The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-10-11
SN|PES MADE IN
kONA DISTRICT
Revenue officer Says Manu-.
facture of Liquor Is Going
on Openly,

| Hilo Tribune" They are max
ing swipes from one end of Kona dis
trict to the other, and it is the ruin OF
| the Hawaiian population
This statement was made last week
by Inspector Walter Doyle of the In
ternal Revenue Department, who re-
Gently arrived in Hilo from a trip to
the other side of the island.
They are making it both in North
and South Kona, but particularly in
the former district, and they are do
ing it on a large scale" continued
| Doyle. "Of course, [ had heard be.
| fore / arrived in Kona that there was
considerable swipes making going on
| there, but | had no idea of its being
nearly as bad as it was.
1t is principally the japanese who
are making the stuff, but they do not
appear to be drinking much of it them
selves. Presumably they know better.
/ However, they sell the product to the
| Hawaiians, and swipes is now the most
popular beverage among these people
as a matter of fact, they hardly drink
any other kind of liquor. 1t is being
| sold generally at the rate of fifty cents
a gallon, and, of course, the saloon men
can not begin to compete with booze
at the price 1t is doing the holders
| of regular licenses a great deal of
| harm, and I heard that one man who
| had a license had stated that he would
| give up his regular licensed business
and embark in the illicit traffic, as
that would be the only way in which
he could make a living in the liquor
| business.
Now, this is not secret or a dis
| covery that | am telling you. The
| fact that swipes is being made and sold
from one end of the Kona district to
the other is well known to everybody
there. The japanese make it out of
| potatoes, bran, hops and other stuff,
| and sometimes they use the time hon
| ored trick and throw a bit of ammonia
| in the mess to hasten the fermentation.
The result is a concoction which is
| pretty near rank poison, and the Ha-
waiians, who are the greatest consum-
ers thereof, are already beginning to
show the effects.
Apparently nothing is being done
ny tHe duluOFltieS 10 SIOp II. Inc Oe-
cent people of Kona are complaining
| over the situation, and I understand
that Mr.. Baker, clergyman in the
district, has written to the Antisaloon
| League in Honolulu for assistance The
police authorities are doing nothing,
and it is impossible that they can be
| ignorant of the fact that the liquor
law is being fagrantly violated all
round them, for it is an open secret all
over Kona, and no one can help but
see it. | asked one saloonkeeper, the
| holder of regular license, who was
| complaining at the way his business
was being ruined by these Illicit man
| ufacturers and sellers, why he did not
ask the police to give him the protec-
ton which his license entitled him to.
| He answered me that he had complain
ed to the police authorities and they
had told him that it was none of their
business. 1t is reported that some of
| the police are directly or indirectly in
| terested in the business, and it would
almost appear as if that were the case
| Now | have given you the facts as
myself found them when I was in
Kona short time ago, and you can
use every bit of it. AS a matter of
| fact, you can not make it too strong
-FOUR department wants to see the whole
business stamped out, and it is about
| time that something were done.'