# Clifford Berryman cartoon, "Speaking of Superfluous Starlings" (10 January 1930)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/nara-6012008-berryman-superfluous-starlings-1930/

A Berryman drawing of 10 January 1930 on the federal law enforcement commission: an old man with a butterfly net and a sash marked "Law Enforcement Commission" says "We find something must be done!" under trees full of birds spelling "Crime."

The catalog title is "Speaking of Superfluous Starlings," local identifier F-083, dated 10 January 1930. An elderly man in a top hat wears a sash marked "LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION" and holds a magnifying glass and a butterfly net. He says, "WE FIND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!" Flocks of birds in the bare trees around him spell "CRIME" three times.

The National Archives note says enforcement of prohibition proved extremely difficult, that "organized crime groups were becoming more and more involved in all phases of the liquor business," and that Berryman was spoofing the federal law enforcement commission as it readied its first annual report to Congress. The commission is the body whose records include the Doran letter filed here. The note's statements are quoted as the note's.

The drawing is an editorial cartoon, not a finding of the commission.

## Sources

- National Archives Catalog, Records of the U.S. Senate (RG 46), Berryman Political Cartoon Collection: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6012008
- National Archives series: Berryman Political Cartoon Collection (NAID 306080): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/306080