The Manitowoc Pilot

ENFORCEMENT ACT "TOUGH JOB"

Internal Revenue Official Says It Needs Large Force and $9,000,000.

DEAL WITH WORST CROOKS

P. F. Meyers, Assistant Commissioner, Tells House Body It Is Difficult to Get Right Kind of Men to Suppress Bootlegging.

Washington, Jan. 8.—Revenue officers under the Volstead act "are up against the toughest proposition any men ever were up against," according to Paul F. Meyers, assistant commissioner of internal revenue, whose testimony before the house appropriations committee was made public.

Discussing the need of a big force and plenty of money with which to go after wholesale and retail bootleggers, Mr. Meyers declared it was a "tough proposition," because they were dealing with the worst element of crooks in the country.

It developed at the hearings that the bureau would need about $7,000,000 for the next fiscal year for prohibition enforcement. Members insisted that with the deficiency to be taken care of later the amount would exceed $9,000,000.

Commissioner Williams explained that the department was having difficulty in finding the right type of men to go after violators at the rate of pay offered and that they were open to all sorts of temptation, particularly as to bribes.

"Some of them have fallen, and that was to be expected," he said. "When a man feels the pinch of hunger he is liable to go wrong."

Mr. Williams said that based on the figures of September 30, there were 48,000,000 gallons of liquors of all sorts in government warehouses and that it was being withdrawn at the rate of 4,000,000 gallons a month. The commissioner declined to venture an opinion as to how long it would be before the country was actually "bone dry."