The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-09
Some Yarns of the Courthouse Gang

Gentle spring was painting the land
scape vivid green, consequently every
able bodied man was at work in the
fields or playing at gardening, leaving
a small number of wise ones to con-
duct the deliberations of the gang. The
warm sunshine had seduced the old
judge to come down to the courthouse
where no one but the sheriff and the
sewing machine agent welcomed him,
as the remaining ones We're away pur-
suing the usual avocations of the sea-
son in the rural districts. Said the old
Judge:
ut has seemed strange to me that
the prohibition people did not bend
their energies to inducing a repeal of
the war tax on whisky. II you Will
take off the Yankee tax, placed there
just after the war, for the purpose of
forcing payments of the war debts,
whisky will be so cheap and plentiful
that there will be no profit in selling
it; nor would there be any motive for
aulterating it.
Before the war have seen whisky
sell at 20 cents per gallon. Every mer-
chant kept it in the back room of his
store to give away to his customers.
A glass sat on the head of barrel and
each patron of the merchant helped
himself as matter of course. And let
me tell you, as solemn truth, never
saw a chronic drunhard until L was
a grown man.
occasionally man would drink
enough spirits to make him sing, or
dance. or be funny in his conversa-
ton and his friends would pronounce
him "a little tight" or say that he
was feeling his DRAM" The next day
there was no headache nor any con-
sequent sickness because the whisky
was pure and unadulterated. Any farm
er who raises apples can make older
and sell il now and sell it for 20 cents
per gallon and make a profit; but sup
pose that before you could sell gal
lon of cider you had to pay the United
States government tax of $1.10. Why,
Of course. the retail price of cider
would be s1.30 per gallon and people
would offer it at that price, and 1T
would pay the liquor dispensers to
keep cider and adulterate 1t or make
imitation cider.
"The older people will bear me out
in the assertion that in the years pre-
ceding the civil war everybody who
kept house had always brandy and
whisky in the house. The neighbors
made it, most often distilled it on
shares. The owner of a peach orchard
or apple orchard or large corn pro-
ducer furnished a certain amount of
fruit, or grain, and the neighbor re-
turned him his share of the distilled
product in brandy or whisky Even the
small children were given a dram
that is sweetened whisky-when the
old folks drank and no one supposed
for a moment that there was the least
improperly In SO doing. There was
comparatively little drunkenness and
no violent and homicidal results from
intoxication, as is daily the case at
the present. Whisky was not adul-
teraed in those days because the liquid
was too cheap to repay the cost of
chemicals.
years ago quinine sold at retail for
S5, and more, per ounce McKesson &c
Robbins had about the only quinine man
ufactory in the United States.
''While a bill was pending in Congress
to take off the tariff on cinchona bark
the stuff out of which quinine is made
McKesson & Robbins sent circulars to
all the druggists in America stating that
il the duty. tax or tariff was taken off
of cinchona bark, that quinine would go
up to $40 per ounce, and the mandatory
would have to shut down. Congress went
ahead and took off the tariff on the bark
what was the result? Quinine is now
selling for SO cents and less per ounce,
and there are 25 quinine manufactures in
war tax, and the war has been over 50
years. This war tax falls heaviest on the
mountain people who were opposed to
war, and who fought to put down the
war. Two reasons are offered why the
tax of sl.10 per gallon should not be taken
off of liquors.