Evening star., 1926-11-21
Continued from First Page.)

the object without Government finan-
| cial support"
| The purchase price to be paid by
the corporation and the sales price to
the purchaser would be based on
prices during the six months preced-
ing November l of this year.
! All of the present supplies of
| liquor. much of which is in barrels
| in 81 bonded warehouses, would be
bottled in glass, which prevents fur
ther 'shrinkage and enables the Gov
ernment always to know definitely
how much whisky is actually on
| hand, and that all on hand is actually
pure.
Pure Whisky Necessary.
physicians and their patients are
entitled to pure whisky for medicinal
| purposes said Gen. Andrews, "and
! at reasonable prices; yet the Gov
| crnment is unable to assure either
pure whisky at reasonab BILE prices.
NO one doubts thatsthe law did the
right thing in making the physician
and the retail druggist the RESPONSE
| BILE agents of society for dispensing
| medicinal spirits, and no one would
consider removing this responsibility
| from them. 1t is only a question OF
getting pure medicinal whisky into
| the hands of the retail druggist with
out the possibility Of diversion or
! adulteration. and at reasonable cost.
! With one corporation to deal with
| such distribution can be arranged
as will enable the Government to
| assure the purity of the whisky when
:, delivered to the druggist. and to fix
! he blame for any subsequent adul-
teration squarely upon the dru"GiSt.
A further argument advanced for
| establishment of the new plan was
economy in administration. The
| elimination of 80 out of 81 of the
present concentration and storage
| warehouses" said Gen. Andrews,
"and being relieved from the present
necessity for the complicated and
difficult supervision in our efforts to
stop diversions, will mean direct
saving Of about 100000 a year, and,
as nearly as can be estimated. the
f., indirect saving of another $5O0,oO0
q year.
Fears Jump in Prices.
The advantages of reasonable
cost to the purchaser We're set forth
/ as real, as under the present plan
of competition described by Gen.
! Andrews the cost "is likely to soar
| to any height if left as at present
| to no other control than that of the
law of supply and demand
The corporation program, it was
| explained further, would provide for
replenishment of spirits, without
introducing political or other con-
! siderations into the granting of per-
mits to manufacture. and without
opening these dangerous avenues for
| future diversion"
The present pressure of salesman
ship in the competitive market try
ing to sell privately owned liquor
would be done away with under the
Treasury plan, thus reducing the
amount sold to the natural and hon
| est requirements of the medical pro-
| fession.
| The plan, Gen. Andrews explained,
would do away with the inconsist-
ency and dangers Of legalized sale of
whisky on the part Of a particular
class (the present owners) when
whisky Is for all others a contraband
/ article Of commerce.
Would Aid Owners.
The whole program. it was explain
ed, "is equivalent to the purchase OF
/ all the present supply from the own
ers, and thus relieves this legally in
i vested capital from the pressure or
! trying to become liquid in the very
/ limited market Of medicinal use.'
| The whole statement Of Gen. An
drews constituted a singing rebuke
to the entire group which had par
ticipated in efforts to divert whisky.
! At the same time 1t was announced
that good headway" had been made
in eliminating some other sources of
! supply for bootleg liquor. These were
named as "smuggling, diversion OF
industrial alcohol, the manufacture OF
beer and the diversion Of sacramental
Wines
But" said Gen. Andrews, The
sales agents Of the private owners
/ of whisky are too often able to
thwart us in our effort to prevent
it's diversion and aduteration some
where between the concentration
warehouse and the ultimate consumer.
; when the prohibition law forbade
! the manufacture and sale of beverage
whisky" the statement continues, cit
! left some sixty million gallons of
whisky in the hands of private own
| ers, and authorized them to sell it to
wholesale and retail druggists for
; medicinal purposes. Hundreds of mil
! lions of invested capital were thus
! tied up until the owners could sell
: the WHISKY III tIllS ilIIllIcu HldI kcl.
! Try Hard to Sell Whisky.
! ITO avoid heavy losses, the owners
! are practically forced to make strenu-
Gus efforts to sell their liquors and at
the highest possible price. They often
| employ commission agents, who solicit
orders and drum up trade in orl"r to
! increase their sales, and not infre-
quentiy debauch physicians and drug
! giStS and act as bootleg representa-
| tives in arranging for the diversion of
pure whisky to illegitimate traffic.
! They solicit wholesale bakers and in
duce them to order whisky for the
manufacture of mince pies, etc, and
, Tins again increase sales and find
nossihi,ities for diversion. The whisky
thus diverted Is diluted. mixed with
raw alcohol, and used as a flavor for
The production of large quantities OF
make e.believe whisky, sold under imi-
tation labels and stamps as the real
tr,icte. In the case of drug stores, an
equal quantity of this fake WHISKY
10 that originally WITHDRAWN Is tnen
delivered to the aCcOmpiice druggist,
w.}o soils il to the innocent public on
nhysicians prescript ons, While the re-
,ooinder is sold in the bootleg traffic
for beverage purposes.
| "It is the duty of the Government.
under the prohibition laws. to super
wise the distribution OF medicinal spH
its; but so long as the Jaw proVioes
that the owners may sell TINS cthef'
wise contraband article III IN open
cnnnetitive market. We have been un-
abla in the large cites to find any
practicable method to prevent diver
sion. The law makes the Governinent
rasnonsible for distributing medicinal
sn rits, bat does not give it adequate
mower to keep the business clean anu
reasonable.
20 States Prohibit Sale.
Medicinal whisky, however, Is sal