The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1906-01-05
DISTILLERS
AND BREWERS
THE QUESTION: or PROHIBITION
CAUSES THE DIFFERENCE.
Fiaht Between Them is Growing Bit
tcr-Traffe in Whisky in Prohi.
bition Localities Cannot Be
Successfully Prevented.

osting fight, few oi the facts concern
ing which have reached the public, is
in progress between the brewers and !
the distillers of the country. The !
principal point of difference Is the !
question of prohibition IN Indian Ter |
ritory after its admission into the !
union. and the cantecn problem is also
figuring to a considerable extent. One
Of the strange and apparently ILLOGICAL |
results is that the whisky men an |
the Women's Christian Temperance |
Union are working side by side I'm the
interest of prohibition in the territory |
The average citizen would natural |
ly think that the ends and aims of the !
brewers and the disJillars are identi- !
cal and that there would never be
anything but harmony between them.
ON the contrary the present feud
has already reached a stage of re-
markable bitterness, ana 70 Is difficult
to say what will happen in the fu-
ture The brewers are squarely op-
posed TO prohibition in the territory
and in this respect seem to be in line
with most of the inhabitants there.
Their contention is that prohibition
is illogical and Illegal and that. more
over. It does not prohibit. The whisky
men favor prohibition. The reason
for this apparently inconsistent atti-
tude Is obvious Prohibition never did
prevent the sale of whisky in a com
munity, city or state. All sorts OF
boouegging methods are resorted to
to get the whisky in and many of
them are successful because of the
comparative ease with which even =
quart bottle may be concealed or a
larger package made up to resemble
something else. But there Is nothing
doing in the beer line. That liquid is
altogether too bulky, so to speak, to
permit its being got past any official
who is not either blind or absolutely
corrupt II has been conclusivcly
demonstrated that in prohibition
states like Kansas as much or more
whisky is sold than was sold when ev-
erything was wide open. But while
the whisky dealers thus flourish un-
der prohibition, 1t is deadly to the beer
dealers. In this simple statement of
facts is the story of the cause OF the
present fight in nutshell.
Now that they have had time to
think the matter over, the brewers
are beginning to wonder If they have
not been foolish in permitting a close
association with the distillers in the
past. Certainly their reputation has
not been enhanced by this association
Good beer contains only small per
cent of alcohol, and when used to the
exclusion of other liquors. has never
been regarded as a particularly dead
ly enemy to society. II is not the
beer drinker who goes home and
beats his wife and children, and 1t is
not beer which takes $4,000 men to
drunkard's graves in this country
every year. Even physicians some
times prescribe beer and malt extracts
and while they also prescribe whisky
occasionally, they handle the mattei
in different way. Everything Gov
tend that their product is by no
means a menace to the American
home or to American character, aud
that the charges whicn can be idstly
brought against whisky, cannot be
made to apply to hee". Consequently,
they think It wise to cut loose from
the distillers, ami hereafter pad i,e
their own canoe,
The brewers are extremely desirous
OF having the canteens re established,
because at such places, whey they
We're permitted to operate, a great
deal of beer was sold, and only a
comparatively small amount Of whisky,
or none at all The canteens were un-
der the supervision of the army Off
GERS, who had little or no objection to
enlisted men having all the beer they
wanted, up TO a certain point, but who
frowned on whisky drinking When
the canteens were abolished little
groggeries, many of them of the low
est possible character, sprung up
about all the army posts Of the coun-
try, and at these places whisky-and
usually very bad whisky-is sold in
stead of beer, the more potent liquor
being easier to handle and bringing
larger profits. Were the canteens re-
established the post dives would dis
appear, because the men would nat
urally prefer to frequent the place Of
refreshment inside the lines. The
whisky men would lose a very consid-