The sun., 1917-10-09
WAR TAX BRINGS
GLOOM TO $500
GILDED SALOONS
Retail Liquor Dealers To.
day will Discuss High
.%. Cost of Bibulosity.
COCKTAILS AT 30 CENTS
- -
Sad Bcveragarians Don't Know
Whether to Raise Price
or Cut Drinks.

No, since the days of Omar Khay-
yam. the well known wine agent Of
South Tcheran and the extensively ad-
rertised prototype Of George kessler and
Mamie Chapelle. have persons interested
n The vending Of liquor (and. welladay.
b the drinking Of iD been so fused.
what with Uncle Sans taxes and the
taxes imposed by the State matters have
GOT already 10 80 dismal pass that
Cocktails and straight likker over the
BAR cost almost as much as a pound Of
pork chops--and any housewife knows
the frightfulness Of that cost
This afternoon persons who may be
b the neighborhood of Adolph .Suess-
kinds refectory in East Fifty-seventh
street will see a line of mournful men
men upon whom burden OF woe has
been laid-on their way to a lodge Of
s0rrow. There will be some men with
high hats, some men with plain iron
hats. There will be rich men. poor men,
moderately circumstanced men, but they
will tote the same incubus of gloom.
They will he the members OF the Retail
Liquor Dealers Association. approach
ing Terrace Garden with slow and halt
ing step for the purpose OF seeing what
can be done about situation which bids
fair to lose them 25 per cent. Of their
bibulous patrons while compelling them
10 dig deeply into their profits.
saloon Keepers Life Ia Unhappy.
For these persons. some $500 or
1000 hnd themselves between the Old
nd he -
hand is the Government. which has not
only raised the alcoholic ante but which
has taken charge of their cash registers
On the other IL the public which. while
stirred by ancient thirsts, shrinks from
the present high price OF wetting
whistles. In other words. the new Fed
er1l and state taxes. requiring retail
liquor dealers to advance prices at the
bar by a minimum Of Is per cent, have
resulted in such dimnution OF trade
that the saloon keepers and cafe owners
dread to open their n. &. RS to look at
the tape.
II was admitted yesterday by Claus
Oetjen. secrtary of the Retail Liquor
Dealers Association. that the meeting
to-day will be one Of the most important
in the history Of the rum vending body.
Ways and means must be found for
dealing with incredibly difficult prob
lens. There is no way to get out of the
new taxes therefore, they say. the price
OF cocktails. OF bar whisky, Of case
goods. OF liQueurs of all the pleasant
ttpples with which New Workers Cn
common with mankind) are wont to re-
gale themselves must stay UP. But the
public Is displa ying signs Of temperance.
The public since Saturday has grown
slightly bar shy. How can the public
,. won back at the prevailing high cost
~ booze?
New Tax ProbIem Worries.
Another problem which agitates the
in.ellectuals OF the cafe bosses is how to
met the new graduated tax imposed by
the state upon gross receipts for spirit
uous liquors. The Hon. the Common
wealth OF New York says to the saloon
feeper now. "Sir. We must have per
cent Of your gross receipts on spirituous
liquors II you take In more than $15,00c.
II your turnover amounts to S22.500 a
year, why then we will be obliged TO set
YOU back Just 5 per cent. Of whatever
dmount that may be. Thank you. and
No monkey business, please. with the
cash register" .
That sounds simple enough. but when
one considers that the cafe owners will
have to maintain a sort Of quadruple
sfxry system OF cash register bookkeep-
ing, separating their receipts for rum
from their receipts for food or soda pop
ef spring water--in other words making
eut three or four checks where one does
now-the thing begins to be trouble
some.
A reporter for THE Sun who cruised
sooerly about yesterday investiga ting
ne evil days which have fallen upon
John Barleycorn and his little play
mates discovered the saloon folk in a
grave and melancholy mood. They had
vhooped their prices on Saturday. ad-
vancing bar whisky from fifteen cents to
twenty cents on the average and raising
cocktails from fifteen to twenty cents
pretty generally. hut such gymnastics
had failed TO raise their personal spirits.
Back Of the advance still loomed
Uncle Sans new tax on whiskey re-
Vailed another $2.20 added to the $1.10.
which had gone before. and piled on top
o' that was the burden Of the State i'm
position already referred to.
Hope in To.day's Conference.
Most OF the cafe pessmists interviewed
looked forward hopefully to the confer
eace to be held this afternoon by their
association. They admitted the neces.
IVY Of action. They pointed to dinin-
Mhed receipts. Many confessed that their
'' h'' hioppeu OH aIaTminGly. Tney
We're afraid that the public. which means
me FOLK that take a few drinks every
asy Just for the fun OF the thing. and
which does not mean the confirmed rum
Ssters who will pay any price 70 long
they can hnd the cash. is Riancing
ssKance at the new bar rates There are
seventy drinks In a gallon Of whisky.
The new Federal tax added about cents
70 the cost Of each drink. The dealers
sdded 5 cents. but they had the State
TAX to meet also.
Thomas ]. Brennan. formerly secre-
tary Of the Retail Liquor Dealers AS
.ociation. and who maintains two or
,hree bars up town. said last night that
IN accurate ESTIMATE OF the falling on
OF business duesto the new 20 cents q
rink rate for bar whiskey and the new
20 cent rate for cocktails would be 90
per cent, and that the big problem oi
saioon men would be to find a way Ia
3d that trade back. He was inclined
~ doubt that II would come back. He
taeuEht that folk would simply "cut ou,
s booze or turn their hard liquor
gives.
: "All over town the cafes we're Obliged