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Show EVEN WETTEST SPOTS SHOW WIDE BENEFITS OF DRY ENFORCEMENT i Crime Decreased and Health Improved in Some Cities Where Liquor Has Strongest Hold Chicago and State of Illinois Made More Law Abiding Despite Scandals Detroit Great Port of Entry for Illicit Goods. When it comes to a consideration of wet areas after two years of prohibition, the matter is largely one of choice and fine distinctions. There are several stretches of territory in which there appears to be an abundance of Intoxicating liquor pro urnble easily, and at a price that is not prohibitive. The extent of the areas varies and sq do tho conditions, condi-tions, which are noticeably worse in and about large cities. Yet In these same places the reports as to social conditions, crime and health, generally speaking, show marked improvement over those prevailing before prohibition The degree of enforcement is a varying factor, but in all cases in these territories bootlegging, smuggling and the illicit manufacture of intoxicants is widely carried on and generally known. There is a group of States about the Great Lakes Illinois, Indiana, i Michigan and Ohio which is very wet, judging from the reports received. ; There is also a small group of New England States which is far from being dry. Then there is a group of States in the far South Florida Georgia and South Carolina which is also wet. The groups will be considered con-sidered in the order named. "Chicago to-day is without doubt the wettest spot in the entire country," wires the correspondent. "Croat Unw Tlironuh Detroit." "Detroit Is probably the greatest port of entry for liquor In the country." coun-try." writes the Detroit correspondent. "Whisky in Indianapolis or for that matter in any city in Indiana Is easy-enough easy-enough to obtain," wires the Indianapolis Indian-apolis correspondent. And In Ohio, during the last fiscal year, the Federal agents mado more arrests. 3.334. than they made In any-other any-other State in the Union. But it would appear from the correspondence, cor-respondence, even In Chicago there are mitigating factors, for the report says : "Municipal and State officials of Chicago and Illinois, unanimously agree that during the two years' reign of tho Volstead act crime .and health ' conditions have been considerably lm-j lm-j proved. While tho efficiency of the Chicago prohibition agent's office (Federal) (Fed-eral) has been practically nil, because of the lack of cooperation on the part of the Chicago police force and open hostility on the part of the United States District Attorney s office, riipe records hae yolplaned almost 0 per cent. In 1920 arrests in Chicago numbered num-bered 14,453. while In 1918, before pro- liibltion. they numbered 110. C19. "Poller- Help nootlepir rs." "There are 3.500 saloons operating In this city at present and practically very one of them, is 'cheating'1 Boot-lrgglns: Boot-lrgglns: has been raised to such a high plane that even Police Chief Fitzmor- i rls admitted in a public statement a I few weeks ago that practically one-half one-half of Chicago's police force of 5,000 I men was working hand in glovo with the bootleggers. "Beer flows wherever there arc cus- j tomers for It. Whisky sells Wholesale at $134 a case and 50 cents a drink I is the standard retail price across the bar. Upward of 1,000 bootleggers and J runners operate their own board of trade and control the market lo Chicago Chi-cago and throughout the State." The correspondent quotes the various officials, Including SCsyor Will lorn Hale ' Thompson, as determined to break i up the business and ciose tho saloons, and points out that the Federal prohibition pro-hibition office has but one asent for every 1215 000 cllisOns In Chicago alonew I lie also has some interesting figures I on enforcement. "According to figures furnished by , Charles A. Gregory. Prohibition En- ' forcement Chic-f for Illinois, there have been arrested and reported to the ! United States District Attorney. I Charles Clyne, for violation of the r.a- , tlonal prohibition law In Chicago and Illinois. 2.675. This covers the period from January. 1920. to December 1. 1921 Of the total. 215 cases were dls-mlnssd dls-mlnssd by the Prohibition Commissioner. Commis-sioner. 150 convictions were obtained, there were twenty-two acqultals and thre remain pending 2,245 cases." WhliU l.t-ntlliiK oniioo.l II . " The correspondent alo recalls como of the scandals that ha ve resulted from attempts to enforce th prohibition law, particularly the $200. 