Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-11-01
Celebration on Last Night
Of Wet Regime Like
That of Mardi
Gros.

| 'nBton to-niBnt on the midnight train
! Tor Il long. long ride.
1 They refused to be interviewed, but
l issued this official statement, paying
| their respects TO Congress and the
District of Columbia:
Congress ought to be ashamed of
| Itself to vote the poor old District
! high and dry. and then run away
from It,"
They were given a royal send on
| Some people said it was funeral but
no human being who was able to walk
from the Capitol to the White House
tonight would agree to such dcscrip-
! tion. 1t was like a Mardi Gras night.
! and every barroom that braved the
last day of Its liquor life by remain
/ Ing open was jammed like a subway
train. Official returns. received up to
| some time around midnight. showed
that one drink cost:
! One shirt.
Half OF coat.
Part Of hat.
! Whole shine
| s. 10. Is. 90. 25 or 80 cents. some
times nothing. according to how your
luck was running.
| Profanity politely applied
STREETS LOOK SOMETHING
| LIKE AN ELECTION NIGHT
/ The streets looked something like
an election night. And az II to make
the celebration international. large
1 numbers OF French. British. Italian
/ Belgian. Russian and about every other
kind of allied officer seemed to be out
! in the streets with their gay-colored
uniforms. There were thousands of
| others in the streets without Uniforms
and still others in uniforms. waiting
| for the men to come out Of the cafes
! Official notes on the number of men
who fingered too long or too tearfully
| over their departing privileges were
not all in at midnight. Some went
afoul Of the police. while still others
declared they would not go out of the
/ gilded places until midnight. For they
knew that the liquor does not provide
for a drunken man after midnight SO
4 man cannot be found In the District
I intoxicated--so they say.
| Hotels in all parts Of the town have
I gone to the soft-drink habit immedi-
ateiy. while many of the other places.
| known for many years for their fine
wines and ales. will be no more. But
| IL all tho threats that were made
against Congress for making the town
| dry are carried into effect. there Will
J not be enough marble In the whole
world to supply the demand,
CITY OF DISTANCES
"BETWEEN DRINKS"
| The national capital tomorrow be-
comes the City OF Beautiful Distances
Between Drinks. To-day il hade a
I Il -, ~ n
ones meals and club buffets. 1t is not
losing John Barleycorn altogether.
however, for there will be liquor-lots
OF it-because Congress, while leGis-
latins the saloon, restaurant and club
licenses out of existence. carefully
avoided making Washington bone
| dry"
Last January. after long agitation
by the Anti-Saloon League, Congress
finally passed the Sheppard dry Dis
trict of Columbia bill" Previously
! Congress had passed the Reed bone dry
amendment that made absolutely dry
prohibition States that still admitted
the Importation of liquor for personal
| use. There was no real effort made to
make this amendment apply to the dry
| District of Columbia bill, and every
one. including the Anti-Saloon League,
seemed satisfied. The result is that,
beginning tomorrow. liquor of all
| kinds may be brought into the District
| for personal use from even nearby
towns in Maryland, but the purchase
or drinking OF it in public will be pro-
hibited.
Needless TO relate, there has been a
steady and not always unsurreptitious
| boarding Of liquor supplies, and, it is
| hinted, by not few Senators and Rep
resentatives as we'll as the plain peo-
! pie. One prominent citizen recently,
and many times carelessly, boasted
over the mahogany that he had $1,000
worth stored in his cellar, whereupon
! all present looked up his address in
the telephone book for future reference.
Nor did the recent bounding prices of
liquor deter the hoarders.
MAY BAR SERVING OF
| GUESTS IN HOMES
One OF the interesting features OF
the drying UP of Washington is that
1t makes it the sole dry national capt.
| tai of the world. Not few who have
the city's interests at heart look with
apprehension upon the impression that
will be gained by visitors, particularly
foreign dignitaries. who look upon the
Offering of wine as sealing pledge
of friendship and welcome, as 1t Is ex-
pccted that the law will be construed
to bar even the serving of guests with
in ones home. The clubs Of the ia
nous men that gather in the political
pivot CT the nation also face a gloomy
future. for. while many members make
their only home In the capital, the
doubt over whether a club is legally a
domicile. even II a man lives at 1t per-
manently, seems to render 1t Illegal
for him to keep personal supply in a
club.
Many saloons had already closed
their doors through exhaustion of
stocks and desire to be out of the
business as quickly as possible as long
as the inevitable is at hand. but there
were enough still operating to take
care of those who wished to make
K