Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1911-10-05
INDUSTRY THR|VES
ILLICIT WHISKY MAKING IN ALA.
BAMA INCREASED WHEN "DRY"
LAWS PASSED.
Federal Revenue Officers Find Il DIFF
flcuIt to Suppress Noon
shining.

law in Alabama increased the Illicit
distilling industry so greatly that J.
o. Thompson, internal revenue col
lector for Alabama and Mississippi,
has asked the government for an In.
crease of deputies to cope with the
situation.
During the past year, the deputies
in these two states have made over
four hundred arrests for moonshining
and have destroyed nearly one thou
sand stills. The industry is growing
in spite Of the governments activity
IN trying to stamp 1t out, and Collector
Thompson says that. without the
states aid, the moonshine business
never can be suppressed. A bill to
give state aid to the government In
stampings out moonshining was killed
In the past session of the Alabama
legislature.
Reasons For Moonshinlng.
There are three reasons why the L.
norant moonshiner will continue to
make and sell whisky. First. the
profit from the sale of illicitly made
whisky is enormous. Secondly, there
Is a fascination about the business
\ which appeals to mountaineer and
lowlander alike arising from the COM
bination Of danger and the pitting Of
the wits OF the moonshiner against
those Of the revenue deputies. Third
ly, the moonshiner can see no moral
wrong in making whisky from grain
the earth produces, and selling 1t for
living
Moonshiners make profits averaging
as high as 500 a day. A still was
dest Dyed. in tho mountains Of Ala.
bama recently which cost $50. It was
turning out seventy gallons Of whisky
a day when 1t was captured, and the
product Of the still sold for 81 gal.
lon and was disposed of as soon as
made. A still called "the pan and
snake" costs So. II will average Ave
bushels of corn a day and will earn
about $25.
Ideal For DIstliIer.
Winston, Lawrence, Blount, Jack.
son, Marshall, DeKalb, Walker and
other mountain counties are the corn
whisky producing centers of the state.
In the lowlands product is made
from syrup scrapings. The geography
of the mountain sections Of Alabama
Is peculiarly adapted to the business.
Revenue os1cers know well the danger
that may lurk behind rocks and In the
deep defiles and dark hollows Of these
silent regions.
The loonshiner Is very much the
same in looks as the farmer Of his re.
gion. Usually he 10 alert and shrewd
and suspicious Of strangers. He is
the soul of hospitality to the stranger
whom he knows is not meddling: but
the stranger must walk straight. talk
openly end be able to give good &C.
count Of himself, his business and his
mission In the mQuntsina. The noun.
! fpineer has 4 hundred ways Of send
Ing messages. He is confirmed In his
ways; he win brook no outside inter,
ference and he is prepared to defend
Z himself and what he believes to be his
rights.
Made "Dsw" 90 Years.
In the mountains of Alabama there
is hoary-haired member of the tribe
who has been making mountain dew
for thirty years or more. More than
thousand nights he has stood guard
in the lonely hills, resting on his rife
and ready at the slightest sound to
send the warning to his fellow moon
sinners. He grows wrathy when he
speaks Of the governments attitude
toward moonshining.
Corn is usually worth somewhere
|, around fifty cents a bushel." the old
mn says. 1T Ia long way to the
market and frequently we can't sell Il
: when We reach there, BY running II
into whisky we provide a ready mar
, ket for our corn. Good corn whisky
brings about $3.50 gallon. 30 we gel
about IS q bushel II We sell 1t that
! way,
I'VE raise most OF the corn manu-
featured into whisky and feel that We
have moral right to prepare 1t fol
; the market In the most profitable way
: We concede that the revenue officers
: have a right to arrest us. but we dc
: not believe they have right to de
stroy and confscate our property, II
. is this destruction Of property that hal
. caused moonshiners 10 become such
. Glitter enemies OF the revenue officers
He threw his long range repeater
: over hts shoulder and disappeared
: among the heights. while a shou
heard from distant hill and thre,
taps Of \ farm bell In reply from 6
- L. ~ q