AMERICA’S LIQUOR PROBLEM.

Evening Star, Issue 20309, 18 October 1929, Page 8

AMERICA’S LIQUOR PROBLEM.

From a cable message to-day giving particulars of a series of raids by Federal Prohibition agents in the States of New York and New Jersey an idea can be gained of the difficulties that face the Government' of the United States in enforcing the liquor law In the present case the authorities had to deal apparently with an organisation elaborately equipped and possessed of large financial icsources. These revelations merely confirm the assertions that have been made of the hopelessness of carrying out the enforcement provisions of the Volstead Act. Strong efforts have been made in the past to suppress rum runners on land and sea Many have been severely punished and involved in great financial loss, yet the illicit trade is carried on. Vast sums are'spent yearly by the Administration in its endeavours to stop the widespread breaking of the law. A period of intense activity by the Prohibition officers naturally has the effect of checking the operations of those engaged in getting liquor into the country, but they aro never entirely suppressed, and when the moment of slackening occurs the traffic is resumed on as large a scale as before. The truth is that tho country is vulnerable to the attacks of liquor runners from four directions. These are the long Atlantic and Pacific seaboards and the Mexican and Canadian borders. By far the greater opportunities are provided from Canada and the Atlantic side,

and effectively to safeguard these two entrances only would require tremendous patrol forces. The root of the matter, of course, is the demand for liquoi in the States. If that were not so great the problem would not be so difficult of solution As the position is now, the chance of great profits awaits the rum runner, and ho can afford to pay generously those who help him in his adventures. Though Mr Coolidge was an upholder of the Eighteenth Amendment and his Administration provided large sums for establishing enforcement agencies, the hopes of the Prohibitionists were raised by the election of Mr Hoover, in the belief that he would make a more determined, effort to have the law enforced. So far he has not taken any drastic steps in this direction He has been consistent in his declaration that ho would steadfastly support the Eighteenth Amendment just as he would all the other laws of the country, but he has introduced no new rigorous regulations. One promise that Mr Hoover made during the election campaign was that ho would appoint a commission to investigate tho subject of law enforcement in the United States, and that this commission would consider tho relation of Prohibition to the violation of the law. The President has named his commission. It consists of ten distinguished lawyers and one woman, and wo may be sure that the choice was made on the ground of ability and character. The commission meets with approval both by the Prohibitionists and their opponents Tho former hope for recommendations that will make enforcement practicable, while the “ wets ” trust that the commissioners will come to the conclusion that the law is not enforceable. Immediate results are not expected, for the survey of the commission will take two years. In the meantime things presumably will go on in tho present unsatisfactory way. In this connection the efforts of the Prohibition agents to stop liquor entering the country bring deplorable results occasionally, and numbers of innocent people have been killed in the guerrilla warfare that has occurred. Looking at tho position from a detached point of view, it seems that the pa e is too fast for the Government to keep up. In other words, tho cost in money, in lives, in the deterioration of character, and in the bitterness engendered throughout tho country is too great for the results achieved. An American writer, discussing in the ‘Round Table’ the position as it has been since Mr Hoover became President, declares that tho “dry” districts remain about as dry as formerly both in word and deed, while the “wet” districts are certainly no less wet. If that is the case, the outlook for Prohibition is not bright, and tho same commentator may be not far from the truth when he suggests that the most probable outcome is the practical nullification of tho Eighteenth Amendment in large sections of the country, as tho Fifteenth Amendment, which dealt with negroes’ political rights, has been nullified.