The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-12
new YORK CITY GOSSIP
LIQUOR MEN PLANNING TO
FIGHT WHISKY. TRUST
Shaw Says Personal Utility Must Be
Test for Customs Duties-Attendants
at Free Baths Discovered Charging
6-cent Fee to BE Discharged.

NEW YORK, Aug. lin Terrace
Garden 600 retail liquor dealers of the
city met and decided that as soon as
possible the whisky trust should be at
tackled by the cutting out of the mid
dleman. The meeting was called be-
cause. as the dealers asserted, they
were getting the worst of it, and when
they ordered goods of a certain char
acter they never were certain that the
proper brand would be delivered
To the whisky trust the liquor deal
ers lay their troubles and propose to
remedy them by starting wholesale
business of their own. While the plan
sounds well on paper, it is not feasible.
according to many who took part in
the meeting. There is no doubt in the
mind Of these that the wholesaler may
be cut out, but the trust still will man
ufacture the whisky.
At present the trust controls the
output of most of the Western distif-
lerfeS and many of the Eastern. The
goods manufactured ara sold to whole
salers, who blend them into the differ
ent forms of case goods demanded by
the trade. The trust cares not whose
blend it is as long as the goods are
purchased from it's distilleries.
These popular brands of whisky the
retailer must keep for his trade, They
are advertised extensively, and the
~AStNO AaAesASA 40 blAG PAOPCAt ~ OL Lie HUI
vidual or the company making the
blend. These brands the liquor deal
erS must keep. So beyond supplying
bar whisky without a label and whis-
ky for mixing purposes, the retailers
who have started the movement to
wipe out the wholesaler cannot go.
It may be possible in time to manu-
facture their own brands, but, accord
ing to the men best informed in the
business this is not DrOha bile
This is business venture on the
part of the retailers" says one of
them. ''The trust sells to the whole
saler and we get the hot end of it.
We buy whisky and the wholesaler
adds to it about double the advance
made by the trust. Now, we cannot
start a distillery, because it would take
US three years to get a whisky which
we could use. What we can do, how
ever, is to buy whisky in bond wher-
ever we can find it. This we can sell
to our members at a lower rate than
they pay now, and we can divide the
profits according to the stock held.
To start diStilleries in opposition
to the whisky trust would require more
capital than is available, and it would
be years before we had the goods. The
only thing for us to do is for a lot of
retailers to get together and start a
wholesale business, as was done few
years ago. The retailers started out
by blending spirits Of their own, and
then men who ran retail places and
who held stock in the wholesale COM
pany doomed the goods. The result
was a good whisky and popular one.
The company has made money.
The meeting was for the formation
of company with 100000 capital,
with the right to increase it. The first
company formed by the retailers was
for $750,000. 1t had not demolished
the trust up to the last hearing, and
the new company, with 100000, will
be able to do only small business
= The general belief was that the
meeting would result in the formation
of small wholesale house, which
would put forth several new brands of
WHISKY which the retail members of
the various associations would push.
and that stock in the company would
be profitable investment as long as
the retailers stood by one another.
Customs Test Is Personal Use.
There is a string to the recent rul-
Ing by Leslie M. Shaw, secretary of
the treasury, that returning tourists
may bring in $180 worth of articles,
which will be admitted free of duty.
Al the time that the secretary said the
passenger could now bring in ssbaIed
hay, provided the value did not ex-
coed $3.50, he did not say that it must
be for the personal use of the return
ing voyager.
In a recent ruling the sec1@ry de-
clfned to allow a man who had brought
in quantity of drawwork handker-
chiefs to take advantage of this priv
4elege on the ground that they were
articles for wornen's use and therefore
not for his personal use as required
by the law.
Another question which must soon be
decided is that concerning souvenirs,
which in many cases are appraised as
household goods.
In the interview published, Secre-
tary Shaw stated that it was his be-
lief that if a traveller had picked up
souvenirs of his trip at various places
visited they should be allowed to come
| in free of duty.
Charged for "Free Baths"
In response to a demand from
Borough President Cantor, Supt. w.