The New York herald., 1921-08-22
Continued from First Page.


sr liquor from England. Ireland. Scot
iand Canada and Jamaica, and. while
there were no papers signed nor writ
ten agreement reached. they understo cd
that they were going to sell liquor to
all who cared to buy for cash. They
would indulge in no bootleggng. They
.---;ected the laws of the United States.
But they equally did not intend to put
any prospective purchaser of their
stocks to a cross-examlnation concern
ing his business plans. 1t was cash
business Inquiry was up to the port
officials.
Then. for the first time in the MEM
ory of the oldest inhabitant building
not intended for government purposes
was erected on the wafer front. 1t is
two story structure. by all means the
best looking and most modern business
house in Nassau. 1t was erected by the
Bahama Islands Import and Export
Company. which concern is said to have
the backing of the old Maryland Distill-
ing Company of Baltimore and the Gott-
schalk Company of the same city. Two
American wiiskeys are specialized In BY
this firm-Old Durham and Calvert. In
bold letters the names of these famous
Installations are spelled out across the
front of the building and in control of
the Nassau end of the Bahama Islands
Import and Export Company is an eff
ficient American, who is credited with
being as near the political boss of the
Bahamas as 1t is possible for a human
being to be boss of a British colony
where the only elective Offices are those
comprising the local House of Assem-
bly,.
His name is Charlie Murphy.
From Government House to the least
49, Ma g.0.
halls the power of Charlie Murphy-the
Woolworth Tower of a one story town
And, like the native merchants who for
sock dry goods and sisal. fruits and
sponges for liquor. Murphy is not to be
associated with bootleggng. He sells
American whiskeys to him who cares to
buy. You can buy one case or ten cases
or hundred cases or thousand cases
You can lug them home and drink them
or throw them into the ocean. That's no
concern of Murphy's.
Liquor Cost S15 a Case!
Now it must not be forgotten that
Nassau was all but bankrupt as late
aus January 1. 1920. The merchants who
saw their salvation in liquor couldn't
get sufficient capital on their rusty
stocks to buy a second hand hivyer.
Liquor cost money-an average of SIS
n case imported from the United King
dom. Edwin Charley and Charles II.
Arteaga the distillers down in Jamaica,
demanded cash and scorned credit
There were no distilleries in the Bahd-
mas. There are none now.
There was just one hope and that ,ay
in the attitude of the only bank in the
colony-the local branch of the Royal
Bank of Canada. They found that fa-
vorable. OF course the Bahama Islands
Import and Export Company and the
Bahamas Products Corporation, Lid,
which has it's New York offices at 49,
Front street, Manhattan were more or
less independent of the Canadian bank.
They were rich to begin with and what
money they might need would come
from New York. But the Royal Bank
OF Canada took the notes of merchant
after merchant, some for amounts near
ing the hundred thousand dollars mark.
And the prosperity of the Bahamas was
under way.
The only authoritative method of set
ting forth what happened then IS to pro-
duce the official figures of the port OF
Nassau, into which all liquor imports
were fetched They are taken from
Gov. Cordeauxs personal reports 70 the
crown. The figures are here given in
dollars and II must be remembered that
they do not. on their face. tell the actual
story, inasmuch as the rate OF exchange
has fluctuated.
The subjoined table accounts for 1913,
1919 and 1920. The official figures for
1921 have not been compiled. but the
ratio Of increase was not only main
teined but doubled during the first six
months of this year.