The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1915-06-30
THE MOONSH|NER
AND HIS CALLING
Positively Not On the
Decline and
He CANNOT Be STAMPED OUT
Each Year Brings Up About
the Same Old Number
Of Cases.
is a PICTURESQUE CHARACTER

10 a III ShLsox II Nh%hh-hDhA NV
II has been said that the Ken
lucky Colonel is the only picturesque
figure in Dixie that does not vanish
with the years, owing to the fact
that when dignified gentleman of
the Blue Grass State comes boom
ing up into his forties, the title of
Colonel falls upon him naturally.
The Federal Court of the North
ern District of Georgia, which is in
session in Atlanta now, has a record
for "moonshine" cases which indi-
Gates that at least one more charac-
ter of extremely picturesque quail
ties is perennial.
Whether or not it is to the credit
of Northern Georgia, that mountain
section is probably more prolific Of
Illicit distillers of whiskey than any
other section of the country.
Furthermore, Judge William T.
Newman is hearing at the present
term of Court just as many cases as
he has heard at any term of Court
in the last 10 years.
This is quite as true of the Fed
eral Courts of the mountain districts
of other Southern States. Each
year the number may grow or fall
off, but the average remains about
the same.
Here are the comparative figures
upon the number of convictions, as
contained in the report of the Dis
trict Attorneys in 1911 and 1914.
the convictions being for the year
preceding the date of the report:
District. 1910. 1913.
Georgia, Northern ....244 969
Tennessee, Eastern ITO 10
North Carolina, Western 20 8
Kentucky, Eastern ....2S2 30j
Alabama, Northern go. GA 20
Thus it is that, every month or
so, year in and year out, these rug
ged mountaineers from the Alleghe-.
ny hills come trooping down to the
Atlanta Federal Prison to pay the
penalty for their violation of the
law.
The "moonshiner" is probably the
most constituencies lawbreaker up
on the face of the earth. The mat
ter of making corn likker" to him
is business purely. He makes
"moonshine" in a mountain ravine
six days in the week and on Sunday
takes his family to church with his
conscience as free as the blue sky
above him.
And his point of view is not so
far wrong, perhaps. The rules of
society are no broader than a days
communication. To make Illicit
whiskey lays no stain upon the re-
spectability of the 'moonshiner"
among his own people. His con-
viction is not for making whiskey,
but for refusing to pay tax for so
doing. Because whiskey is not con-
sidered a necessity of life. the Gov
eminent has chosen a barrel of
whiskey rather than a barrel of -four
upon which to place a tax.
The "moonshiner" feels that he
is no more guilty of a violation of
law than the city property owner
who returns his property at less
than its value. He feels that the
difference is that the property own
er pretends that he has complied
with the law, while the "moonshin-
er" says "catch me If you can"
II would not be surprising If the
solution of the "moonshiner" prob
lem should lie in better means OF
transportation and a thorough un-
Outstanding of advanced methods of
agriculture. The mountain lands
are not fertile. The "moonsh'ner"
raises crop of corn OF inferior
quality which will bring a poor
price on the market after he has
hauled IL by wagon over many miles
OF bad road TO railroad station. II
he condenses a sack OF corn TO a jug
of whiskey he solves HIS transporta-
tion problem and doubles the r.
come from HIS product.
These seem to be the main rea-
sons why the "moonshiner" Is al
ways with us.
There are, however. occasional
whispers about the corridors Of the