The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-08-14
SPLIT IN PARTNERSHIP; DEATH
TO THE BUSINESS INVOLVED
Hugh Fullerton Magazine Writer of Liquor Traf
fc Made Certain Through Split Between Booze Makers
and Sellers and Uncle Samuel Who Has Terminated His
Partnership With the Beverage Whiskey Traffic

In a year and half. at the very
outside, the whiskey business will be
thing CT the past II the TN ted
States, never to be tolerated again.
and with tho death Of old John Bar
ieycorn will come TIE passing out of
existence of the saloon. according to
an article In the current issue of the
American Magazine by Hugh S. Full
I lerton., one of the best known maya
zine writers in the country and a
former Ohio man.
Booze is through" according to
the article. The action of Congress in
prohibiting the manufacture of
whiskey during the war means that
by November. 1919. there win be no
I whiskey business at all in the United
States. Fullerton says.
Even among the most ardent sup
porjcrs of the cause of whiskey," the
magazine article says. there Is an ex-
tremely small percentage processing
to believe that the government ever
I again will permit the manufacture of
booze. although the present order is
for stoppage during the period of the
war only. They do not believe that
the government. having solved
troublesome moral and political prob
/ lem. will assume the same problem
again Further than that, many man.
ufacturers of whiskey declare they
would not reinvest their money in
huge stocks of manufactured goods,
even If the government should permit
the resumption of distilling.
There Is No UpheavaI
The fact that one of the great bust
n esses OF America is passing out of
existence wEhout causing a general
upheaval in conditions is remarkable.
In peace times the wiping out of an
industry involving millions of dollars
and employing hundreds of thousands
of men would have been startling
Now ii In almost unnoticed. Yet the
wholesale liquor business is practi
cally wiped out already, and the re-
tail supply, available in open market.
is growing scantier each day,
1T may be surprise that saloon
men themselves anticipate with
whiskey out of existence, the saloon
as an institution will cease to exist.
The reason is simple: The money was
in booze, The big profit of n saloon
always has been in whiskey---not in
beer or in light wines. The profit in
the sale Of beer Is comparatively small
and in wines not much larger. The
saloon men inform me that there is
little chance of the business surviv-
ing long after whiskey DISAPPEARS.
unless cities and corporations agree TO
a heavy decrease in license rates. In
other words. there Is not enough
profit In the sale OF beer and light
wines.
The Saloon Must Go.
The saloon seems doomed to fol-
low whiskey out of business, regard
less OF prohibition activities. The
saloon Is disappearing automatically.
In Chicago, over four hundred sa-
looms, on an average. have dropped
cur at every license period. which
means eight hundred a year! In New
York, where already the number of
saloons was decreasing steadily. the
law forbidding ownership OF saloons
by foreigners cuts the number existing
in half.
1T is an odd development of the
situation that the actual drinking OF
whiskey Is decreasing rapidly" con-
tinues Mr., Fullerton, who attributes
the cause to the poor grade of whiskey
now being sold and to the high prices
brought about by the war prohibition
OF whiskey manufacture.
Poor quality and bad effects un-
doubtedly have caused a great de-
crease In the number Of whiskey
drinkers. Barmen to whom l talked
estimated this decrease at from fifteen
- thirty per cent Of the customexa-