New Administrators

They may all have been on vacation beyond the reach of radio; or they may all have been deaf to the call of public service--the fact was simply that General Lincoln C. Andrews, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in charge of Prohibition enforcement, announced a new list of 24 Prohibition Administratoras and not one was $50,000 a year man, not to mention any higher figure. The public had almost been led to believe that a great drive under General Andrews beginning Sept. 1 to blot intoxicants from off the map of the U. S. was to be offered by business men, six-figure men. In this detail, at least, the drive was not to be.

Of to the be. 24 new Prohibition administrators 18 are oldtimers, taken over from various positions in the Roy A. Haynes collection.

Of the six new men, five are ex-Army officers and one is a business man. The fact that four of the Army men were appointed to Southern districts in which Republican Senators are but slightly interested, sharpened the suspicion that General Andrews' attempt to get new men had caused a political storm before which he was forced to bow.

It was generally bruited that the man appointed administrator for the 7th District, Virginia, is thanking C. Bascom Slemp, former Secretary to President Coolidge, for the job; that the administrator for the 11th District, Kentucky, is thanking Senator Ernst; that the administrator for the 12th District, Ohio, is thanking Senator Will that in short, a score of politicians are receiving thanks from the new administrators.

The one business man is not such a one as those whose commercial careers are crooned at every. U.S. cradle. Frederick Baird is his name. Traffic manager of the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad is his business rank. Judge E. H. Gary, recommended him and he has become administrator for the 4th District, headquartering at Pittsburgh.

When the list was out, General Andrews hastened to explain his appointment of oldtimers. Said he: "I would not have the heart not to give some of these men a chance to make good."

And to give color to his explanation, put "Acting", before some of the new administrators titles, implying that they might be removed if better men be found.

Leaving the rest of the country to think what it liked, the General rushed up to Chautauqua New York, dry mecca. He made a speech He told the Chautauqua that bootlegging rested upon corruption of Government officials, that a major object of his regime was to purify the enforcement personnel. He also stated that his greatest problem was the "market" the unescapable fact that some people wanted. liquor and would pay money for it.

He concluded by assuring them that a big new drive would begin, as scheduled, Sept. 1.