Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-06
IT'S HARD TO GET
A HARD DRINK IN
THIS MODEL CITY
Wink to the Bartender Really
Means Nothing and Gets
the Patron Less
Is 2.75 BEER A MISNOMER ?
Drinkers Shocked to Learn
That the Brew Really Con-
tains but Half Per Cent.

If you desire a drink with stick"
in it, don't wink at the white-coated
Individual back of the bar, for it will
do no good.
The Investigator, hearing of the
ease with which you can get hard
liquor IL you camouflage your re-
quest with that cabalistic lowering
os the left eyelid, walked into prom
inent hostelry whose bar is still do
ing business at the old stand and
asked in a decently modulated tone
foI ginger ale. The request was ac-
companied Dy the we'll known wink.
The barkeep reached into the ice box
and then did something under the
par-the Investigator thought he was
getting the stick-anI set the drink
on the bar. 1t was ginger ale and
no mistake. What the man was do
ing under the bar was putting some
ice in the glass. The bartender
thought the wink was some form of
morning salutation.
2.75 Not Guaranteed
The barkeep was uncertain how to
take the advances of the fresh strang-
er. who winked and was more or less
noncimmittal to his questioning. At
ter another visitor had quenched his
thirst with a glass of beer the in
vestigator wanted to learn if the
drink was one-half of one per cent.
or the well-advertised two seventy
FIVE. How do l know answered he
of the white. waistcoat, they put 1t
in here, they call it beer and we
serve it for beer"
Beer drinkers were indignant when
they learned the alcoholic content of
their favorite beverage may be far
below the average they had learned
to cultivate. 1t is next to impossible
to get an edge on with two seventy
five, so how in. the world will a mon
get along with one-half of one percent
was the way one of them expressed it.
Fact is the cubic contents of a beer
drinker will not permit of an edge
with lighter brews. A look around
the bars in the city shows beyond the
hint Of successful contradiction that
beer drinkers have given up the fight
and none are trying to drink enough
to 'feer 1t. Since hard liquor is
banned, the consumption of beer has
materially dropped it used to be
possible to get an edge" by throw
ing in a few hard ones first.
The Only Way Ont
But s-h-hh! 1t is possible to get
hard liquor If you are careful; but
keep this quiet! If you stroll through
you will see an individual who looks as
though he were in a receptive MOOD
Approach him and convey the impress
sion that you want a drink. He will
take your money and get you an un-
certain brand IN quantities from a
half pint on up. Don't give this secret
away as it was given to the investi-
gator in strictest confidence. This is
the only way you can get liquor. too
But this is too hard for the aver
age man who wants a drink. He is
used to walking into a bar and get.
ting it without trouble. There are
but few men who will submit to that
inconvenience for drink. Conse-
quently the large majority of those
who like the stun are going without
1t. You must put yourself in the po-
sition of a man doing something un-
la wful in order to get drink with
this exception:
Hard on Hard Liquor
. You must either have a supply in a
private cache under your cellar steps
or you must know a man of generous
i mien who has such a supply.
The natural conclusion is reached
that it is next to impossible to get
a drink of hard stuff in the city, and
that the average citizen, without a
private supply is going without
liquor. Wartime prohibition Is pro-
hibition for everybody unless he de-
sires to thwart the forces of law and
order and patronize the bootlegger.
This class of citizens is so far in the
minority that he is negligible when
the general question of booze and its
supporters is being discussed.