Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-01-24
Bleeding Old J. B.
sm TO Death
By Prsdsrf, , Hssksn

IeycoTn, ae you may possibly have potsced
IN not yet entirely dsa1 ln tElI, oysultyy,
but he IL dwindling IN bulk day by day.
like hunger striker And The tyagjo pat
oft that the very ones who love HIM.
best are doing the most n, make hss shAciorT
small. Some little norIshrosnt thrY
manage 10 tring him once IN ytilo. b8.
for the most part II "a with hun q cs~ ~
much yoing out and little coming m
Tpis = confirmed by -yms fac-< snd
figures we Iu-t got exclusively BON tns
Internal Revenue Del~xtrDsft. Ths
Revenue Department recoC,iz~s losu ss.is'
resources by which John Bulsyoorn y
kept alive ia this country. The frs* n
these is the liquor, rnos-ly vhvkv, hsf in
bonded warehouses ia this country; ,b~
second is the pIre ethyl slcohol vhi,h -
manufactured in large cpsan.itis. o~,~n-
slblyfor industrial pIrr~ee 81, the thrl . he
the importation of hq1cr sc-o~s tns
Canadian and Mexican b>edr~s <ni A.
seaports and the fourth 10 The making ~
various kinds Of alcoholic beverage m
tne homes of citizens.
With this latter phase - ths problem
those entrusted with The enf0rc>rn~rt -
the law think they have nothing ~ Do.
RoxKsrrvrwo ror srrscrrr
"Ths Law never intended as w sn4>~
mans home, -sid one nwy~ yn,~~>si
with the enforcement of prohibrs1n This
was not an official s.s'~rn~nt, pcs one
made FOR quotation, but 4 sewns N
represent th. view tsken bv rnos- ~ .h~
government Lawyers They or~~i1>- fbst
the law is designed % prevsr. n. oc---
mrroisl traffic IN alcoholic D~-srsep, snc
~ manufacture for up IN thn. vsN,s
H.. - - r. Il a. -. 81 a
ars bending their su~-gies
Take first the css a th~ vh~hy n
bonded raretousss. In 1918 .b~re v-rs
about 232, 600 oCo gsllor. n t~+7i,d
spirits other than fruit br.rrip n ouv
bonded vnrehou-~-. tn. -nd q iezc s~>s
but "a, 900 900 zsiio~s las. IN th~ vs---
housss. Frirthsrrnor., csurins 1870, ther~
were n 900, 900 gallons of tsy-psrd v14h
dravale--ths, ia, thet amount wss vith-
drawn for 10 In this country. DIurinx sh~
same year % ooo lcc0 gaIloos vrre ~rth-
drawn for export AZ ths. rate, 2no~h~-
year would see al ~ th~ wrty In h~,n1~6
warehouses either d5-.rhut~c n The
country or exported. n tis-vi6ent that .h's
residue of whisky -ifl no~ lo-s b. With ~
II will be with us lorser than The 100
withdrawal figures would indicstes no~-
ever The striking thing sn<-- thcss
figures is that Z3,0co.0co gaBons ~.re
drawn for corrrnption IN ths crrrn1v
That is nearly 100000 zAIlcns . usrnth
II il about a fourth as muca xhiskv - -s
were conszrning h~for. prohibition v~ns
into eject. On oou-s~, lt u>~ AL rssr
on doctors prescriptions 1h~re ,srsasniv
wss lot of sckr>ss las, year
But that ~asv 'ov Of whisky from tns
bonded warehouses nae net with a cn>rf.
Il has been checked by the simple rn~shof
Of a ruling from the Internal Eevenr> De-
partnent that transfers of Eouor from one
wholesaler 20 another vii 70 longer %
approved. Ths Wholesaler rzrrr 1o~ cis-
pose Of his hd7Ior direct 70 the o--1GEst- -
other authorized retailer or USER. and tnis
person must De able 20 show perrnff-
RIpucrSG W.T. EoRAwsIA-
This ruling went INTO effect in August,
1920. In July, 1920, thr rlfilrayHas q
whisky alone from bonded WAREHOUSES tor
use IN this country were Almost two million
gallons. II October, 1870, wnen tie rev
ruling had been II Ell ecs q lew months the
had dropped 20 less than one million gSl-
Ions for the month And their ls evidence
of a still further decrease for the future.
The evident fact is that n transfers OF
LIQUOR from one wholesaler % another,
some OF II went assray. The bureau could
not possibly keep track OF al of =
Thus the fow of whlsxy rom ne
bonded warehouses is dxInaling. But
this warehouse liquor Is limited supply.
which viii only De q substantial. isrtor rl
the situation Tor few years anyway.
A far more difficult problem tor the lsw
enforcement division 5 presented BY tne
manufacture Of ethyl alcohol for Indls-
trial purposes. During 1920 about y. 600.
600 gallons Of distilled spirits were maui
faeruIed in the United states. Distilled
spirits IN this case means mostly etny
slcohol OF high proof. Il Is lot s1pposed
to be a beverage, but It j. the bass o.
alcoholic beverages. Boot-ieSsye.s colors
It and havoTs II and sells Il as whisky. BY
the addition Of certain essential olls Il may
be made into q zn which is hardly els-
tIngaishable from real gin. IN fsot here
are formulas for the making of almost al
liquors with proof spirit as 3 bass. VI ost
of the liquors sold over ba-s OF the chespe
sort before prohibition were thus syRthe-
ically made, and there is IN the Lihrsry Of
Congress a large literature bearing slnn
titles as The Bar Keeper Fricnd" snd
the Secrets Of the Liquor Business" tel
ing how TO make everything from rye
whisky to the rarest imported liquors IN
the room behind the ba-.
ALCOHOL WILL CO AsTSAY.
As long as good proof ethyl alcohol q
manufactured in large quantities, thsrsi
fore il is hard TO prevent some of y fronl-
being drunk Al is purchased for some
non-beverage purpose, but Il Is impossible
for any merely human orgsniSstion 20 BE
sure that il is sli used for non-ocyerssa
purposes.
The only method which has been suS-
gested for preventing the use OF tins
proof spirit for drinking IS that cf enicrcins
a ruling or lsw that al OF L must be mixed
with scme other ingredient which WI
make it non-potable, before i leaves the
distillery. II IS understood that scue of
the prohibitionists sought 90 have the
Internal Revenue Department make a
ruling TO this effect. But it seems that the
lawyers O. the bureau did not care 70 make
such ruling They felt thst further ieeis-
lation from Congress was necessary. Ac-
cordingly, il is understood that the pro
hibitionists will seek 70 have C0ngrCss pass
a law which viii provide in effect thar All
alcohol manufactured for Industrial use
/ L y 4. l.. 9