000 -ac in .Wu "il.M' dv l'ikc" II. itk-i hourc.l. and In which Federal officials. State officials, prohibition agents, deputy sheriffs, police officers and even the Mayors of several small towns were Implicated He concludes: "Whisky is one of Chicago's leading lead-ing commodities Practically all of the bonded stuff comes from Kentucky I There has been a steady supply for the last three months and the fixed price to the saloon keeper is $134 a case." "Located as it la on the Canadian border." writes the Detroit correspondent corre-spondent "Detroit is probably the greatest port of entry for liquor in the country. By this is meant not the city of Detroit alone but. the whole district between Port Huron and the mouth of the Detroit River at Am-herstburg, Am-herstburg, Ont. a distance of approximately approxi-mately eighty miles. Here Is a boose runners' fairyland, In which the smuggling of liquor has become a scientific industry "Of course there Is no way to accurately ac-curately estimate tho amount that crosses the river eery twenty-four hours, but 1,000 cases is a conservative conserva-tive figure. Prohibition officers admit without argument that their force is too small to core successfully with the problem that confronts them, the figures showing that for every five miles of border territory they have an allowance of just one man. They also say that they expect to dam' this flow of liquor not to stop it within two years, but they do not say I how they are going to do it " "Help of CannAa beaded." But the correspondent also quotes I Prohibition Director James R. Davis as saying: "With the active support of the Canadian authorities in suppressing sup-pressing the export companies In Ontario, On-tario, the colony of liquor smugglers down the river will be wiped out." In Detroit, as in Chicago, there has been an improvement in the crime situation, but strangely enough the ; improvement is as regards major j crimes and there is reported an increase in-crease In the number of arrests for drunkenness year by year since pro-i pro-i hlbition became effective In Michigan, 1 which was on May 1. 1918. "Total arrests fof the four major crimes, breaking and entering business busi-ness places, breaking and entering ! residences, robbery and larceny from the person, were 3.119 In 192'J md 1.217 In 1921. For the first nine' months of 1921 the number of homicides homi-cides In Detroit was sixty-two. as com-' , pored with ninety for the same period in 1920. Arrests for drunkenness for each of the years ending May 1 were as follows: 1917 19.336 191S 16.197 1913 4.033 1020 6,926 1321 8. 21 "Arrests for violation of the prohl- bltlon law for nine months of 1921 wars l,"io, u oom pared with 1.592 for I the entire year of 1920." Mnnr Urr Lav Vtoliitor. In Indiana It appears that while there has been a very marked decrease de-crease In the number of arrests for , drunkeiines this has been offset by he number of arreste for violations of I the drv law. There are now, the cor-rrs;iondent cor-rrs;iondent sns. a'.ott i a-r-ts i j..v in Indianapolis for such violations. The correspondent, In addition to saying say-ing that whisky Is easily obtained, writes : "Most of the supply of whisky is brought from Kentucky As soon as '.he spnns and fall permits are granted to bottle liquor for 'medicinal pur-poses' pur-poses' the price gos down and the rurners bring It Into the State by a 'io. Tie competition is what brings down the price. At present the range i is from $110 to $120 a case, and this is for good four and five year old bonded whisky When sold by the single bottle the price range is from $12 to $14. " sincere effort has been made to' break up I bo boot leglnc by bot h mu-' mu-' nlcipal and Federal officials in all parts of the State, but the opinion ; prevails here that as long ns the liquor Is In the Government warehouses and is long as it Is manufactured In Canada Can-ada the practice of bootlegging will continue." No nondoil ComN In Ohio. As has been pointed out earlier in ' this series of articles, the situation in Ohio has to be considered with the iact In view that not until last March did the State have an enforcement act. I Unreported stories of a tremendous i I illicit traffic In Ohio arc plentlt il ThS correspondent, however, writes: "Two ve.nrs of prohibition enforce-Rient enforce-Rient in Ohio has driven bohtlcd whisky off the bootleg market Tills ha-) come, however, only within the lecent months Moonshine and vari- ous compound- with alcohol as the base are about the best obtainable, now. Arrests have bet n numerous and the quality of tho bootleg liquor is deteriorating, but any body who v.ants liquor seems to be able to obtain ob-tain it. if they are. satisfied with the quality." The wetness in New England seems to radiate from Rhode Island, which is admittedly very wet. down through Connecticut and up through parts of ' Massachusetts Vermont and N'ew Hampshire are practically dry, and so is Maine in which State prohibition is no new thing. However, the Maine correspondent does say: "Maine being on the Canadian border bor-der line, it is a little easier lhan it otherwise would be to procure liquor. But the cost when the liquor reach a the center of the State, for Instance, is so high that many are prevented, from buying it." The report show. however, that conditions generallv have Improved in ! Maine since the beginning of Statewide State-wide enforcement in Januarv. 