ll to the meeting was announced in the local newspapers.

Shirley Wells had not been specifically invited to the conference. He
was curious to learn, however, if there was a cure for this festering
ailment that afflicted the nation other than the repeal of the
amendment. He quietly took a back seat at the small but select
gathering in the church parlors to listen to the protests and
complaints. And there was little else in the several talks--protests
against the lack of law enforcement; complaints that Chicago gangsters
were broadening their sphere of activity to include adjacent cities
and suburbs in the distribution and sale of raw alcohol and needled
beer. In these discussions no speaker offered a solution to the
problem.

The Reverend Branch presided. Following the several talks he
recognized Shirley Wells and in an elaborate introduction, reciting
his war service, he asked Shirley if he had a solution for the problem
now under discussion.

"I came here seeking information," said Shirley quietly. "I surely
must be the most ignorant one present. I wasn't in the States when the
amendment was passed and have had limited opportunity to note the
effects. It is apparent, however, that there is something wrong,
radically wrong, with the whole population--both the criminal and the
law-abiding."

"Why! what's wrong with the better element?" demanded the chairman
quickly. "It was the law-abiding citizen that planned and urged and
voted for the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution. Our planning
and work was effective. And now, they would nullify our past labors."

"And then, what did you do?" demanded Shirley as he rose to his feet
to emphasize what was to follow. "You, figuratively, folded fat hands
across pudgy stomachs and left the enforcement of your edict to the
officers who were friends of the bootleggers. Your failure to act
causes this repeal."

"Is it your idea that the better element of a community must quit
their business to take up the matter of law enforcement?" the chairman
asked in scornful tones.

"It's my idea," retorted Shirley as he advanced from the rear to the
center of the gathered group, "it's my idea that anyone who launches a
new, untried craft in unexplored waters had better stay at the helm
instead of leaving the management of the boat to those who deride the
plan. It wouldn't have taken much of your time, Doctor Branch, to have
organized an enforcement committee to assist the policeman