The Mena weekly star., 1917-09-13
END HAS COME ID
 WH|SKEY MAKING
Every DiStillery in the United States Is Closed for Duration of the War some Plants Will Not Reopen
 The End Was Peaceful.


 Peoria, ILL. Sept 9--The hard liquor capital of the world surrend- cred yesterday. In compliance with the Food Conservation Law of Con gress and with the edict of Food .Conservator Hoover, the last drop of whiskey for beverage purposes was drawn off in the afternoon, and at fl o'clock last night the lid was finally and definitely clamped upon the plants.
 They will not reopen for the man. .ufacture of whiskey as a beverage. This was the last statement of Rob- ert D. Clark, one of the recognized heads of the liquor interests of the country. This is regardless of the effect of the war on the threatened approach of prohibition.
 We will close down absolutely" Mir Clark said. We will maintain our plants in apple pie order, pre- pared to supply any demand from the United States government or foreign nations for such alcohol as is necessary in the manufacture of powder. We are thru as beverage producers"
 To Make Alcohol for Munitions.
 Clark's, Woolners and Corning's distilleries quit whiskey making on the stroke of il The Great West ern and Atlas distilleries, known in the trade as the trust plants, will continue in operation in the manu- facture of alcohol to maintain their government contracts, producing for the Dupont Powder Concern. The Picking distilleries all quit, with the exception of the Globe and Ameri- can, which have cut their capacity and will continue to manufacture for munitions purposes.
 The end of the whiskey making, however, does not mean an immedi- ate death for those who require red liquor The estimate of men at the head of the industry this aft ernoon is that 2i5 million gallons of beverages of all kinds, descriptions and qualities now exist in the 605 distilleries of the United States, in- ciuding totals up to If o'clock to- night The normal annual con- sumption is about i50 million gal Ions, so that something like a 2-year supply is in the hands of the distil- lers and wholesale dealers and laid away by retail men
 Business Will Not Re Depressed.
 Peoria is not downhearted at the the immense change that comes over the liquor industries. The unanimous opinion of manufactur- CTS. bankers and business men in general is that Peoria will feel no depressing effects.
 The government itself, deprived Of the immense internal revenue which has made Peoria first of all the internal revenue collection dis triets of the Nation in point of total collections, will he the chief immed- fate sufferer Later. but not until after the war will the coal produc- |ers, the railroads and ultimately the |corn raisers, begin to be hurt.
 "Peoria's manufacturers will snap up every available man Monday morning" said Peoria business man. Between fifteen hundred and two thousand men will be put out of employment in the distilleries. but there is place for every one of them in the tractor factories. the implement works and in other Peor- ia industries. We can use every ounce of coal, and glad to get it. that the distilleries have been re- quiring Industrially, Peoria will never know the distillerieS have been closed
 End of Reign of Rum Was Peaceful.
 Nothing spectacular marked the end of the reign of Demon Rum. The last actual steps were accom- plished three night ago. All that remained to he done last night was to draw of the last beer from the Nats and lock the doors Most of the men were paid for the last time and no excitement attended the pro- |ceedings. The announced decision 'of the diStillers that no more bev- Ierage whiskey is to be made was the 'hig surprise of the day The req son. as explained by Mr Clark, is that as long as the new additional tax of S3.60 per gallon to be im- posed upon whiskey by the new fed eral tax law which is about,to be passed in Washington on increase from St.i5-eliminates any possibil- .ity of making whiskey at profit.