The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-03
FOREIGN LIQUOR HOUSES VICTIMS OF LAW BREAKERS
(Continued From Page one.)

liquor except for export, or to pro- vincial authorities. One can easily imagine the destination of it's ex- ported goods.
 An investigator of whom a British Columbian whisky exporting house doubtless had never heard, wrote to this house last winter, from a small town in Montana:
 T have some money to invest in the near future," the agent wrote, and wish you would quote me prices on different brands of liquor Will be in your town about the first of March with four Cadillacs and want a little information before l leave here. Am just waiting here How for roads to open."
 By return mail he received in reply a mlmeographed sheet, of which the 1oIlowlng Is deleted copy:
 TO THE TRADE:
 BUSINESS AS USUAL-IN THE
 WINTER TIME
 We are taking this opportunity to extend you our greetings and to ad- Nlse you that you are no longer ob- lged to discontinue operations in the wlntertime, unless you wish to. The facilities now at our disposal makes this possible. We ship by freight, either from here or from across the line, which We find is quite safe and not very expensive. If interested, please communicate with us and we will be glad to furnish you with any further information you may desire.
 We carry at all times large and well-assorted stock of all the best known brands and handle only strictly imported bottled-in- bond goods Also, with the consolidation of all the warehouses here into one large firm the danger of possible "tipoffs," etc. has been entirely eliminated.
 We strongly recommend a trip here, which we are satisfied will be very advantageous to you, at which time you can obtain first-hand infor- nation and go over the ground per sonally and which information would also be of value to you for further transactions as well.
 Very sincerely yours.
 One sentence stands out in striking relief. l quote it again:
 Also, with the consolidation of all the warehouses here into one large firm, the danger of possible 'tip-offs,' etc., has been entirely eliminated" High Cost Of Exportins.
 The license fee levied by the Province on liquor export houses was raised from S3,000 to S10,000 a yaer for each warehouse or place of busi- ness. with an additional license fee of S10,000 year for each person act ing as agent for the licenses in keep ing liquor for export or in exporting from the Province. The cost of doing an export liquor business in the Province. therefore. was made ex- ceedingly high.
 The stock of liquor held by a mum Der of firms which consolidated was taken over and held for sale at Van couver. The consolidation also has warehouses at Victoria, Grand Forks, Fernie and Price Rupert, in each city being a consolidation of firms Whlcn had previously been competitive and independent. In that manner the ex- port liquor firms in British Columbia organized, in part, with view to distributing among themselves the high license overhead of doing pusl- ress. So far as the provincial laws ara concerned the exporting houses are doing a legal business in export ing whisky, even when such exports are frankly consigned to the United States.
 Not long ago an investigation was made in British Columbia to ascer- tain conditions there, particularly with reference to the demand in Can ada for American whisky for nom beverage purposes and the character or the export tTdue WuiCh ShSSS houses satisfied. 1t was found, on authority unimpeachable, that mo- where in Canada Is there the slight est demand for American liquor for medicinal or sacramental use. In the Province of Ontario, indeed, the license commissioner had been hold ing for more than two years ap- proximately 95 cases of Green River whisky, bottled in bond and in orig inal packages of the Volstead act. They had been unable to make any use of the whisky exceut to redistill 1t for the purpose of obtaining it's alcohol content for industrial use.
 O o O
 Via British Columbia.
 There were pending, at one par ticular time I have in mind, applica- tions from American distillers to ex- port, and certain British Columbia houses to import. whisky from the United States in the following amounts: Five hundred barrels. 56,470 gallons, 17.OO0 cases. In other words, certain British Columbia ex- port houses were endeavoring to bring Into a country where there was not the slightest demand for Ameri- can whisky a veritable torrent of