The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-09
Border Country Supplied
 With AM Sorts Of Drinks,
 Says Salesman Who SauU Lt
Cities Near Canada Get 1t Cheap, Do Ports in Touch With Islands of Other Governments-Only the Interior Points Pay High for Poor In-
 toxcants These Days

would dig no coal It was a pretty tough proposition to put up to the operators. 1 and 1t is not for me to say whether the mine owners were justified under the cir
 cumstances in taking some unusual steps ] to permit these miners to get beer and wine.
 q know nothing about it personally, ! but was told through that section that
 the men have been getting their dram | from that day to this. The beer is of | a higher percentage than in the old days,
 and it is sold on draft. For heavier ! drink there is manufactured in Penn syivania great deal of preparaJon which is said to be- strong sherry with
 a small quantity or cascara in it which
 Imakes it very bitter. It passes the fed eral requirements but is said to be very popular in spite of the cascara.
 FROM CANADIANS
 l Albany, N. Y.. has become the liquor distributing center for the entire north eastern section of the country This is
 apparently because it is the most con- l venient city to Montreal. The amount | of liquor which crosses the Canadian bor- ! der between these two cities is tremen- l dous, and from all I hear it would 1 take army to patrol the border line to stop it. There must be at least 8 roads and trails and bypaths across | the border leading off from the main highway, and it is these trails and back
 woods roads that are used by the trucks
 carrying the liquor.
 "The officers at the border, of course,
 do their duty to the best of their ability.
 They make only perfunctory searches of handbags when you cross the border,
 however; that is, if you are respectable
 looking and do not impress them as try,
 ing to bring something across for boot
 logging. I suppose nine out of 10 men
 that come across the border bring lit tie something in their grips, but it is
 not these that the officers try to stop. myself saw Mack truck after 1t
 had got across the border going to AL
 bany loaded so high with cases of
 whisky that it looked as though if 1t hit a bad place in the road the load
 would topple over.
 SAME AS EVER
 Minneapolis is another place that is well supplied in much the same man. ner, except that the goods come from
 Winnipeg. Detroit seems to get every thing it wants across the border, while at Buffalo there is similar situation. It is a sight to see the scores of launches operating every night across the Niagara river to keep up Buffalos supply. Where there is so much red
 liquor in the border cities, it is natural
 that there should be laxty in the beer regulations Real beer at 9 cents bot tle IS very cOmInOn ana IL IS ooiu HI what were formerly saloons. If a man wants bottle of Bevo or some such soft drink, he will have to go to a
 drug store or soda fountain to get it.
 Passing through Virginia recently had an experience with their law en- forcers. When they entered the train
 and insisted on searching my grip, I re-
 fused to let them because l was on an
 interstate trip, and they had no war
 rant. They left the train, however, and
 soon came back with John Doe war rant all made out authorizing them to
 make the search. They opened up everything and dumped things out on the seats. All they found was little vial of cough syrup and the rest of the people on the train had good laugh at the officers expense.
 COAST SUPPLIED
 "The Atlantic coast cities are more or less moist because of their proximity to the British islands in the Atlantic, from which it is easy to evade the govern ment patrol boats and bring it in In Savannah a bellhop at the hotel where stopped became much offended that did not buy anything from him. When he took me to my room he said: 'Of course you want a dozen eggs? "Of course I wanted nothing of the kind, and said so. He insisted that could not get along without dozen eggs. and said he would bring them up and let me look at them. He brought up two quart bottles of one of the old standard brands of fine Irish whisky, which he said would be $6 each. When I still insisted I did not want the eggs he letf the room in a very ugly frame of mind.
 "A similar experience comes at nine out of 10 of the hotels, except that the further inland you go the poorer the article offered, and the higher the price "The extent of my drinking even in the old days was perhaps half a dozen pot ties of beer a year, and those on ex- ceptionally hot days in the summer. IT have such experiences as those Of the past few months, it must be compara- lively easy for the man who really wants drink to get it. At the same time. it must be pretty discouraging to those who really believe in prohibition and want to see it enforced to realize that conditions are as they are In so -A--xxS