The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-19
nnnsrNa THE LAW.

mother of old King Lemuel, but shs gave him some advice which the mod. erns find many ways of following Among other things. she told him that he must give strong drink unto hin that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy heart" and added: Let him drink and forget his poverty. and remember his misery nc more."
 We can't say how we'll Lemue obeyed the admonition, but modern mar Is wonderfully ingenious when Il comes to getting booze. and they can get 1t under more names than they can any other article we know of. As a contemporary expresses it in referring to the practices in some of the most rigid prohibition States. "a very little ginger was sufficient to convert Ja- maica rum into Jamaica ginger" and we may further add that Jamaica gin- ger Is very popular tonic and appe- tiger The fact that a man can get bowling drunk on 1t is no objection in some quarters. That is only carry ing out the commands of Lemuef, for when a man is drunk he forgets his poverty without an effort.
 But Jamaica ginger is not the only disguised jag promoter. by any means for there are others. There are bot tied goods which are exploited and sold as medicines. warranted to cure any disease to which humanity is sub ject, and which have a very thin ve- neer of medicine to cover a thick ground of mean whiskey The liberal use of such a preparation may not sufferer forget his misery, and that is the next thing to curing 1t. in the opinion of those who indulge. There are many ways of getting a drink where it is not sold openly. and none is more popular than to get it under another name. "A rose by any other name," you know, and a drunk Is about the same, whatever be the fluid that pro duces it.
 And yet it would seem as if one MT.
 
 enue. will knock big hole in the busi- ness of manufacturing these substitutes for something else, for he has issued an order that "all patent medicines composed largely of distilled liquors" shall in future be regarded as alcoholic beverages, and that the manufacturers of them must have licenses as distillers and retailers. And in order to rub it in Mir. Yerkes adds that this same rul- ing applies to every alcoholic com pound labeled as a remedy for disease, and containing, in addition to distilled spirits, only substances or ingredients which. however large their quantity, are not of a character to impart any medicinal quality to the compound"
 That would seem to be wide blan- ket over the whole business, but for the fact that 1t leaves the way open for endless disputation. As will be noticed the order. while apparently aimed to embrace every form of patent medi- cine, containing alcohol. really, by its wording does not apply to any preparation except those which con- tain nothing of real medicinal value. If that is not the meaning of the lam Ruage used we fail to understand plain English. If that is true. then 1t fol- lows that patent medicines containing substances of medicinal value will not come under the commissioners ruling. If that shall be the ruling of the courts 1t is plain that every compound CT will insist that the materials enter ing into his preparations possess real curative properties, and then it will be up to the revenue department to prove the claim false. This we would con- slider a hard job. It is possible that there are preparations which really have not an atom of any substance which could cure disease, but that must be proven in each case before the party can be convicted of violating the order, In short, there seems to be an open door for DO end of wrangling and legal in the matter. >~.#