Thunder on the Right

About the only place in Washington last week where there was no loud talk of Prohibition was at the White House. There President Hoover, puzzled by fresh eruptions on a question the importance of which he believes is exaggerated, kept his mouth closed, his ears open. There was plenty for him to hear.

Enforceability Shelved. The slow mournful voice of Senator Wesley Livsey Jones of Washington announced the results of a call upon the National Law Enforcement Commission. Alarmed lest the Commission delve into the enforceability rather than the enforcement of Prohibition, Senator Jones had sought out Chairman George Woodward Wickersham to learn the Commission's true purpose. This he announced:

"The Commission is unanimous that the wisdom or unwisdom of the 18th Amendment is not involved in their work. . . . The function of the Commission is to devise the best means possible for its enforcement. ... All seem to view the industrial alcohol situation as the most difficult one to solve. . . . The Prohibition phase of the Commission's work can be done within three or four months . . . completed by July 1 at the latest. . . . Expert studies may be desirable . . . but these investigations should not be too prolonged or detailed. . . ."

Disappointed grumblings of Wets against this Commission policy were summed up by thunder-voiced Senator John James Elaine of Wisconsin: "The Commission is dodging the very job for which it was created."

Borah v. Hoover. One thing President Hoover definitely did hear: a statement by an indiscreet newsman to the effect that Senator Borah, following a White House visit fortnight ago, had told reporters that he had informed President Hoover that 17 U. S. District Attorneys should be promptly dismissed and that the President had replied that five were already out. President Hoover wrote Senator Borah a letter. Senator Borah replied. What the letters said was closely guarded, though it was Secretary George Akerson at the White House who revealed the exchange. Best guess as to their contents: President Hoover asked Senator Borah if he had not violated the rule against disclosing conversations with the President. Senator Borah replied with a discussion of the ethics of anonymous publicity.

Willebrandt v. Hoover? On Capitol Hill, Senator Borah busied himself collecting data to support his charge against the Prohibition enforcement personnel "from top to bottom." Audible at the White House was a rumor that none other than Mrs. Mabel Walker Willebrandt, with a grudge against the Department of Justice and Attorney-General Mitchell, was supplying Senator Borah with his evidence for further assaults upon the Hoover administration's Dry record.

Norris Case. Attorney-General Mitchell went before the Supreme Court of the U. S., and appealed the famed Norris liquor-conspiracy case. Alfred E. Norris, New York broker, had ordered liquor by telephone from a Philadelphia 'legger. A U. S. District Court found him, as purchaser, guilty of conspiracy with the 'legger because transportation was involved (TIME, Oct. 14). A Circuit Court of Appeals reversed this interpretation of the Dry law. Attorney-General Mitchell asked the Supreme Court to set aside the Circuit Court's ruling which, he said, "Has made the enforcement of Prohibition laws more difficult."

Other things the President might have heard:

P: Loud demand by Senator Brookhart for removal not only of Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, but also of his three prime Dry enforcers: Under Secretary of the Treasury Mills, Assistant Secretary Lowman, Prohibition Commissioner Doran.

P: Announcement by Commissioner Doran that industrial alcohol leakage is now negligible and no longer a prime Dry problem. Commissioner Doran ordered a 15% cut in the permitted production of industrial alcohol for 1930, pointed to corn sugar as the most troublesome source of 'legger alcohol. Lest it be used for beverage purposes, painter's alcohol was ordered further denatured.

P: Nomination by Senator Simeon Davison Fess of Ohio of Senator Borah as chairman of the prospective joint committee of Congress to study Prohibition enforcement machinery. "His discussion shows he is familiar with every aspect of the problem. He could do a 'service for 'Dry America,' " said Senator Fess. P: Involved explanations by Attorney-General Mitchell to the effect that since March one U. S. district attorney has been ousted, five forced to resign. Senator Borah thought this record "unimpressive." P: Muffled thunder over Capitol Hill of the storm of Prohibition debate, gathering during the holidays, about to break.

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