The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-10-04
FIGHTING THE EXCISE.
Ne'ci from the Land OF the Noon
sinners.
Ei EMORY STEER

Ei EMORY STEER.
can give no sufficient reason why the
tilie 'loonshiner" has been conferred
vi our wayward countryman who per.
s!stently evades the law, deludes the ex.
ciseman, and bereaves the treasury. 1t
seems lnexplainable. The moonlit glory
OF tile semi-tropical night is no, cesso.
ry to his ofiense. It's soft light, while
bathing the Blue Ridge in beauty, can.
not penetrate the shadowed cliff or
gloomy rayine, where the still" is "set
up and If it be supposed that the be.
hign influence Of the harvest moon"
allures the moonshiner, like the fairies.
10 live and work out of doors-be il
known that the Byronic sentiment
there's mischief in the moon" is true
Tor him as for other people. This mis-.
chiei IN the summer coniuses his chem.
istry, sours his Sweet mash" and de.
stroys the virtue of his highly popular
product. 1t is inexcusable perhaps to
dIspei 80 pleasant and general delIsion.
but there is nothing of moonsh.ne in
the make up of the moonshiner. Not
until 'Jocund morn stands tiptoe on the
misty mountain top" does he begin to
despoll the government of ninety cents
q gallon, excise tax on what that great
economist, Mr.. Kelley, calls his "corn
brandy and apple whisky"
lhey are singular and interesting
people, who defy the United States Of
4>ne lea to ccI!cct s tag Oil spirits. They
are out of chronological order. For
twenty.one years the excise laws have
been OF force, and yet the patriotic red
men, who, with revolutionary ardor
emptied the lea into Boston harbor, we're
not more hostile to the stamp tax, or the
tax on tea than the moonshiner to the
revenue on his mountain dew.
The moonshining or "blockading," as
1t is called in the South, i. e. running
the blockade" to market, of the revenue
bureau, IS in the main confined to the
mountain country of Georgia, Tennessee
and the Carolinas. The FIoridiau may
and does sometimes, make run; OF
rum from the "skimmings" of the Juice
of the sugarcane, but this is very infre.
quent. The Blue Ridge mountains of
Georgia, with their unnumbered spurs
and ridges, and the wooded SUBMITS of
the Southern Allcghanies in Western
North Carolina, the Land of the Sky."
described in the charming story of Chris
tian Reid, is the land of the moonshiner.
Why the people of mountain countries
should be the steady and implacable en-
eemies OF the excise laws, has perhaps not
been explained, but the fact is undeni-
able. The mountainers OF Western
pennsylvania inaugurated the whisky
rebellion of 1893, which led Mr.. Jeffer-
son to make that denunciation of the
system as Internal" which has been
the text for 80 much oratory in the
national legislature. No doubt the
trouble is in the difficulty and expense
Of transportation of the crops of corn
and grain over roads almost impossible.
The mountain roads and streams, how
ever picturesque, are exasperating to man
and beast, aud sure destruction to wheel
carriages. A ford OH Tiger" creek,
Rabun County, Ga, bears and merits the
expressive name Smash Vaughn" But
the same designation is descriptive of
almost every ford where the mountain
torrent is ventured by the hardy team.
ster. 1t is common saying in North
Georgia, "it is worth two !oaLs os corn to
haul one load to Market" The price of
q bushel Of corn is sixty cents, of gal
lon of corn whisky two dollars, and three
gallons Of whisky eau, by the illicit pro.
cess, be distilled from one bushel of corn,
and transported with as little cost. Simi.
lar conditions existed in Pennsylvania in
1898, and the hostility to the tax under
these circumstances produced SO violent
an inflammation that We find recited in the
Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, our
minister to Holland at that time, con-
versation with Pichegru, general Ell chef
OF the French army there, and the inter.
esting topic seems to have been this same
whisky trouble. Perhaps the devoted
republicanism Of Pichegru apprehended
from this disorder danger to the young
Western republic, whose recent establish
ment had done 80 much for the rights Of
man. 1t was only little vigorous
moonshining.
The practice Of Illicit distillation with
the quaint and simple mountain folks
who are addicted to it, is like the craze
for the cards and dice with the inveterate
gamester. While successful, its profits
are large, and the love of excitement is
a strong motive with the moonshiner.
The people Of the moonshining country
have many of the adventurous charac.
teristics OF the frcntiersman. One may
stand in the capitol at Washington, and
in the famous fresco fronting the stair.
way to the western galleries of the House
of Representatives, panorama of the
westward march of the back woodsmen,
in every striking male and female figure
he may see type easily to be modelled
in the land Of the moonsbiner. The
rugged scenery too, might have been
copied from nature, in the mountains of
Georgia and the Carolinas.
I am not to be understood that the
greater part of the mountain people are
affected with this unlawful infatuation.
1t is not 80 bad as that. There is a
healthy and growing sentiment among
the more well-to do class in opposition
to the "crooked" work. This sentiment,
however. does not 60 to the extent Of
voluntary aid and comfort to the officials
of the revenue bureau. Indeed, this
might not be unattended by unpleasant
consequences to the volunteer. Nor is
the moonshiner "unreconstructed." he
has no politics in his hatred of the reve.
nue. laws. He usually, though not al.
ways, votes the "dimmicrat" ticket, but
in the days of violent resistance, now
happily past, he shot his long rifle at
Democratic and Republican officers with
rigid impartiality. 1t is noteworthy that
the moonshiner, while not "tetotaller,"
is usually moderate in the use of spirits.
This is generally true of the mountain
people. In the eleven counties Of the
Blue Ridge judicial circuit Of Georgia,
until very recently there was but one
barroom. One may attend "court week"
the semi annual assize, in any Of the
.oa,,t,;o oonpt;oa ond thouph the DeO.