The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1916-02-11
With MEN THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY PROFITABLl
EMPLOYED THE DEMAND FOR LUXURES Is
TREMENDOUSLY INCREASED
NO ABATEMENT IN DRY ''D0OTLECGING'
Failure 10 Enforce the Provisions Of the State Laws Govern
Ing the Manufacture and Sale of Liquors Is Respon-
SIbe, Says Revenue Commissioner

Under the heading, Withdrawals OF
Whiskey Heavy and Indicate Return
of Prosperity" the Louisville Courier
Journal has the following to say:
The men in the mills and factories
| throughout the country are again quite
generally employed, earning sufficient
money not only to furnish their fam
lilies and themselves with the necessi-
ties of life, but to partake Of some CT
the Injuries. This proves that there
has been an actual revival Of business
and that prosperity is being rapidly
restored. We know this to be a fact.
because there is no better barometer
to indicate the con jition of the buying
power of the masses than the move
ment of Kentucky WHISTLES and the
heavy Withdrawals for consumption
during the last three months show a
demand equaling any ever recorded in
our trade history.
Besides showing general commercial
activity this heavy movement of Ken
lucky WHISTLES shows other things OF
interest, not only to the trade immedi
safely concerned, but to the public who
have been called upon to consider the
.so-called liquor problem. This heavy
traffic shows that the overwhelming
majority of able bodied, responsible
adults in this country do use alcoholic
beverages and regard it as a sacred
right not to be infringed upon. There
fore it shows most conclusively that
prohibition does not prohibit, for right
now, when there are as many State
wide prohibition States as at any time
in the history of the country, when
there is a much greater extent of So
called dry" territory, ana when a
much greater proportion of the people
of the United States are living under
prohibition laws than ever before, the
consumption has reached new record
both in the aggregate and in the per
capital for alcoholic beverages. And
what is here stated applies only to the
legitimate distribution OF whisky, beer
and wine through legitimate channels,
taking no account Of the increased
: Illicit liquor traffic brought about by
prohibition.
Legitimate Demand.
So far as the distilling interests are
q oncerned, the history OF the year 1915
shows emphatically that there is al
ways a legitimate and proper demand
fer their products when the people
have the money TO buy, and that, there
fore, the prosperity Of this business is
entirely dependent on general trade
conditions. For practically the whole
of the first nine months of the year
the whisky business dragged along,
with a feeling of expectancy persist
ing, however, that the long promised
general business revival must soon be
at hand and with it renewed activity
in our own trade. AS this failed to ma
rterialiZe until almost the close of the
year, the report of the Commissioner
of Internal Revenue for the fiscal year
which ended June 80 showed a consid-
cradle decrease in the whisky tax-paid
for consumption in Kentucky in com.
parison with the preceding fiscal year
Nevertheless. even here the showing is
favorable to the stability OF the Ken.
lucky distilling interests, for this de-