Evening star., 1925-05-19
FLOOD OF POISONED
LIQUOR IS FEARED
u. S. Guards Against Do
mestic Production as Rum
Row Smuggling Is Curbed.
By the Associated Press.


The prohibition army" is prepar-
the dry navy" in its initial offensive
to drive the liquor smugglers from
American shores.
With the reduction by the Coast
Guard of smuggling operations on the
Atlantic coast, long a stumbling
block in efforts to bottle up the chief
source of palatable wet goods, officers
of the land forces are leaving no
stone unturned in their plans to pre-
vent temperance of poisonous con-
coctions in the bootlegging market.
These officers foresee. it was said
today at prohibition headquarters,
that with the scattering of the rum
runners the supply of smuggled wet
goods will soon fall below the demand
in centers which have been getting
regular shipments and, therefore, a
return to old practices of manufac-
turing bad liquor is to be expected.
Concentrating on Wet Spots.
OF the 1900 dry agents operating
throughout the country, approximate
ly 800 are said to be concentrated in
known wet spots, with 200 in the
Long Island district, 100 at the Ca
madam border and large battalions in
Maryland, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey.
Unceasing vigilance has been made
the watchword of these forces from
now on.
Continuation OF the Coast Guards
blockade, Secretary Mellon believes,
will do much to stem the flow OF
liquor into this country. The Secre-
tary has received reports that many
of the rum shi3 are striking their
colors because of the difficulty of
evading the dry navy sentinels, and
he believes that the more persistent
shippers on the row will weigh anchor
before long.
Guard vessels are compiling COM
plete information as to the character
and movements of the rum ships when
they leave the row and officials at
likely landing points are being kept
advised of their operations.
Check on Withdrawals.
A new method to provide further
precaution against fraudulent with
drawal of liquor from Government
another step in the land drive, but de-
tails of the plan are withheld pending
it's approval by Mr.. Mellon.
Additional steps are to be taken to
prevent robberies at the warehouses,
which have been reduced In number
from 300 to 60, all heavily guarded.
officials see a ray of hope in the
fact that it will not be necessary to
permit further legal manufacture of
whisky for medicinal use for about
10 years, since stocks on hand now
total 10000 900 gallons, with with
drawals amounting to about !, 800, 900
a year.
Mountain Dew" Makers Dangerous.
Although periodic raids are con-
tinuing against moonshiners, prohibi-
ton officials believe their operations
are on too small a scale to be impor-
tant. The moonshiner's product gen
erally, they say, is of an inferior quail
ity. and seldom reaches beyond his
Immediate section. The mountain
dew" type Of moonshiner, however,
has proved to be the most dangerous
of his kind, a majority of the AZ dry
agents killed since prohibition became
effective having fallen in raids on
such stills.
Mr.. Mellon holds that destruction
of rum row off New York was the
greatest blow to the Illicit liquor
trade. that could have been dealt by
the Coast Guard, since proximity to
a big and we'll organized market is
necessary to the life of such trade
and no such organization for dis
tributing the liquor, once landed, ex-
lists anywhere else along the Atlantic
seaboard.