The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-09-22
MUCH RUM RUNNING
ON VERMONT BORDER
Canadian Officials Declare That En-.
forcement OF Law Would Almost
Be An lmpossibllity.


Montreal, Sept 49, Discussing the
unlawful traffic in liquor across the
border between Canada and the I'm t.
ed States, Canadian official express
es his belief that the law is being vio-
lated hundreds OF times daily all
along the border from Seattle to
Maine, and says he has grave doubts
If it can ever be enforced so long as
the transportation OF liquor from one
part OF Canada TO another remains
iega, as at present, unless the Unit
ed States authorities put armed
guards every hundred yards on the
line from Vancouver to Winnipeg and
every fifty feet or so the rest OF the
way across the continent.
The Detroit rum runners have had
a good deal of notoriety, but, in the
opinion OF the Official the smugglers
are not great deal more active III
Michigan than in Maine, Vermont and
New York and all along the line Of
the st. Lawrence and the Great
Lakes
SO far as the official has been able
to discover, there seems TO be little
anxiety or activity on the part of the
American official to prevent the trans
portation OF all kinds Of liquor across
the international line. For the last
two weeks or so he has been watch
ing things from the Canadian side
and says he has seen no evidence that
any one cares whether liquor Is TAX
Ell into the States or not, He in
stances the Lake Champlain district,
where are fifty roads leading from
Quebec across the line, and on every
one of them, he says, an automobile
loaded with liquor, or even old Dobbin
hitched to a wagon SIMILARLY freight
ed, is in about the same danger OF be-
ing apprehended as a cigar salesman
on Broadway
This he says, is the explanation Of
the present state of affairs:
On the Vermont side of Lake Cham
plain the nearest United States Gus
toms official is at Highgate and the
next one at Swanton. Highgate is
about five miles from the Canadian
border and Swanton is ten or twelve,
Automobiists from the United States
who cross into Canada are supposed
to report themselves on their outgo.
ing and return trips If they take
care not to come too close to the Gus.
toms office either at StaramaRd or
Phillipsburg, on the Canadian side,
there is no obligation to report to the
United States Official who would not
know whether the tourist had cross
ed the border.
Even supposing the automobilist
does care to comply with the formali-
ty of calling at the United States Gus
toms House, he has about five miles
of road and a thousand opportunities
of getting rid of his cargo before re-
porting. SOME persons have even
been known to drive right up to the
custom house with q case or so of
hard stuff" aboard, and on their as
surance that they had nothing of a
dutiable or contraband nature they
have been allowed to go on their way
rejoicing.
In the first place, most customs Of
hcials on either side of the line do
not like the idea of having to carry
ont the duties Of whiskey plotters,
and, on the other, what customs Off
cial could imagine that an automo-
bilist with load of ''hootch" aboard
would have the temer!ty to run right
into danger?
From all that can be seen, the Gus
toms officials are the only persons a
whiskey runner has to fear along the
Quebec border Montreal citizens who
have made the trip into the State,
either over the King Edward highway
and through Rouses Point into New
York via St Johns, Phillipsburg and
so into Vermont, or over the longest
route of the Quebec bouleyards and