The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1921-11-18
BO0TLEGGERS STILL PLY
THEIR TRADE IN QUEBEC
Liquor Commission Has Seized
Hundreds of Cases Marked
With Fake Labels
GOVERNMENT SALES BIG
Commission Takes in $20,0oo,o0o
Yearly; Big Warehouse
Covers Six Acres

One of the most interesting of
the departments is that set aside
for the stuff taken from bootleg
gers and others who have liquor
illegally in their possession. Con-
corning the workings of this de
partment no one will say word
for the obvious reason that if the
Commission methods of making
seizures were made known the
bootleggers would be able to take
more precautions. AS it is the
Commission prefers as it were to
strike in the dark and so effective
has their organization proved to
date that quite a few of the ille-
gal dealers have voluntarily come
to the Commission offering their
supplies for whatever the Com
mission will give.
There were hundreds of cases
of liquor and on these the Com
mission makes clear profit but
not before each individual bottle
is tested for purity They have
discovered that there are many
fake labels abroad so we'll made
that only an expert could tell the
true from the false, and so they
are taking no chances.
No, the above is not from a report
of the United States Prohibition Com
missioner. 1t is a description OF one
portion OF the huge building occupied
by the Liquor Commission OF the
province of Quebec, Canada. Quebec
is one Of the few provinces Of Canada
which have not adopted the Prohibi-
ton policy. She proposes to solve the
liquor problem in another way and has
adopted. therefore, government con-
troll plan guaranteed to eliminate the
bootlegger and all the worst features
of the old-time saloon.
The above description indicates that
the bootleg business is far from dead
in the province OF Quebec. The de-
scription is from a half-pagc article
appearing in the October s edition of
the Montreal Star Lest anyone inn
agine that the government agents are
stingy with their distribution of booze
in the province, thereby encouraging
bootlegging, the following excerpts
from the article are given.
The east-end warehouse covers six
acres and every inch Of it is being used
either for the storage of liquor in bond
or out, for bottling, for shipping, for
blending. for parceTiing and address
ing. On the day OF the visit
men were busy stacking up the cases
for a $4,000 consignment of gin just
arrived from Europe bought di-
rect from the makers and not through
any commission merchant as orc of
the attendants pointed out There
were at least a dozen piles of the IA
miliarly marked cases each the size of
a small house. In other sections were
what appeared to be enough rye and
Scotch to last Montreal for life time.
There was enough champagnes of all
kinds to float a battleship and as for
light wines like sauternes, claret and
native port, they were not counted by
the bottle but by the hogshead, and
then not in tens but in hundreds
The reporter asked the guide the
value of the liquor and he estimated it
at about $5,000000.
The interview continued: And
how long will what you have on hand
now last"
ut keeps coming and going all the
time but at the end of three months
none of what is here now will be left"
The story points out that therefore
it is a matter of mathematics 10 figure
the liquor cost for this one province
OF Quebec. Five million dollars every
three months means $20,OO0,000 in
year. The liquor is dispensed through
20 odd stores throughout the province.
Qucbec's experience is emphatic
refutation of the argument OF the liq-
uor interests that the way to suppress
bootlegging is to legaize saloons.
Read again the description OF the tre-
mendou5 amount of booze stored in
this plant covering six acres, an
amount. that will last the province but
three months, and read with this de-
scription the story of the Commits
sions' troubles with the bootleggers.
The United States is battling illicit
liquor distillers, so is wet Quebec
But Quebec has bootleg booze plus
legalized booze. The United States is
fast getting the upper hand of the
illicit traffic. All booze dealers in this
country are outlaws 1t is being DEM
onstrated here that it is not question
OF saloons or blind pigs; it is saloons
and blind pigs, or Prohibition. Reg
ulation under whatever name is an abb
solute failure.