1,20 IliOOD OP PROHIBITION CASES No separate bureaus or divl states makes an accurate pletuM of prohibition machinery difficult to draw.

The only comprehensive enforcement data available re lates exclusively to federal agen cies. ORGANIZATION Two branches of the federal government have been given the duty of enforcing the prohibition law the departments of Justice tives are out-and-out wets and about the same number confirmed drys, and that the balance of 235 are open to conviction. Mr. Hill will not admit that modification in the present Congress is out of the question and says' ho will work for a clean-cut record vote before the session is over. As it would take 208 Totes in tne house to effect any change In the present laws, however, such a possibility is, to say the least remote.

In the Senate the wets do not plan to organize their forces, but are relying on public hearings before the Judiciary committee on slons have been set up in tha department of Justice to handle Crime "The record of felonies made public the result of a study Of the number of arrests for drunkenness in every city and town In the United States of more than 6000 population from 1914 through 1924. The returns from 250 such places showed that during 1918 and 1919, when the emergency war-time restrictions were in effect "drunkenness took an astonishing drop." After the Volstead act there was "a further drop, but immediately afterward. In 1921, there was an enormous rives no support to the crime been heightened by public statements of a sensational nature which General Andrews himself and Emory R. Buckner, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, have recently made. Mr.

Buckner hts frankly admitted the complete In-ability of the government to enforce the law with the facilities available at present "10 per cent effective" was his measure of prohibition In New York. General the prosecution of cases arising under the prohibition law. The wave but "there is un mistakably a rapid increase federal a.torney in each of the districts takes care of them as the violations of the law, chiefly of the misdemeanor class he would any other business. En qulry at the department reveals and the treasury. The agents ol All that can be asserted is that a considerable Increase in the size the treasury department appre prohibition has thus far not pre.

hend those who violate the law. of the attorneys' staffs since the Increase. This Increase has con vented an increase in such of tinned in 1922 and later years. fenses." law went into effect But no additional federal courts have been established to take care of and turn the cases over to the federal district attorneys operating under the department of Justice with the result that by 1924 ar rests for drunkenness rebounded Drag addiction "There to tit tle point to the contention that the Pood of new trials which pro Just about to the pre-prohibition for prosecution in the courts. To the treasury department also falls the duty of administering tha alcoholics have been driven level" In 1914 they were 506,737 hibition has let loose.

drugs. The reported In In 1924, 498,752. The league asserts that conditions in states What this flood amounts to the UNCLE SAM WONDZES crease of the drug traffic due to system of permits for the manu facture, storage and sale of al records of the department show. prohibition is a myth." collected by the federal govern No less than two-thirds of tha which were bone dry when national prohibition went Into effect are worse than in states which cohol and liquor as prescribed by Enforcement "It Is needless to total number of criminal prosecu the prohibition act. tions to which the United States dwell upon the extent of non- ment agencies during the previous year was $5,769,091.

Assuming the collections for 1926 to be approximately the same, this leaves were wet at that time. The law gives Jurisdiction In was a party In the fiscal year of enforcement of the prohibition laws. Its more serious aspects are prohibition matters to the com 1926 arose under the National THE TENTATIVE CONCMJSIOJfS well known and freely admitted. missioner of Internal revenue, an Prohibition act: More than 60, a net cost for tnis year ox aooui $12,600,000. pending legislation to dramatize what they believe to be a growing dissatisfaction with prohibition.

Senator Edge of New Jersey, one of the leading wets In the Senate, plans to call an impressive array of witnesses to testify to the evils of the dry regime. Neither Senator Edge nor other wet Senators look forward to any modification of the existing laws at this session, but plan an intensive course of public education. MASS OF BILLS INTRODUCED A mass of legislation has already been Introduced In both' houses by wets and drys alike, and also by the administration. Impartial observers believe that some of the bills, particularly those designed to make enforcement more effective, have a chance of passage. Besides the Mellon bill, these include a measure to put employees of the prohibition unit under civil service regulations; another to deport aliens Such, In brief, ere the standards It would be Idle to contend, of course, that anything like the amount of liquor is consumed In officer appointed by the president but acting under the Jurisdiction of the secretary of the treasury.

A 000 of them wars instituted in the district courts during that year. That the Judicial machinery Andrews, who made It clear when he took office that he would resign if he could not make enforcement reasonably effective before the end of the present year, hat spoken In equally pessimistic Tola. Mr. Buckner put his position la the form of two propositions; 1. The United States government has not substantially enforced prohibition throughout the country; and X.

