The Washington times., 1917-11-02

that will be thrust into the police
courts for trial, simple cases of
! guilty" or mot guilty"
The office of Corporation Counsel
takes the position that anybody IN
terested can read the law and Inter.
pret for himself. II vitality concerned
I he must seek legal advice.
Fight On Near Beer.
! A great burden is to be thrown
upon the already seriously clogged
courts OF the District, which have
been appealing to Congress for
years to supply additional judges to
take care OF the huge amount of It'll.
CATION that is, in some instances,
years behind the consideration It
should have hau. The outlook Is that
some of the whiskey cases will drag
a long time, although efforts will be
made to facilitate those of impor-
tance.
One OF the biggest legal battles is
to come UP over the sale of nsar
beer. Nearly all the former saloon
establishments have stocks of near
beer on hand, and today sold 1t to
all customers, regardless OF the fact
that the police department has al.
ready made arrests for the sale of
these drinks containing three-tenths
of 1 per cent of alcohol. The alco-
holic contents of these beverages,
varying according to the brand. are
being ascertained as rapidly as pos
sible by chemists of the District gov
ernment.
The law is declared by strict prohi.
bitionists to forbid the sale of malt
linfInr uyffh 81
centage OF alcohol, but a dozen of the
biggest lawyers OF the city have un-
dertakan en- the Job OF defending those
arrested on this charge and of car
rying the cases through the highest
courts.
They will hold that existing Fed.
eral laws and invariable ruling Of
the Internal Revenue Bureau foI
years recognize all drinks containing
below one half Of 1 per cent as soft
drinks" and taxable only as such.
What Federal Law Says.
Corporation Counsel syme has been
in communication with Daniel H.
Roper, commissioner of internal rev.
enue, as to the laws governing that
bureau In the matter OF soft drinks.
The correspondence reveals that un-
der the settled rulings OF that office
fermented malt liquors containing
under one-half OF l per cent of al
cohol have not been taxable as malt
liquors. Under the act OF October 3,
1917, the One-half per cent limit was
written into law, becoming manda.
tory, backing up former rulings. The
burden is placed on the producer and
seller that the limit has not been
reached. This same act also imposed
a tax on all soft drinks and the near
beers below that limit pay to the
Government soft drink taxes.
The Willard bar and venerable
Shoomaker's today offered various
brands OF near-beer, manufactured by
large brewers. and said to contain |
much below the internal revenue |
limit. Some the places around town |
are to have these drinks on draft. The |
declared that except for
the little bit OF kick real beer was |
supposed to have, the new drinks
taste and look the same as the real |
stuff
There was just one man behind the |
Willard bar, and he had little to do.
Formerly there were three until IL |
o'clock, and then four were employed. |
Patrons of the cafe and restaurant
made out with coffee, hot milk, and
ordinary breakfast beverages.
Baltimore whiskey houses are food
ing the mails OF this city with price
lists of various brands of alcoholic |
drinks and information as to the re-