1917 In New Hampshire the situation is abcut the same as in Maine, the cor-j cor-j rrspenoent summarizing . conditions thus: Prohibition has reduced drunk-rnucss drunk-rnucss '"hi per cent i'i piison -om-mitnicnts have fallen off materially; savings bank deposits have Increased 519.000.000, with 25,000 new depositors. Three ne SMI! We. Massachusetts Rhode Island and '"onnectlcut therefore remain to be learded as more or less wet territory. The Federal agents In Connecticut made nearly twice as many arrests in the last fiscal year in Connecticut as were made In Rhode Island, and in Massachusetts they made more than twice as many arrests as In Connecticut. Connecti-cut. The reports to this newspaper seem to show. 1 owevcr. that the actual wetness is i'i Inverse ruilo to the number of arrests by. Federal agents. Massachusetts has no State law. and the counsel for the Anil-Saloon League In Boston. Boyd P. Doty. Bays he believes liquor may be obtained in limited quantities and easily, but that the consumption has fallen off Im-1 uiensely. He is not satisfied with conditions, but lelievcs they are Improving, Im-proving, and adds: "The failure of the Stale lawn to harmonize with the Federal cob i hampering lh work of enforceT." nt " As far as crime go- - the record-- in Massachusetts show a marked iir,- prcvement of conditions. The corrc-spordent corrc-spordent in Boston writes, however; 'Tn 1921 there weje 30,137 arrests f or j ! drunkenness, which is an Increase over the record for 19;1) But there were fewer such arrests in 1920 and 1921 together than there were in 1917" I is Rhode Island which Is tho wet spot of New England, this being due. BS haa been noted previously, to failure- of the State legislature to enact an enforcement law that would bring into play the local police foiccs. "Tho wets.' says the correspondent! In Providence, 'are actively pushing the liquor business. They are kept busy supplying every corner of the Stat" with plenty of 'booze.' proceeding proceed-ing with absolute assurance that they will he able to escape arrest. Fvery one knows that It Is easy to get and drink liquor without much effort. Z7er beer saloons do a thriving business busi-ness and hundreds of stills arc said to xlst. The liquor saloon has been nboiivhrj In Rhode Tsland. but prohl- b't'on enforcement is a Joke." Selr.ctl in latomobf lea. While somo social conditions have I improved since prohibition, the corre- spondent notes, the actual amount of crime Is about what it previously was. He also writes: "Superintendent Gilmartln of the Police Department says 'bat there are s many if not more arresl 'r drunkenness now than there ever wefo before. Sixty per cent, of the I airects made in Providence for Intoxication Intoxi-cation were of men who were attempting attempt-ing to drive automobiles While under the Influence of liquor." The Southern States are mainly wet, the differences. Judcing from the reports, re-ports, being almost wholly of degree de-gree Georgia Was deall With lo 'he fust article of this series, it being brought out that the correspondent In Atlanta sas "there is probably more liQV.or in Atlanta now than there was befcre prohibition and more cases of violation of the law in both Atlanta and the State than ever before." He also wrote: "Mo. hers of Atlanta at a meeting held some months ago devised plans to close dances earlier to frown upon night automobile rides and to bar corn liquor from the dancers of both sexes." Di'Hpnir in s,n(ii Carolina. From South Carolina the correspond ' dent writes. - "Prohibition In South Carolina has j not prohibited to any extent, nor has , it brought a condition of peace and I prosperity The State has gone through its worse crime wave in his-tor his-tor during the best two years, and while this may not be attributable to prohibition the facts, are that more people have been murdered and more rowdyism has existed than at any I time under the illspensary days." j Ocv. Cooper Is quoted as saying that j the crime wave is not due to prohibition prohibi-tion and that conditions might be worse had prohibition not cxitcd. b it the fact is made clear I hat the State is very fur from dry. and on the matter mat-ter of enforcement the correspondent quoted Mayor R. J Blalock of Columbia Colum-bia thus; "Closer cooperation by the prohibitionists prohibi-tionists would stop much of the violation viola-tion of the law. " Three-fifths of tho people of the State arc in favor of prohibition, pro-hibition, but this three-fifths so antagonize an-tagonize the remainins two-fifths that; there Is no chance for anything like Ifldomiato pnfAr.v.mcnt -.C ilir. law1 leas Ran Running In Plorldn Reports as tn conditions in Florida vary, but that It Is wet wherever the population Is at all considerable seems to be the consensus Innumerable fates are told of supplies of liquor reaching tho Florida coast, but tho correspondent at To 11a ha--see writes; 'There has been a great falling off 'n bootlegRlng and the distilling of liquor in the last year because of the vigilance of the officials. The fact that Florida, has more than 1 200 miles of sea coast makes li exceedingly difficult dif-ficult to prevent the Importation of whisky." The different areas dealt with in this article, together with New York and the parrs of New Jersey adjacent lo New York city which are espc dally wet, are the seel Ions of tl.e country which make the1 worst showing show-ing after two years of prohibition They are comparable with the area dealt with yesterdaj which nw!.' best showing, the purpose having been to present the two extreme |