The United States government will not substantially enforce prohibition throughout the country. report or oorarcoi of churches Added to the general excitement caused by these unconventional opinions hare come pronouncements from two religions organisations which have created the impression that even In the ranks of those who might be presumed to favor prohibition doubt has arisen of Its beneficent results. The more Impressive of these, report by the Federated Council of Churches of Christ la America, last September, of a wide, survey of all phases of th This sum, of course, does not of measurement which an un conclusive enough as a measure of the success or failure of prohibition to be admitted by both parties to the controversy. Much of it however, at least raises presumptions of the greatest interest to the public. By all odds the most valuable contribution of this kind has been made by the Federated Council cf the Churches of Christ in America in their report on "The Prohibition Situation," published last fall, a remarkably thorough, objective and unbiased piece of work.

Whatever emotional slant Include other Important Items, biased accounting of prohibition division promptly set up within the bureau to take care of this must invoke and how they have the United States that was consumed prior to 1910. No atatls such as the cost of trials and prosecutions conducted under the jurisdiction of the department of been applied in studies which work and called the prohibition tics are necessary to warrant the assumption that with scores of have already been made. Summed up, the evidence warrants the unit was placed under the super is being swamped the figures also prove. At the close of the year 1924 no lesi than 21,800 criminal cases arising under the prohibition law were pending At the end of next rer the number has grown to almost 26,000. Ia the justice, the costs of state agen thousands of saloons closed vision of a director of prohibition following tentative conclusions: cies engaged In enforcement activities, the money tiiat goej the liquor traffic la enormously A force of agents and officials was reduced.

Frequent attempts have 1. National prohibition has enor abroad to pay for smuggled then created within the unit entirely separate and independent of been made to estimate the per Southern District cf New York l'-a sponsors had must have been mously reduced the consumption the customs service and othei centage of such reduction, but iMr. BuckQ--'s Jurisdiction the liquors, the losses to farmers due to decreased demand for grain formerly used to brew liquor. on the prohibition side, yet its there is no valid or authoritative courts fell behind by more than of liquor in the United States. At least the saloon, as an accepted Institution, has gone.

basis for such estimates. 300 on prohibition ca.es, and activities of the bureau of in ternal revenue. THREE AGENCIES COMBINED taxes and excise revenues, etc. This butt item alone amounts to The fact that prohibition is still ended the year with almost 1000 pending. In some districts such far from yielding the results that 2.

Those who want liquor and more than $300,000,000 a year for the federal government alone. Tha convicted of violation of the liquor laws; a bill providing jail sentences for offenders agalnrt as Kansas, however, where most It soon became evident that the were hoped for from it doea not warrant the assumption that 11 cannot be enforced. No adequate of the prohibition cases are taken have the money to pay for it can obtain it certainly in the cities with very little difficulty. taxes collected by the Internal revenue bureau on liquor In 191'9 prohibition question, stated that to state courts, the calendars are prohibition unit was not the onlj divinlon of the treasury depart the Volstead act and a proposal to increase the number of judges effort at enforcement has yet clear. amounted to in prohibition to still far from yielding the results that were ment concerned with prohibition S.

Some of the major sources 1924 they were $27,000,000. in some of the federal courts. Any of those which come to a vote While no surrey has been made been made." GEVKKAE CHARGES op corkcttion of supply, such as imported Both the customs service another branch of the bureau of Internal of prohibition enforcement through 111, of course, precipitate a hot most violent critics have been the ardent prohibitionists themselves, The test used by the federal council In measuring the effects of the prohibition law, with the results of their application, are as follows. They furnish a sort of model form for prohibition accounting: Effect on homes of worklru; people A questionnaire sent to members of the National Conference of Social Work showed a marked Improvement as the result of prohibition. ETfect on Hie cofiiiiHmity a majority of the answers to the same questionnaire showed less child delinquency and malnutri Captain William H.

Stayton, hoped for from it" and that "no adequate effort at enforcement has been made." The recent declaration of the Rev. Dr. James state agencies, the activities of debate- revenue and the coast guard a chairman of the Association some of them have achieved na separate bureau became Involved Against the Prohibition Amend Two other tests which are commonly applied to the prohibition liquors, have been seriously curtailed by the activity of the federal government; but It has mado no attempt to enforce the law against the small retailer and n-dlvidual consumer. tional prominence. In Ohio, foi Outside of Congress, United ment, has estimated the to'al coat Empringham, formerly state su situation were not considered In of prohibition to the nation at perlntendent Cf the Anti-Saloon in the enforcement of the law; each operating at first without coordination.

