The Hattiesburg news., 1909-07-06
FACTS AND TRADITIONS
CONCERNING THE TRAFFIC
Something of the Battles Fought Be-
tween the Moonshiners and Officers
of the Federal Observation-Disclosures
able Rights.

Ability to convert SIG worth of raw
material into $120 worth Of liquor is
making powerful appeal to the moon
sinner of the arid South, and great
revival is being witnessed in what
was once an almost extinct industry.
To quote Knox Booth, one of the
most widely known internal revenue
officers in the Southern States, the
Illicit manufacture of liquors in Ala
bama has increased fully so per cent
since the probition law went into ef-
feet, and a like condition is said to
obtain in Georgia and other states
where the legitimate sale of intoxi-
cants is prohibited by law.
Under the old conditions, with sa-
looms running on all sides and many
grocery. stores in the rural sections
handling liquors, there was compare
lively little profit in the manufacture
of moonshine whisky. AT that time
the stuff was sold as low as 81 and
$1.50 per gallon. This price was not
sufficiently profitable to encourage
the industry in the face of vigorous
work on the part of Uncle Sans rev
enue scouts, and the moonshiners be
came few and far between.
Now, however, the rewards for sue
cessfully evading the law are muct
greater and the old-timers are taking
greater risks than they cared to as
sumo under former conditions.
Profit of $500 4 Cay.
Mr.. Booth quotes one moonshinee
as saying that six bushels of meal an
200 pounds of sugar gave him 80 ga.
looms OF whisky which he could read
lily sell for 81 per gallon A smal
still, such as is in ordinary use, cal
: .I out 80 gallons per day. thus al
torore the el'erprising sinner a PFC
fit OF SIoo every r. hours This give
him So a day tor his labor and ,'
for the risk
Thus the bait held out 20 the moon
sinner is more tempting than a. an
time since the war, and it looa IS
the internal revenue agents VAL nav
to do the work of almost a generation
ago over again. In the old dars, whel
the moonshiner flourished ali over tn
| xx-ba bn oh bia hlrr.
clad mountains of Kentucky 10 the re,
hills of Georgia, it was & desperat
conflict that waged between the rev
enue officers and tie moonsb.uers
and many an unmar Je1 grave bear
witness to the terror of the usgle
But the revenue agents. backed up b
a powerful government, finally woE
and the picturesque moonshiner, wit
one hand grasping long squirrel riff
and the other swinging in easy reacl
of bowie knife, gradually passed from
the stage of human action.
Fought With Deadly Peril.
In those days, when the mist ant
mystery of the mountains filled th'
timid with vague terror, the moonshin
ers fought for a principle as we'll al
for the profit they found in the peril
Gus business. They cherished the con
viction that when the raised grain ant
fruit upon their little farms they ha
an inherent right to convert them int
any product they saw fit. They look
ed upon the revenue agent as one VIII
sought not only to rob them of live
lihood, but to steal away their liberty
1t was this conviction that made ever
path leading to an Illicit distillery on
fraught with deadly peril to any stran
er; it was this spirit that led to man
deadly battles in the mountains o
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama an
Georgia, as well as in other state
where the moonshiner made his hons
The unequal conflict finally ended i
favor of the representative of the go'
ernment, and little has been hear
, from this class in the past few year,
The moonshiners gradually learne
that there was Somewhere In the di
lance" government that had to t
supported, and that the tax upon viii
ky had behind it something more tha
a desire to intrude upon the libertie
Of mankind. They also learned ths
the government maintained an alarm
ing number of renitentiaries and ha