RIGOROUS ENFORCEMENT

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11656, 22 October 1923, Page 5

RIGOROUS ENFORCEMENT

LAW-ABIDING PEOPLE ENTITLED TO FULL SUPPORT. COOLIDGE’B DECISION. By Tolt-graph.—Press Assn.— Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received l October '2l, 5.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, October 20. “Prohibition problems must be taken directly to American people,” declared President Coolidge, addressing the State Governors here, when they met him after tho conference at Westbaden. The people, he said, had formed their Government, and enacted laws, and the machinery provided by Congress and the State Legislatures must be used to its full capacity to enforce the law. Til© United States was not a nation of inebriates or hypocrites. The f;rcat body of people wn* thoroughly aw-abiding, and entitled to support and protection. “I propose to give that support and protection to the limit, against every lawless element.’ 1 The President pledged his personal support and the Government’s support for the enforcement of prohibition, and urged the State Legislatures to extend their aid for the same purpose, declaring: “Any Government which does not enforce the laws is unworthy of the name of Government, and cannot be expected to hold the support of its own citizens, or the respect of the informed opinion of the world. We can solve the prohibition problems’ by frank, candid consideration, not by prejudice or political intrigue.”