To knit these three agencies together for purposes of example, a separate department has been set up to administer the enforcement laws under the di States District Attorney Buckner has focused public attention on the cost of effective enforcement $2,000,000,000, Including every any detail by the Federal Couii cil's report league of New York and now national secretary of the Church possible Item. This, of course, rection of a state enforcement 4. The dryness of any locality "Temperance Society, that a ma' merely a guess and a guess by and this phase of the situation seems destined to figure largely Bribery ami Corruption Oppo commissioner. Wisconsin also has an admitted partisan. depends primarily on the local activity of state and city state prohibition commissioner, future discussions.

Only twa Wayne B. Wheeler, general Jority of the members of his organization favored a modification of the Volstead act, has added fuel to the fires ef prohibition nents of prohibition maintain that the prohibition law has brought an epidemic of corruption among and Wyoming a commissioner of law enforcement. self-respecting courses are open to the nation, Mr. Buckner con tion, but more drinking among 6. Lawlessness and corruption tends: Either enforce the law or controversy.

young people and much less general respect for law. THE OONT OP modify it counsel to the Anti-Saloon League of has collected some figures on the cost of state enforcement The cost of the prohibition department in Ohio for the fiscal year, 1924-25, for ex government officials, both high and low. No attempt has been made to catalogue the Instances that have been revealed nor to have undoubtedly been increased by prohibition; how much no one prohibition administration. General Andrews was appointed last fall as assistant secretary of the treasury In charge of customs, coast guard and prohibition. The legislation recently proposed by Secretary Mellon Is designed to separate the prohibition unit entirely from the bureau of Internal revenue and establish It as an.

Independent division, reporting directly to the secretary of the treasury. I-ItOUIIllTIOiN Intemperance aa a factor hi With the earnest objections and dentals which have emanated from the ranks of the drys co can possibly measure. The coet of prohibition has Dependency -Case records from reduce the criticism to a basis of In the face of the record of ample, amounted to but never been calculated with even an approach to scientific preci fact The difficulties are obvious. charitable organizations in 33 cities show a sharp drop about fines collected In the enforcement achievement to date, supporters of prohibition say: We have made Evidence of how widespread corruption has become in the pro-' 1920 In the nnmiber of cases in sion; is doubtful whether 11 can be. Unfortunately, very lit beginning not as good a one which drunkenness caused calls hibition unit Is the fact that when tle of this information la available.

of the prohibition law came over $2,000,000. The eostn do not, of course. Include additional een. Ices of police, prosecuting offi as we had hoped, perhaps, but for financial assistance, but "a General Andrews took charge of The expenditures of the prohibi still, a real advance; the evils that very decided and fairly constant Increase since that date." tion unit and coast guard and Under General Andrew's direction the forces of the prohibition unit have been divided into 24 cials and courts, nor do they ac the penalties collected by federal There Is no moral support" hk says, "in writing a solemn law on the books and undertaking to enforce only part of it. It is unenforced law that produces graft and bribery, corruption and crime.

If Congress is willing '6 provide court" machinery, money and men, for 20 per cent enforcement then we should have only a 20 per cent law. Until Congress and the people of the United Rtates chanjre the national promissory note to an amount which tht Congress is willing to pay, we ara left in a very serious situation in New York and in those states where the dry laws are not have come are not as great as the evils that have gone; what we need is stricter enforcement of the law and more loyal obedience count for the loss In revenue frora taxes. Deaths from alcoholic districts, following the lines of the federal. Judicial divisions, but com Census bureau figures from all agencies are the only figures which are segregated and properly assigned exclusively to pro all of these opinions and pronouncements has come a widespread desire for an unbiased accounting of prohlbrtion; an Impartial survey of what has actually happened and a careful estimate of what may be expected In tha future. People are saying we have had prohibition for six years and that is long enough to get some idea of how It now is a good time to take of stock to see whore we are going.

