The Carlisle independent., 1909-09-02

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 obliged to pay tax of $1.10 gallon on the stuff they manufacture. The law which the "wildcatter" condemns as unjust, and which in it's operation he resists so violently is in reality the sole support of his illicit business-a fact which, oddly enough, seems never to occur to the moonshiner.
 Nearly all of the output of the moonshine stills is corn whisky. Some peach brandy and apple brandy is made unlawfully, however, and in one state considerable quantities of a low proof rum is obtained by primitive methods from the distillation of the skimmings, known as ''pOttins, of the kettles used for boiling molasses in the sirup mills. Perhaps the most pic ! turesque "wildcatting" done at the present time is conducted on isolated .'hammocks' among the swampy lands of the fowerp peninsula by natives who distiIl from "pottins" wretched- ly cheap intoxicant for more or less local consumption.
 So ingeniously are illicit stills con- eeaIed that they would be discovered | by revenue officers comparatively sell dom. were it not for the help of hired 1 informers. Strange to say, even in F the most remote fastnesses of the mountains there are always to be found men who will accept from Uncle Sam this kind of employment--an em- 1 ployment extremely dangerous, inas- much as those who undertake it are | exceedingly likely to be murdered in revenge. In a number of instances their houses have been burned, and 1 they themselves, when not killed, have been whipped nearly to death by the ! moonshiners they have betrayed,
 Such informers receive from S to 910 for every still they point out. The government pays about s11,000 per an mum for the hire of natives for this kind of work, and to employ posse men to help the deputy marshals in making arrests. At the present time the loss of tax to the government by il- l licit distilling is reckoned at only about $100,0 ,000 a year-a small frac- ton of what it used to be-and it is estimated that, including pay of reve- nue officers and incidental expenses. the entire cost of "wildcatting" to the treasury of the United States is not more than $150, ,O00 annually.
 There is an old sayinf to the effect that one moonshine still will demoral- l ize any community for a distance of three miles in every direction. The lquor it turns out, being sold and drank fresh from the worm, is the devils own brew-a kind of firewater that makes men crazy. It is account able for most of the murderous feuds that have terrorized many districts for I generations. Owing to growing per ception of which facts, there has come about change in popular sentiment in most regions where '.wildcatting" was formerly countenanced and SUD- ported-a change so far adverse as to have greatly helped in the suppress sion of the industry.
 Even yet, however, there are locali- 1 ties in which the revenue officers can not set foot without great danger. No sentiment in favor of fair play sug- ! gests to the moonshining mountaineer the notion of fighting against the law in the open. He prefers to lie in am bush and to take pot shots at the gov ernment agent. When a party of raiders arrives in the neighborhood notification of the fact is spread far and wide by the blowing of horns, and sometimes armed men will assemble in force to defend still against at- 1 tack. Under such circumstances many a desperate battle has been fought Indeed, the "revenuer" carries his life in his hands at all times, and he knows how to use his pistols, whether running afoot or riding at gallop, while with his rife, which car ries an ounce ball thousand yards with precision. he is a dead shot.
 Nobody goes to the still to buy Ii. quor Anybody in the neighborhood can get it by trading cornmeal for it, if money is Iacking-three bushels of meal being deemed an equivalent for one gallon of corn juice." But most commonly it is known to the people of the vicinity that bottles or jugs may 1 be filled from barrel of the stuff kept at certain farmhouse; CT occa- sionally cask of whisky stands under a tree not far from the public road, the person in charge of it hailing those who pass by. Or, again, one may learn of a spot in which an empty flask or jug may be left, with money
 ito be afterwards found there duly filled
 In those parts of the country where "blockading" is practiced the people are usually very poor, and the destruc- ton of still is likely to be severe misfortune to the owner.