Reform, reorganization and strengthening of our whole judicial and
enforcement system, both in civil and criminal sides, have been
advocated for years by statesmen, judges, and bar associations. First
steps toward that end should not longer be delayed. Rigid and
expeditious justice is the first safeguard of freedom, the basis of all
ordered liberty, the vital force of progress. It must not come to be in
our Republic that it can be defeated by the indifference of the
citizen, by exploitation of the delays and entanglements of the law, or
by combinations of criminals. Justice must not fail because the
agencies of enforcement are either delinquent or inefficiently
organized. To consider these evils, to find their remedy, is the most
sore necessity of our times.

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. No greater national service
can be given by men and women of good will - who, I know, are not
unmindful of the responsibilities of citizenship - than that they
should, by their example, assist in stamping out crime and outlawry by
refusing participation in and condemning all transactions with illegal
liquor. Our whole system of self-government will crumble either if