The Census Bureau of Washington has published some very interesting and instructive figures about police costs in American cities. In the preparation of this highly important work, only cities with a population of thirty thousand and over have been considered. The figures first considered refer to the year 1903. At that time the total expenditures was $38,000,000. In 1919, the year before national prohibition was instituted, the cost was $75,000,000, and in 1927, it reached $184,000,000.

These statements reveal a colossal and rapid increase in police maintenance costs. It might be assumed that this is due to the increase in population. But a casual glance suffices to reveal the difference between the two increases. In the sixteen years from 1903 to 1919, expenditures mounted from thirty-eight to seventy-five millions, in the eight-year period from 1919 to 1927, from seventy-five to 2one hundred and eighty-four millions. The enormous rise during the last eight years cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be attributed entirely to a greater population and larger salaries. This also becomes evident from the statistics covering this period. We refer to the per capita cost. In 1903 it was $1.83; in the year 1919 it grew to $2.19; and in 1927 it became $4.32.

Of course, it would be unfair to place the blame for these mounting figures on Prohibition alone. Along with the latter, one must also take cognizance of increasing crimes and felonies many of them traceable to Prohibition.

The Census Bureau, which compiled these facts, knows of course that the growing number of arrests for drunkenness furnish an important argument for the anti-Prohibition forces. It, therefore, considers itself justified in admonishing the reader not to draw wrong conclusions. As the Bureau goes on to explain, the methods of classification used by the various police departments differ in the 3handling of cases of intoxication; in addition, procedures change during the years.

As an example, the city of Detroit has been selected. In that community nearly all persons arrested for intoxication were liberated on the following morning, no further action being taken against them. This custom prevailed from 1914 to 1918. These figures are therefore not listed in the statistics. Later on, the Detroit police department changed their system, and a large percentage of such arrested persons had to face charges of intoxication. As a result, the annual report bulged with figures.

It is quite obvious that such changes of procedure must definitely affect the statistical entries, and in associating these figures with the effects of Prohibition, must only choose those years when police methods were not superseded by new rules.

Even when one considers these circumstances, the statistics still show a 4colossal increase in arrests for too much drinking. Only recently, some amazing accounts about Washington and the District of Columbia were published, depicting the really alarming spread of drunkenness during the Volstead era.