The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-08-18
INCONSISTENCIES"
Illicit DistiIIers Run Big Risks of Be-
ina Caught.

ing Caught.
Baltimore Sun.
The possibility of converting SIC
worth of raw material into $120 worth
of liquor is making a powerful appeal
to the moonshiners in the South, and
a great revival is being witnessed in
their once almost extinct industry.
| To quote Knox Booth, one of the
most widely known internal revenue
officers in the Southern states, the il
licit manufacturing of liquors in Ala
bama has increased fully so per cent
since the prohibition law went into
effect, and like condition is said to
exist in Georgia, Tennessee and other
states where the legitimate sale of in
toxicants is prohibited by law.
Under the old conditions, with sa-
looms running on all sides and many
groceries in the rural sections hand
ling liquors there was comparatively
little profit in the manufacture Of
"moonshine" whiskey.
At that time the stuff was sold as
low as 81 and $3.50 a gallon. This
price was not sufficient to encourage
the industry in the face Of vigorous
work on the part of Uncle Sans reye-
nue. scouts, and the moonshiners be
came few and far between.
Now, however, the rewards Of sue
cessful evading the law are much
greater and the old-timers are taking
bigger risks than they did under for
mer conditions.
! MI Booth quotes one man as say
ing that six bushels Of meal and 200
pounds Of sugar gave him 80 gallons
Of whisEcy, which he could readily
sell at S4 a gallon. 4 small siiil can
turn cut 30 gallons per day easily, at,
lfordiug the enterurisius sinner q
profit Of 500 for tho days wors-and
the days risk.
The bait held cut to the moonshinor
is more tempting than at any time
since the war, and it looks as if the
internal revenue agents will have to
do the work of almost a generation
over again.
In the old days, when the moon
sinner flourished all over the South, it
was a desperate conflict that waged
between the revenue agents and the
moonshiners, and many an unmarked
grave bears witness to the terrors of
the struggle. But the revenue agents,
backed by a powerful government, fin
ally won.
In those days, when the mist and
mystery of the mountains filled the
timid with terror, the moonshiner
fought for principle as well as for
the profit found in the perilous bust
ness. He cherished the conviction that
when he raised grain and fruits upon
his little farm he had an inherent
RIGHT TO convert them into any product
he saw fit, and he looked upon the
revenue officer as one who sought not
only to rob him of a livelihood, but
to take from him a right, a liberty,
that was as dear to him as life itself.
1t was the spirit that made every
path leading to an Illicit still one
Ifraught with deadly peril to any strang-
er; it was this spirit that led to many
deadly battle in the mountains OF
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and
Georgia, as well as in other states
where the moonshiner made his home.
The moonshiner gradually learned
that there was somewhere in the dis
lance" a government that had to be
supported and that the tax upon whis-
key had behind it something more
than a desire to intrude upon the lib
critics of mankind. He also learned
that this government maintained an
alarming number Of penitentiaries and
had an inexhaustible supply Of men
who were apparently ready and willing
to kill or be killed in the effort to fiji
these institutions with moonshiners.
Then, too, saloons became more and
more numerous, and there wasn't the
profit in the business that character
lied it in the good old days. So the
in a large measure, passed
on to other and less perilous callings.
The moonshiner of today does not
cherish any decisions about individual
liberty. He is NOT in the business to
indicate a principle. He simply sees
in the thing a chance to turn a goodly |
sum at the risk of temporarily losing |
MS liberty, and he is willing to as
sumo this risk for the money there |
S in it, AS a rule, he does not go
armed to kill, as did his forefathers,
md he relies upon his heels rather J