Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-29
PLENTY LIQUOR
BUT IT'S HARD
TO Find DRINK
Bonded Warehouses in United
States Have 72212,162 Gallons
OF Spirits Stored.

the DOUu6u warehouses; OF the UNI
ed States was divided among the
citizens of voting age in this re-
public, each of US would get about
three gallons. This is no guess or
estimate. 1t is solemn fact.
vouched for by the internal reve-
nue. bureau.
On the first Of last August, one
month after the drought fell upon
the land, there were 72,212,16 gal
Ions of distilled spirits in the
bonded warehouses, according TO
the internal revenue bureau. This
grand array of spirits included
whisky, brandy, rum, gin and alco-
hol, enough to put the whole world
on a spree In addition to the
liquor in warehouses, the bureau
estimates that there were between
eight and ten million gallons of
first class liquor on the shelves Of
the thousands of dealers through
out the country, when they were
forced to close their doors more
than two months ago. Although |
some of this may have been sur
reptitiously withdrawn to wet the I
whistle of some faithful old Gus
toners, the great majority of il I
still remains in the hands of the /
dealers who are hoping for q !
chance to reopen their doors be- I
fore Jan. Is, 1920, when the eight /
zenith amendment becomes effec- /
tive, making the country perma-y
nently dry.
Hope for Reprieve.
And as the dealers are hoping
for p reprieve of a few months TO
dispose of their stocks, so also are
the distillers who have millions of
dollars worth of goods stored in
the bonded warehouses. If they
don't get rid of it before national
prohibition sets in they will have
very slim chance of disposing
Of i after that time. They won't
be able to export it, and their only
hope is to be allowed to sell it for
medicinal purposes.
A merry fight is being waged be-
tween the vets and the drys over
the proposition of a hiatus between
wartime and national prohibition.
The dry forces claim that there is
not a chance in the world of lifting
the prohibition ban before Jan. Is,
as the wartime prohibition act
states very plainly that the ban
cannot be raised until the com
plete termination of the war and
the Rehabilitation of the army. 1t
will be impossible to do this before
that date, according to prohibition
leaders in the capital.
The vets claim that the inter-
probation of the war time prohibit
ton act, regarding this particular
feature, is up to the president, and
that he can declare the demobiliZa-
ton of the army accomplished any
time now that he pleaSes. They
argue that it is a grave injustice
not to give the dealers an oppor-
tunity to dispose of the stock they
have on hand
Must Sign Treaty. q
1t is the opinion OF the president
that wartime prohibition cannot
be revoked until the peace treaty
is ratified by the senate and de-
is completed. That is ]
the big stumbling block in the way {
Of letting the country go on one
more tear before it becomes per-
nanently dry. It is guess work TO {
.ry to deteGnine whether or not
he peace treaty will be ratified be- I
'ore next January.
If there is a hiatus between war l
tine and national prohibition, the =
country will witness a period SINH
ar to that which preceded the I
closing of the wet goods emporiums !
N July l. The internal revenue /
bureau is authority for the state
nent that during the SIX months
,efore wartime prohibition went l
nto effect. approximately thirty !
million gallons OF whisky alone =
we're taken cut of the bonded ware X
Houses. A great deal of that a
liquor was boarded by those who !,
.ould afford to buy it at fancy :
,rices. 3
Officials of the bureau are of the I
pinion that If the prohibition ban v
vas lifted for two months, the dis
illers would not be able to get rid 3
4 more than one-half of their
took The transportation system p
f the country, they claim, could Il
ot handle so much liquor in that q
hort period of time. "
II all the liquor that is now held =
q bond were sold before next u
anuary the government would de- q,
i've almost a half billion dollars u
j revenue. There is a federal tax :
( 500 on each gallon of liquor. .
his tax is not assessed upon dis -
He'd spirits withdrawn from Il
onded warehouses for the purpose "
t exporting. Under the wartime -
act, distillers are per- !.
lifted TO export liquor without pay 81
ig out any tax upon it. This con- ~
ession was granted to the manu- -
acturers OF wet goods to allow ~
lem to get rid of some of their 20
roduct, but it did not help very u
realty as there is not a good for
gn market for American liquor 1'
seems that foreigners have not y
eveloped a taste for Americas
lvorite brands. This fact was -
in the report of the
1reaG of foreign and domestic 81,
ommerce for July. the first month o
which liquor was exported after -
rob bition set in The report ~
lows that there were 3S1 ,S93 gal ,,
ms of distilled spirits exported, -
aving a total value of s489,42s. In a.
uded in this total were So, 900 gal -
ms of bourbon whisky worth ~
5.73S. and 1000 gallons of rye n
Risky valued at s5800O.
Cheap in London.
From these facts it will be seen