McCampbell for Campbell

McCampbell for Campbell

In the Department of Justice's reorganization of Prohibition Enforcement, which it took over this month from the Treasury (TIME, July 7), first notable change was at the biggest, Wettest metropolis in the land. For Major Maurice Campbell, Prohibition Administrator of New York City, was substituted a stalwart, black-mustachioed Kentuckian, Andrew McCampbell, 57, personal believer in Prohibition, a Dry law enforcer of long experience in the Midwest and on the Canadian border.

Major Campbell had been spectacular, often in the headlines. He had raided clubs, night clubs, big hotels. His greatest fame came when he caused $50,000 worth of furniture in Singer Helen Morgan's nightclub to be chopped up (TIME, July 9, 1928). The evening before he went out of office his men descended upon the Hotel Ritz-Carlton while he, in a dinner coat, personally led a raid on the expensive municipally-owned Central Park Casino.

Next day, Mr. McCampbell said in his "inaugural" speech: "I think the source of supply, the manufacturer and distributer, are the particular ones to get. . . . I can get the small ones almost any time." He promised that his agents would "stay within the law in enforcing the law," that his actions would be "as unobjectionable as possible" to Wet Manhattanites. To show him their mettle, his subordinates promptly pounced on a $30,000 Bronx cache of wines & beer, and a truckload of beer from New Jersey, chief Manhattan supply.

More newsworthy than what Mr. McCampbell did was what Major Campbell last week said. The Treasury Department, still his employer, ordered him to Boston as Alcohol Permit Inspector. He refused to go, resigned from the service, issued a bristling statement: "I have . . . revoked . . . many permits with political backing and have thus trod on many political toes. . . . There are certain brewery permits, whiskey permits and alcohol permits that local politicians and certain Administration officials in Washington feel must be restored in order to secure necessary support for the Republican ticket in New York this fall. With me in charge of permits in New York, Treasury officials know these permits will not be issued. . . .

"I publicly declare that certain Treasury officials, who up to today have been charged with enforcement of the National Prohibition Act and who are still to remain in charge of kindred activities, have not been sincere in their efforts to enforce this law and they have plainly demonstrated this fact to me."

Seymour Lowman, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in charge of Customs, Coast Guard & Prohibition last week scoffed at these accusations, called Major Campbell "a weak character."

Appended to Major Campbell's statement was this further declaration: "I have reached the following conclusion: Prohibition is not the logical solution for temperance in our form of Government, and I now publicly advocate the repeal of the 18th Amendment before the nation is consumed in the fires of its consequences."

Newsgatherers made hot copy of Mrs. Henrietta Crosman Campbell, famed old-time actress, friend of many a stage celebrity, wife of the retiring administrator. They credited her with saying: "I was a very, very happy woman when he came out and took a stand for Prohibition repeal. . . . All our friends drank. . . . Naturally, we didn't want to feel like pariahs whenever we went out. So there was nothing to do except stay at home. That's what we did. . . . I am very happy that the Major is convinced enforcement of Prohibition is impossible." Last week Mrs. Campbell indignantly denied saying any such thing, insisted: "I am a home body. . . . I have no friends who drink, so far as I know. . . . I am glad the Major is out of Prohibition enforcement, but I am as dry as dry can be."

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