Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-03
HOME STILLS SPR|NC|NC
Up IN ALL QUARTERS
These Moonshiners Of the City
May be Hard to Up
root.

Fran The New York Tribune.
Under war prohibition moonshininR
has tremendously increased, and the rev.
enue agents never gathered in 70 many
illicit stills and brewing devices ~ they
have in the last few months. Hitherto
the mountain "moopshiners' OF the
Southern States have had pretty much Of
a monopoly Of illicit d,stilling. Their
purpose was TO avoid paying the excise
tax Now, with the incentive OF having
the whole Of the market, such as it Is,
at their command the moonshiners will
doubtless spring up in all the remote,
sparscly settled timber and mountainous
regions OF the country, ~ well as in large
cities
Counting the family stills and brewing
outfits that have been installed, there
probably are scores Of thousands Of illegal
gin mills already in operation or being
prepared. The home booze factory will
doubtless flourish To the end Of time.
Even the drastic prohibition enforce
ment act does not give law officers the
right Of free run of every mans home on
the suspicion that he is making tangle-
foot or beer or homemade wine. In
some communities in the country, ~
well as in urban eenters, whole popula-
the illicit commercial dstillers. and the
job of finding them out probably will I've
as continuous and as unfailiag as moon
shine hunting in the North Carolina
or Georgia mountains. Enforcement Off
GERS who have given thought to the sub
iect are inclined to think that illicit stills
will be able To evadc them more success
fully In the large cities than in the colin-
try.
In the country there is the telltale
smoke of the distillery fire and the widely
carried fumes OF the alcohol In the
cities smoke and fumes may blend with
the thousand smokes and odors of con-
gested life and industrial activity Little
stills may easily be installed in kitchens.
Revenue agents have 8lre8dy seized
hundreds of them all over the country
Some arc permanently Installed by
plumbers, but Others are small. ligh. and
portable and do not cost more than a
few dollars.
\ tin pail, some copper tubing, some
ice and kettle for the mash viii set
any man mp with n home outfit. Most
of these outfits probably viii escape
detection SO long as the owner does not
undertake 10 sell or widely distribute his
product. On the other hand, after the
novelty wears off most of them will be
scrapped. Likewise with the various
home brewing projects, even though
they do not involve much moro than
formula and the raw material The
will never be wet" from the
ale, beer and whisky made at home. and
the enforcement officers are sure that the
degree of humidity will not be perceptibly
increased by the few commercial stills
that will escape their attention.
The flying squadron of revenue agents
which has been such terror To the
mountain moonshiners in recent years, |
under direction of Daniel G. Porter. now |
established in New York, will be many |
lines multiplied and the chances are |
hat in days ahead many city moon 1
sinner will have bitter experience of these /
.ireless. fearless and determined men.
And If any of the gunner of New York /
hould engage in moonshining and boot
egging they will find that for pulling
irst and shooting quickly and accurately /
hey are outclassed by the men who have |
been trained in tho mountains and |
wamps. The wilderness moonshiners |
ire also to be hunted and harried as
lever before. 1t is probable that OBJ /
orvatlon aIrplanes, equipped with mill /
AIRY cameras, will be brought into this |
work and will vie with the eagles in hover
ng over mountain Businesses.
Smuggling will return with much of |
Is old-time romantic fascination. In !
Iced, it is already here. Smuggling on |
gigantic scale has gore on across wet |