PROHIBITION LAW

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 16 April 1926, Page 5

PROHIBITION LAW

ENFORCEMENT DIFFICULTIES. ILLICIT STILLS LARGE NUMBER AT WORK. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. WASHINGTON, April 14. General Andrews, before the. Senate Committee, said he believed a modification of the Federal Fin forcemea t Act, to encourage mild alcoholic beverages, would aid the enforcement of prohibition. It was estimated that about 1,720,000 stills are now operating in the United States with an average capacity each of forty gallons daily. Cross-examined, General Andrews stated that his opinion, as a man and as a citizen, was that the present conditions of home distilling were seriously injurious to the morals of the home. Figures were introduced, showing that the number of stills seized 'had increased from 95,930 in 1921 to 172,537 in ,1925. General Andrews admitted that he often hired informers from the underworld to obtain evidence. Senator Reed, the only “wet” committeeman, declared that some laws coukl be more criminal than crime. For instance, the old English law, which permitted the hanging of a man for killing a rabbit was more criminal than the Acit, and anyone who held the contrary opinion was heartless, allowing his enfchusiaisni to arise to the point of insanity.