Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-27
WAKE" IN CAPITAL
KING" RUM DIES
Washington Plans to We'll
come Dry Regime With
Drinking Bouts
BARS CLOSE WEDNESDAY
Historic Places to Close Doors,
but Boisterous Scenes Will
Aid Exit of Booze
BD a star Correspondent

WASHINGTON. oct %.
After lO9 years of experience with the
public house and saloon. Washington. the
capital Of tEe nation. next Wednesday at
mNlnight closes its saloons In the transit
tivn from wet TO a dry city residents OF
washington are preparing for a noisy bois-
ferrous farewell 10 King Bacchus.
The District of Columbia authorities have
arranged for a detail of 100 extra police TO
preserve order Wednesday night Notwith-
standing these precautions. from mouth to
mouth has gone the advice that those who
venture downtown should be dressed IT,
football suits and wear t1eated shoes
A few prosperous saloons have decided
10 close down Wednesday noon. The pro-
prietors frankly say they are closing twelve
hours earlier to avoid the hurly-burly that
seems certain to mark the passing of rum
from the Capital There is no conCealment
of the fact that the organizations and peo-
pie of Washington are preparing TO bid
adieu to King Bacchus in one last. bolster
Gus revel A majority Of the leading clubs
OF the city are arranging programs with
drinks that hereafter are to be outlawed
put forward headline features.
"DRUNKs" AT $3.50 EACH
One of the fashionable clubs Of the city.
which restricts its membership to men with
nationwide regulations, will give a party
70 which each member will be entitled to
bring one guest The member pays tax
of IS, and, in return, he and his friend not
only may look upon the wine when il is red.
but drink long and often. In fact there is
no limit. It's to be like the old lemonad,
tub-fve cents, but in this case IS, for all
you can drink.
Another Of the best-kuown Washington
clubs with an international reputation,
bluntly and without any effort at
comouhage, announces for Wednesday. night
q progressive drnker." Still another has
sent mourning invitations to all its MEM
bers, who are invited to be present at the
death of %King Booze" and the envelope
and invit5tion both have deep back borders.
Part, Of the arrangements for noisy
probably riotous. leave-takng Of liquor Is
due 20 the fact that Washingtonians have no
voice in the laws made for them. When
the dry law was before Congress vigorous
effort was made to have the prohibition
question submitted to the people of the
Capital as a referendum. bdt Congress
turned that down without serious considera-
1ion.
FEARED NEGRO VOTE
II was argued that the negroes. who
make up one-thrd Of Washington's popua-
tion, would vote soidly for the saloon. The
action of Congress in refusing to give wash
ington an opportunity to express its opinion
on the liquor issue has had the result, more
than anything else. of bringing a demand
for the vote in the District Of Columbia.
The Observation-Disclosures campaign is on
In full force.
The saloonteepers and cafe and restau-
rant proprietors with liquor licenses are
Joining in the plans for a noisy farewell
with the conviction that hereafter the liquor
question in Washington will be a dead issue
Their last hope vanished yesterday, when
the Court decided against them in case in
which they sought TO have the law declared
unconstitutional.
Exorbitant prices are being charged for
wet goods now on hand No beer sells for
less than ten cents a glass, straight whisky
Is twenty cents. and cocktails from twenty
hve cents up.
Relics of the days Of fifty years or more
ago are now being auCtoned off Some of
these relics have real historic value and
had intimate connection with the statesman
y ship Of generations ago. Some of tho most
historic drinking places in America will
close
Hancock's known and referred to by
world travellers, passed into history a short
time ago after high license made it's opera
tion Improbable 1t was a place famous
for decades. not only for its mint juleps
and an amazing pink cocktail, the recipe
for which was held strict secret, but for
its chicken and corn pone dinners. Pieces
of the rope used in hanging Mrs Surratt
for completely in the staying Of Abraham
Lincoln, one OF Lincon's old tile hats and
various other Curios were in its cob-webl e7
showcases
Closed also will be the doors of Shce-
makers a landmark in the retail liquor
trade, the place where now II is conceded
was invented the famous gin riCley. An
other TO pass out of existence is Mades
Hotel, under the shadow of the Capitol
dome. a great rendezvous for statesmen in
the days of the Civil War and a place
where leading figures in the war drama
congregated for their customary tipple.
Here, too, at dinner one night, there died
John Sutter, the man who discovered geld
In California, an event memorialized by a
tablet hanging over the bar all these yeai ).