Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-06
IN THE "CoLoNELs. COUNTRY.
How Whisky Is Used in the So-Called
Auti-Wnter State


distiIlation, was not Il Kentuckian. would
he painful TO those who live on the pabu-
lum supplied by the numerous paragraph
ers. To intimate that the man who thinks
water is only good 10 put under bridges.
float cotton to market and wash in. was
not from the Dark and Bloody Ground.
would be COurting Il sort of infideliSm
among those who read the funny papers.
But the fact is that there is less whisky
drunk in kentucky. especially in its
straight" condition, than among the same
aggregate of population almost anywhere
In the country, and particularly in those
states where prohibition" has occasion
ally been adopted.
This latter statement recalls 4 visit of
Artcmus Ward to kentucky many years
ago in which he learned the truth of what
is here said as TO the straight stuff. Ar
temus had delivered his lecture at Masonic
temple in Louisville and he had been
treated with so much Kindness and consid-
Grafton by the newspapers that he felt as
if he would like to do some treating
also. So that night he managed TO get Il
coterie of newspaper men together at
Walkers Exchange, now extinct, but Mt
that time the swellest drinking place in the
city. When the party began to call for
their refreshments one ordered mint Ju-
lep another Il brandy smash. another
gin sling, and so on. ArtemuS watched
the proceedings with such astonishment
that he had forgotten to order something
for himself. When the man in white be-
hind the bar asked what he would have
he declared that he was not certain. Il
had heard" he said. before coming to
Kentucky. of 4 beverage that prevailed
here to 4 remarkable extent, but have
heard nothing of it since l got here. so 1
have forgotten its name. Let me see. it is
-ah-ah-" He then took out memOran-
dunn book and, after running a finger
is! Whisky. If you please. Just little
plain whisky" And he was the only man
in the party who seemed to have ever
heard of the stuff. But they had.
1t is true that if all the whisky in the
world that is labeled bourbon and is de-
Clared to have been manufactured in Ken
lucky was poured out in Bourbon county
it would wash that bailiwick away and the
barrels that hold it could not be stacked
up in the county. And yet probably the
finest whisky that is made in the world is
made in Bourbon county. Comparatively,
however, ii is Il very small quantity OF the
liquid that both Cheers and ''inebriates."
In this respect it is like the ''perique' to-
bacco that is found in immeasurable guam
titles in commerce. and yet the pure pc
rQue is grown only on n piece of land in
Louisiana that is about a mile wide and
three or four miles long. Thus 1t is plain
that the perique tobacco in the world. IL
it could be heaped in one pile, would cover
a much larger area of ground. many feet
deep. than the space upon Whlch the real
article is cultivated.
General Grant once uuwittingly testified
to the comparatively small quantity OF
whisky made in kentucky in little piece
of pleasantly with Il young lady from Ken
lucky at the White House when he was
president. The young lady declared that
Kentucky produced the handsomest wom-
ha
on earth.
You being a representative of the Ken
tucky women. l unequivocally indorsc the
first part of your statement gallantiy the
general said. "As to horses" he continued,
II admit that also, for l own some of them
myself, and L am considered GOOD Juuse
of horsefesh But as to the whisky, you
will pardon me if l doubt your position.
Whisky in order to be good must be old.
and YOUR Kentucky men drink it up so last
that it doesn't have time to get old
And vet the general had drunk some of
it himself though he was not a Nentuck-
ian. and there are many other men from
other states who are prepared to prove
that Kentuckians do not drink all OF Ken
tuckys whisky.
If NAV appau the chronic joker about
Kentucky and its whisky to learn that
local option has prevailed in the law of
Kentucky for more than fifty years. ana
the option has not always been in favor
of selling the stuff at retail, as some one
may jump to conclude. In large number
of the smaller cities and towns the option
aItcrnates and some of them so dry all
the time. In others the voters will allow
the saloons to run wide open for sea-
son. until unseemly drinking begins to pre-
vail: then. at the next election the vote
will close up the places where intoXicantS
are vended This will continue until the
~
Ifquor dealers will prevail again. So the
thing goes, changing from time to time
But at all times drunkenness is more con-
temned i'll kentucky that almost anywhere
else that it is praCticed. and among the
better classes it is considered deeply dis
graceful.
Last summer l renewed my acquaintance
with an old gentleman in Bath county,
XIV. who has drank whisky all his life.
but is vet regarded as quite Il temperate
man. He is one out of a general average
of 100 600. perhaps. who has the actual fac
ulty of moderate drinking, and yet, philos-
ophiZing on the subject. he said: Alter
having lived eighty-one years nave learn
ed that one drink of whisky is enough,two
are too many. and three are not half
euouCh ! have also learned that drinking
whisky is a business by itself. 1t is, more
over Il Jealous business that dOeSn t want
Won to do anything else. You must attend
strictly to that when you are at it and
let all other business go. And. sir. II Is
business that doesn't pay. ON the con-
trary, it is a losing business all the time,
sir
Speaking of bourbon whisky it may not
he out of the way to remark that the
article cannot be made elsewhere than IN
that country aud certain of its vicinity.
Indeed. there are parts of that county IN
which the pure article cannot be made.
Nov. NO