Ex-Governor Gifford Pinchot Milford, Pennsylvania
BECAUSE the problem of enforcing the 18th Amendment is as wide as our system of government, the head of that system is the man to deal with it.
The President of the United States can control all branches of law enforcement by the nation, and can effectively influence enforcement by all smaller political divisions, such as cities and states. No one else can.
Bootlegging is formidable today mainly because most of the law enforcing agencies in America have had, and still have, no serious intention to enforce the law. The bootleggers know that the will to enforce is lacking. This is the first essential of the situation.
We have laws enough, regulations enough, money enough, and men enough to enforce the law, if they had strong purpose behind them. Only determination is wanting.
There is but one man who can supply the will to enforce on a nation-wide scale. This is the President of the United States.
Enforcement is hamstrung by politics. This is the second essential fact. The President alone is strong enough to break the alliance between corrupt politics and the organized business of bootlegging.
In law enforcement, public sentiment is vital. The detail of machinery is not. Only the President can awaken and lead a nation-wide insistence that the law shall actually be enforced.
Law enforcement involves city, county, state, interstate,
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Law Observance:Shall the People of the United States Uphold the Constitution?.
Contributors: W. Durant C. - Editor.
Publisher: Durant Award Office.
Place of publication: New York.
Publication year: 1929.
Page number: 398.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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