Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1911-11-16
LAUGHING AT LAWS.

Written by Harvey p. Taylorl
Atlanta, Ga.-Prohibition of the liz.
uor traffic has failed utterly in the
Southern states which have in the
past few years adopted statewide pro.
hibition. Atlanta has, the past two
years, developed into the greatest beer
drinking city in the South. Savannah
ard Macon, in this state, make no pre-.
tense whatsoever in obeying the law
which forbids the sale Of Intoxicating
beers and liquors. In North Carolina,
Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi
The same disregard of the statewide
prohibition laws may be found in
greater or less degree. In Memphis
saloons are running openely. In At.
ANITA beer saloons are making addi-
tional fortunes for the brewers of Mil.
waukee, Cincinnati and st. Louis. The
making of moonshino whisky has in
creased over 500 per cent in the states
which are supposed to be dry" and
an inadequate force OF revenue officers
is totally unable to keep pace with the
makers of illicit whisky. The surplus
Of Georgia's great peach crop has been
.urned into peach brandy. The Gov.
lrnment -seidad--100O gallons of this
fiery liquor a few days ago. Some Of
the smaller cities of this state have
become disguised with the miserable
near beer, and the authorities have in
timated to the saloonkeepers not tc
sell the stuff any longer, but to give
their patrons real beer. So great is
the demand in the cities of Georgia
for real beer that the outside brewers
flood the cities with green brews,
highly bilious oncoCtions, which are
far from being as palatable as prop,
erly aged beer, OF course, blind
tigers" do a thriving business in sell
ing liquors, AID the liquors they han
die are as green as the beer the brew
ers send in from other states. While
therefore, there is practical license
to sell in Georgia, the people, the con
sumers, are getting for their moneI
the worst possible beers and liquors.
Few "Dryp Spots.
In order to drive few additiona
spikes into the beer drinkers OF AT
lanta, most of the bars run strong ale,
on draught, and mixture of half beel
and half ale is favorite drink o.
those who desire rather speedy alec
holic exhilaration. In Augusta thu
same conditions prevail, the whole
salers of that city sending out thou
sands of gallons of whisky weekly int
other states, in addition to grea
amount of liquor and beers sold b!
retailers. Legally dry" all the larg'
cities in Georgia are to all intents ant
purposes we" In Savannah liquor
and mixed drinks made from liquor
may be had at the most prominen
bars in the city, which are running a.
openly as they ever ran before state
wide prohibition was visited upol
Georgia. In Atlanta, outside of tn,
clubs, the liquor traffic is handled b.
blind tigers" or "bootleggers." Larg
quantities Of II are handled, for de
tectives have found that great quaint
ties Of the stuff come into the cit,
regularly to persons other than tn
managers of the clubs, which case
are permitted to keep the liquor TO
their members. In the white and col
ored bars in the Atlanta "tenderlo!n,
the salooDkeepers have on hand nicely
wrapped packages of bottled beer
which may be taken out to shad
places by customers, although this 1
against the near beer law In Mem
phis, Tenn, the liquor business 1
thriving, places for the sale Of al
sorts of alcoholic beverages keepin
open all night, ii the proprietors fin
II pays never to close their 'booze
emporiums. The same may be sal
of Chattanooga. which once had a
excellent excise law, and Nashville
which for a few months tried to ODE
the prohibition law, but which no.
has It's wide-open saloons.
Otly tne Laws
In two years, therefore, large col
ters of population in five Souther
states and wide stretches of sparsel
populated country have, with one a
cord, grown defiant OF the law, as
has been made by five different legi
latures, the people of North Carolin
being the only people of these fiy
states to vote on the statewide pr
hibition question. Within those tw
years, therefore, great retrogression
civic life has developed. Administra
ors Of the law have become negligent
serious crimes have increased; cite
and towns have lost millions OF do
lars in revenues; the morals Of tn
states have become impaired; HON
drinking has been encouraged