judicial machinery, concrete proposals for which are available from Government departments. They are in the main: 1. Reorganization of the Federal court structure so as to give relief from congestion. 2. Concentration of responsibility in detection and prosecution of prohibition violations. 3. Consolidation of the various agencies engaged in prevention of smuggling of liquor, narcotics, other merchandise, and aliens over our frontiers. 4. Provision of adequate court and prosecuting officials. 5. Expansion of Federal prisons and reorganization of parole and other practices. 6. Specific legislation for the District of Columbia. I append hereto a preliminary and a supplementary report from the Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement relating to several of these and other questions. I particularly call attention to their recommended plan for reducing congestion in the Federal courts by giving court commissioners enlarged powers in minor criminal cases. Their discussion of the workability and the constitutionality of the plan, which is concurred in by the eminent jurist upon the commission and others whose advice they have sought, is set out in more detail in the supplementary report. I also append memoranda from the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury upon several phases of these problems. I believe the administrative changes mentioned above will contribute to cure many abuses. Beyond these immediate questions are others which reach deeply into the whole question of the growth of crime and the enforcement of the laws. The causes of crime, the character of criminal laws, the benefits and liabilities that flow from them, the abuses which arise under them, the method by which enforcement and judicial personnel is secured, the judicial procedure, the respective responsibility of the Federal and State Governments to these problems, all require further most exhaustive consideration and investigation, which will require time and earnest research as to the facts and forces in action before sound opinions can be arrived at upon them. The White House, January 13, 1930. HERBERT HOOVER NOTE: The Commission's "Preliminary Report on Observance and Enforcement of Prohibition, November 21, 1929," and its "Report Supplemental to the Preliminary Report Submitted to the President on November 21, 1929" are printed in House Document 252 (71st Cong., 2d sess.). 18 Message to the Congress Recommending International Fur Trade Exhibition and Congress. To the Congress of the United States: I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the inclosed report from the Secretary of State, to the end that legislation may be enacted to authorize an appropriation of not exceeding $30,000 for the expenses of participation by the United States in the International Fur Trade Exhibition and Congress to be held in Germany in 1930. The White House, January 13, 1930. HERBERT HOOVER NOTE: The message and accompanying report are printed as House Document 253 (71st Cong., 2d sess.). 53-315 76-5 19 The President's News Conference of January 14, 1930 THE PRESIDENT. I haven't anything for publication this morning. I have one or two questions on prohibition that I don't mind talking to you a little about from the point of view of background, but I don't care to enter into any public discussions on the subject at the present time. STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT The questions I have relate to the matter of State enforcement. There is nothing in the program which has been proposed here that has any intention of taking over the responsibilities of the States in any shape or form. Our proposals are merely to correct the deficits in our administrative machinery, and are purely Federal. We have no notion of relieving the States of responsibilities or extending the Federal activities beyond their proper relationships with the States. And that covers all the questions I have, so that is all I can give you today. Q. Is there any proposal, Mr. President, to increase the responsibilities of the States? THE PRESIDENT. That matter has not been taken up at all. It no doubt will come up in the Law Enforcement Commission, as they are considering everything. I have no doubt they will have that under consideration in time if they have not already—that I do not know. NOTE: President Hoover's eighty-second news conference was held in the State, War, and Navy Building at 12 noon on Tuesday, January 14, 1930. 20 Message to the Congress Transmitting the Report of the Porto Rican Hurricane Relief Commission. January 14, 1930 To the Congress of the United States: I am submitting herewith for your consideration a copy of the report of the Porto Rican Hurricane Relief Commission recommending that additional funds be made available to the Commission for the purposes specified therein. I am also submitting a draft of the legislation proposed by the Commission to accomplish these purposes. Porto Rico is still suffering from the effects of the disastrous hurricane of September 13, 1928. There exists a real and immediate need for appropriating these funds in order to alleviate the distress due to unemployment on the Island and to enable the Commission to continue its farm rehabilitation program. The proposed legislation has my approval and I recommend its immediate enactment. THE WHITE HOUSE, January 14, 1930. HERBERT HOOVER NOTE: The message and accompanying report are printed as House Document 254 (71st Cong., 2d sess.). The report recommended an additional $3 million, including $2 million for roads and schools and $1 million to be applied to an existing $6 million loan fund for Porto Rican planters. A resolution authorizing the appropriation (Public Res. 33) became law on January 24, 1930, but the appropriation was later defeated in the House of Representatives. 21 Letter Commending the Work of the Pan American Society. January 15, 1930 [Released January 15, 1930. Dated November 13, 1929] Dear Mr. Merrill: I have learned of your proposed visit throughout the United States with a view to the organization of branches of the Pan American Society in a number of our larger cities. I am much interested in the work of the Pan American Society in its promotion of friendly relations and mutual understanding between the United States and its sister republics of Latin America, and I am confident that you will find on your tour a great many of our citizens throughout the country who will be specially interested in your undertaking and who will grasp the opportunity of cooperating with you most heartily in the creation of branches of the Pan American Society in our more important cities. I wish you every success in the efforts you and your associates are putting forth along these lines. Yours faithfully, HERBERT HOOVER [Mr. John L. Merrill, President, Pan American Society, 67 Broad Street, New York City] |