Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-24
In the South a Source of Great Annoy
ance, Expense and Trouble TO the
Governmental was Always So
They All did 1t.
How it May be Prevented-Either Let
the Farmers DistiIl for Home Con.
sumption Free of Charge, or
for a Nominal Tax.


lar tenor come from South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama and Tennessee. The men who
make "moonshine" on the mountains are
surprised in their lairs by deputy-collector'
posse, and a still is destroyed after a hand-to-
hand encounter, from which some of the off,
GERS and some OF the ''moonshIners" gener-
ally carry away an ounce or two of lead IN
their bodies. Furthermore, the case Is COM
plicated by the State courts occasionally COM
ing the assistance of the whisky men OF the
mountains by indicting and holding for muir
der any officer who kills 'moonshlner.
The duty of the officers Is, therefore, at pres
ent difficult one. The tendency to resist
by force the revenue laws on whisky is his
toric. 1t, of course, reaches its most
dangerous form In wild and sparse
ly settled regions, whose inhabitants
would as soon fight as eat. 1t org
mated IN the mountainous regions of
Ireland and Scotland IN the last century, and
in the former country whisky which had
never been blasted by gauger's eye" was
doubly dear to the bibulous. First, because
it was whisky; and, second, because it gave
no monetary comfort to the enemy-England.
Many gauger bit the dust In those heroic
days, and many a mOuntaIneer died in the
heather for the sake of his potheen still.
There was more or less of patriotic halo
around the 'moonshiner" of that period.
The ingenuity of a quick-witted people was
directed to conveying the product of the IL
hcit stills to the place where it would do the
most good. While instructions were only
occasional, the war on the gaugers went on
without ceasing. In our own country the
opposition to a tax on whisky produced in
1894 an lnsurrectionary state of affairs in
western Pennsylvania, which Alexander
Hamilton, then secretary OF the treasury,
characterized as threatening 'the founda-
ton of the government and the Union"
Houses were burned, officers tarred and
faak Ill 81
seven thousand whisky boys" marched on
Plttsburg, which narrowly escaped destruc-
ton at their hands. Washington, however,
sent an army of fifteen thousand militia from
the neighborlng States into the disaffected
district, and the "war" ended without
blow. There is not much chance of the scat
tered "moonshiners" of the south requiring
such wholesale treatment, but it is worth no.
ticing that some OF them, such as Redmond,
of South Carolina, are taking heroic proper
tons In the eyes of some of the inhabitants
of the State, He is handsome, carries sill
YER mounted rife and brace of navy re-
volvers-just the figure for Bowery drama or
blood curdling novel; but 1t is also said that
he IS. vulgar thief and a general rufian,
which so many of such ''heroes" prove to be
on close examination. Instead of talking of
sending a regiment or an army of marshals,
let the government try Moody and Murphy
on the recalcltrant "moonshiners - That
would be something new to the south.
HOW TO PREVENT MOONSHINE DIsTILLING.
Greenville rs. c. correspondence of the
Charleston NepOs: The one plan most gen.
orally agreed upon. for obvious reasons, brief
ly stated, is that each farmer IN this ancient
distilling region shall be allowed to distill,
free of taxation, certain quantity of whisky
from grain of his own raising only. This
would certainly solve the whole problem at
once. A second plan is to modify the above
In so far as to require a smaller tax than that
now imposed to be paid upon every gallon
so made. The distillers declare that if al
lowed to distill their crops without molesta-
ton, and In their own simple way, they would
cheerfully pay, as they could afford to pay for
The privilege, a tax of fifty cents per gallon.
A third plan is for the government to estab-
lish bonded warehouses of requisite capacity
at numerous points throughout the mountains
or along the lines of convenient railroads,
with officers in charge whose duty it should
be to receive and purchase at fifty cents
per gallon all the whisky made
In their Immediate neighborhood. The
moonshiners declare, again, that every drop
they would make would be delivered at such
points, that they would be more than content
with this compensation, and that In return
for the advantages of such convenient, law
full and open market they would bind them
selves to see to it that no one should evade
the law or sell to other than the government
agent The present offenders would there
fore be enlisted on the side of the government,
and for the rest it may be added that the
government could resell to wholesale dealers at
such an advance as to inc Jude the price of the
necessary stamps, even at the rate of ninety
cents per gallon. What is to be done if con-
gress declines to adopt any of the plans above
submitted, or some other and possibly better,
for the accomplishment of the same ends?
In view of this contingency, it is proper to
remark that if it shall be determined to con-
hnue the present policy of repression, instead
of attempting to remove the cause of the prac-
tice In question, it will yet be necessary to
provide some other system for the more hu
name and effectual execution of even that pol
Icy. 10 do this would also require some i'm
portant changes to be made, and suggestions
are again in order. 1t may be suggested
then, in the first place, that all plans in fur
therance of such policy will fail to accom-
pllsh the ultimate end in view, which is the
total suppression of the practice at which it
is aimed. The field is too large, too difficult
and too well occupied to admit of being cleared
of the illegal constructions in it by any force
short OF an army numerous enough to cover
and watch every point, every glen, and cave,
and branch, and bowlder, and hillside, and
thlcket within its limits. A thousand stills
might be successfully conducted for years
within few hundred yards of these noun
tain roads, and their presence would never be
so much as suspected by officers hunting for
them, who would certainly pass them every
day OF their lives without being any wiser for
their search. The few that have been found
heretofore have, in every instance. been
pointed out by lntormers and this class is
growing smaller continually for many reasons,
among which may be casually mentioned the
sudden deaths and woundings of its numbers.
The present system is, therefore, and is con-
fessed to be, an ignoble failure, and would
no. fO ha Oh ~
substituted in its place to secure even
comparatively successful results. The first
essential OF such new system would be to
employ more intelligent and better men on
the force intrusted with the work. A second
essential would be to appoint even these men
from the ranks of the best citizens of the dis
affected regions itself, since moonshiner
who would not long hesitate to shoot down
stranger, or even a fellow citizen of humble
origin, would hesitate very long to kill man
of influence and standing, whose death would
rouse the public sentiment of the whole county
against him. This plan has never been fully
tried; even in part it has been tackled on to
the overshadowing one complained of, and
its failure mnst be attributed solely to the
effects of its connection with such ar evil
companion. If one dead fly causes the apoth-
ecarys ointment to stink, what must the
result be when the pot is full of them? The
few dog Trays on the present force have not
only been unable to redeem their companions
reputation, but have returned home with
their own badly damaged, and with sounding
pans and kettles at their own tails. Ignorant
and inefficient, and even VIGOROUSLY bad Off
GERS and strangers, have been thoroughly
tried and have failed. Let them stand aside
and give place for while to better men, and
men of the community.
CONFLICT OF JURISDICTION.
Special to the Baltimore Sum-
WASHINGTON, July 1S.-For some time
past there has been serious conflict of juris-
diction between the Federal government and
the State authorities of South Carolina rela-
tive to violations of the internal revenue laws
concerning the illicit distillatlon of whisky.
The revenue officers have, in the pursuit of
their duty, as claimed, been arrested by the
State officers on charges Of violations of the
State laws, and number of them are now
held in custody. Motions to transfer the
cases to the Federal courts have been made.
Tbo ooynu,TSaIonar IF intaruol rovanua hos