The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1922-05-17

Il
deny, said the Commissioner" are
that the gilded. open saloon is 9
thing Of the past and even enemies
of prohibition admit It is gone for
ever; hotels, which before Prohibit
ton feared ruin, are now co-operat-
ing in enforcement and many promi-
nent managers declare they do NOT
want the bar room back; purchas-
ers of bootleg liquor themselves
know the law is being enforced, for
the simple reason that the source
of supply is now so restricted that
real bonded liquor is almost impos-
sible to obtain, and they are com
PEELED to drink poisonous, doctored
stuff or go without. The spirit Of
cooperation on the part OF all Off
cials, federal, state and municipal,
the country over, coupled with Sc
verer sentences by courts, is further
convincing proof of enforcement
said the Commissioner, and an
other striking proof Is the changed
attitude of the editors and cartoon
lists, who, as everybody knows, re-
fleet public opinion and are a true
index of current events. Scores Of
other glowing facts of successful
enforcement may be cited, such as
helpful cooperation on the part OF
neighboring governments, continued
the Commissioner. Furthermore,
most states have their own enforce
ment codes, through which results
are being obtained in addition to
federal laws and national organiza-
tionS'
Among other things, the Commits
sioner said:
"Twenty-four states are medi-
cinally dry. There are approx
mately 10000 physicians in the
United States and about 100000 of
them reside in these twenty-four
incidentally dry states. or the no.
O00 physicians remaining, less than
$4,000 hold permits to prescribe Ii
quor. 1t is now nearly ten months
since the renewed effort began to
restrict good liquor into legitimate
channels and l am happy to report
that this result is perhaps as near
achievement as possible.
THE years Immediately preced-
ing prohibition showed an annual
consumption in the United States
of about 1SO,0O0,OOO gallons of
American-made whiskey. During
the calendar year 1920 there was
withdrawn on permits approximate
ly 1914 million gallons and in the
calendar year 1921 Withdrawals
amounted to about 31a million gall
Ions. Withdrawals for this calen-
dar year on the basis of the last
three or four months will amount
to about two million gallons. which
is perhaps only about one-half mil
lion gallons in excess of normal
medicinal requirements. At the be-
ginning of this fiscal year there
were approximately 500 breweries
engaged in the manufacture of
.near-beer. 2S5 of them have been
reported for violation OF the law;
95 of these plants are now under
seizure by the Government: 60
breweries have been seized since
July l. Two of these breweries
have submitted offers in compromise
Of $4,000 each and the other offers
reach from $4,000 to 100000 and
this does not mitigate possible
criminal liability against the COM
panies. If we were to collect the
fines, penalties and special tax i'm
posed upon violators of the law, in
the first six months of this admins
tration, they would more than pay
two and one-half times the estimat-
ed cost of enforcing the Prohibition
law for the next year. These enor-
nous figures do not include nearly
$S,OO0,0O0 in bonds that are being
forfeited to the Government, or ST.
100000 that have been offered in
compromise my twenty-one Of the
large violators Of the law, and do
not include the $4,000, 900 in differ
entail or prohibitive tax that have
been referred to-"