PROHIBITION IN AMERICA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19702, 1 February 1926, Page 7

PROHIBITION IN AMERICA

CHANGES IN ENFORCEMENT. REDUCTION IN NUMBER OF AGENTS. (Frew Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.) WASHINGTON, January 30. (Received Jan. 31, at 6.6 p.m.) The “Wet” leaders state that two small developments in the prohibition situation —namely, the warning by the Federal Department of Justice that illegal warrants for searching dwellings where liquor |was suspected to he would no longer be tolerated, and secondly, an immediate reduction in the number of Federal prohibition agents—marked the end of the AntiSaloon League domination of the Government’s activities and consequently the beginning of an era of sanity in “dry” law enforcement. The “drys” were obviously depressed and admitted that the result would markedly affect the enforcement of illegal warrants. This declaration was followed by the judges freeing the “dry” law violator. They said: “It is claimed that he is guilty and deserves sentence, but his conviction was accomplished by a plain violation of his constituted rights and by a method which wo cannot sanction.” Aproximately 600 out of 1900 Federal agents will be dropped, because of the prohibition unit exceeding its 11,000,000 dollars for the year’s appropriation. There is no likelihood that the force can increase nest year, since the Congressional appropriation for. it is slightly less. —A. and N.Z. Cable.