But the great trouble is that most of the information which finds Its ay to the public is prejudiced information facti dressed up one way or the othei to fit tha propaganda needs "registration states" show "a drop to it The opponents of prohibi in 1920 and a rise there.ifter. hibition enforcement The ap tion, on tho other hand, say; The the force and all agents were automatically relieved of duty, as many as SO per cent were not reappointed, and that in the last 11 months of 1926 more than 100 apents were either arrested on charges of criminality, including drunkenness and disorderly conduct, or were discharged for derelictions during that period but were not prosecuted over 6 per cent of the force. bining several In each prohibition district, with 24 prohibition ad. mlnlstrators in charge. The ad II THE EFFECTS In the category of dlspute-l evi with the exception that the cirr propriation fortlie fiscal year of present law cannot be enforced hosis curve shows a drop in 19C3." 1926 for the prohibition enforce dence must be placed a vast quan conditions will inevitably go from bad to worse; the only remedy is ministrator In each district has been given complete responsibility tity of information on the effect! Alcoholic trusanlty Data from ment activities of the tntemxj revenue bureau was $9,670,560, modification of the present re New York and Massachusetts hos for the administration of the law In his Jurisdiction, subject only to and for those of the coast guard strictions.

of prohibition, which has been gathered by private fluencies, some frankly partisan In their object was $9,649,257, making a total for the general procedure formulated pitals showed that Insanity due to alcohol "is now much Ums prevalent than It was In 1910 but more prevalent than in 1920." But on one point both sides these two services of $19,319,817. and some, perhaps, without propa- at Washington; a radical decen Arrests for dmnkenne? The Moderation League, an organiza- seem to be in perfect accord: The The total fines, forfeitures, etc, ganda motive, but which Is not aw has not been adequately en forced. wets or drys. The following attempt has, therefore, been made to sum up the case of prohibition as it stands today, to outline the facts which both sides admit, and to brief the evidence over whlcii dispute exists: tralization compared with the system which General Andrews found when he took charge. Operating under the administrators' orders Is a force of assistants, attorneys, agents.

Inspectors and clerks in each district. PROHIBITION FAT AGAIN IN THE FIRE THE FUTURE The year 1926 will undoubtedly To peg in the discussion at a definite figure, he estimates that It would take at least $15,000,000 to enforce the law effectively in the state of New York $5,000,000 more than the appropriation for the entire prohibition unit of the United States government If the year 1926 is to be the year of the great talk, the years of 1927-1928 are to be years of action. If the plans of the wets succeed. While even the most sanguine do not believe the pro 1 THE MACHINERY Since the national prohibition act went into effect in January, 1920, every state 1n the union ex-cept Maryland and New York has adopted its own enforcement laws, which enable the peace officers of the state to co-operate with the federal government In enforcing prohibition. New York The most striking feature of the whole organiKttlon Is the small number of officers with which tho government is attempting to enforce the prohibition law.

Tho total number of "prohibition agents and Inspectors" who rnljrht bo called the prohibition police in tho entire United States, Alaska. Hawaii and Porto Rico, is only 1900, or one to every 60,000 of the population. Sur hibition law can be modified bi go- down in prohibition history as the year of the great talk. It is very unlikely, indeed, that any change in the prohibition law will be made by the present Congress except in the direction of more efficient enforcement But the number of hours consumed by Congress in discussion of the subject and the number of columns of newspaper space devoted to it will probably exceed any other year at least any year that has passed. The wet in Congress have already been imore vocal than in A LL this new mlrrcst awakened in United Slalei in regard l.

to the facts of prohibition is simply a magnified echo of the new interest in the subject awakened throughout the world. Hie problem that confronts Unied States is ih problem that confronts Britiih Columbia and th problem that England, France, Turkey and every progressing country vill some day have to face. The parallel between the cases of United Slates and British ColvrnJna is that both hftve undertaken a tremendous experiment. The problem has been seized by the hortit. Hut there the similarity ends.

United States is today the great propbnr.nl nf alitohilt prohibition. Brilith Columbia is a proponent of temperance through legal control. If the liquor problem is to be dealt with at aU.it wiU have to be dealt with through one of these means. Temperance or prokAiionf Which is it to btf The latter proposes to n4 the. liquor evil bf attacking liquor as an institution, but without attempting any reform of man's liquor appetite.

The former proposes to gradually temper away (he liquor appetite by a weaning prorer, Recaiist nuin demands alcohol he will be given fcui as little as possible. WhUh method is correct This article ffives some of the facts of Unled States' seven-yeir experiment. Y- the present Congress, they pin their faith on the congressional elections this fall. The next Con gress, which begHns its sessions In Iwcember of 1927. will, thev hope.

a no passea an enforcement law the Mullan-Gage In 3 911, but under the leadership of Governo; Smith it was repealed in 192J This concurrent Jurisdiction of Uu prising as it may the proportion of enforcement officers to the population in the states whcr contain a sufficient sentiment for modification to result in concrete legislation. To that end all their energies are gsjsj flkrected. any other scsvMon, and the tide of no stats law exists is not ma r.j il frr-wit--i i -f.