To consider these evils, to
find their remedy, is the most sore necessity of our times.
ENFORCEMENT OF THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT
Of the undoubted abuses which have grown up under the eighteenth
amendment, part are due to the causes I have just mentioned; but
part are due to the failure of some States to accept their share
of responsibility for concurrent enforcement and to the failure of
many State and local officials to accept the obligation under
their oath of office zealously to enforce the laws. With the
failures from these many causes has come a dangerous expansion in
the criminal elements who have found enlarged opportunities in
dealing in illegal liquor.
But a large responsibility rests directly upon our citizens. There
would be little traffic in illegal liquor if only criminals
patronized it. We must awake to the fact that this patronage from
large numbers of law-abiding citizens is supplying the rewards and
stimulating crime.
I have been selected by you to execute and enforce the laws of the
country. I propose to do so to the extent of my own abilities, but
the measure of success that the Government shall attain will
depend upon the moral support which you, as citizens, extend. The
duty of citizens to support the laws of the land is coequal with
the duty of their Government to enforce the laws which exist.
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