The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1926-08-27

demand and are putting out INFERIOR
goods. 1t also has given rise to many
subterfuges, the local dealers spread
ing reports about recent arrivals from
Canada causing runs n C e rt n
brands of liquor, the product turning
out later to have been nothing more
than good Montana moon"
Butte Wide-Open Town
The genuine Canadian stuff can be
had for $50 a case. A sack, contain
ing twenty-four quart bottles of the
best Canadian beer, will be delivered
at ones door for $40. The liquor
served patrons in the drug stores on
prescription costs SO a pint. The
goods recently put out by the drug
gists have been of such low grade
that the druggists themselves have
asked the federal authorities to COM
pei the wholesale dealers to give them
better stock.
| A closer peep at the manner in
which Butte observes the Volstead act
may perhaps give one more init
mate picture of the situation in Mon
tana. An official of the town told
me that a conservative estimate Of
the number of places where one could
purchase "moon" or beer would place
the figures at 200.
Merely to say that Butte is wide
open is to smother a poetic scene I'M
der a prosaic cloud. Butte glitters
it flashes, it dances, it drinks, and
drinks, and drinks with an abandon
and freedom, as only Butte can, and
possibly Leadville, the pride of Col
Orado. The authorities not long ago
tried to stop the revelry with terri
fic blow, smashing into 70 places one
. forenoon, arresting their proprietors
and grabbing up all their stocks.
But they do things with fore
thought in Butte The "proprietors
of these places had already rented
the shops next door and the next day
70 new bar rooms started pouring out
their fiery connections as though no
thing had happened. There is drunk
enness enough in this town and wo-
men play greater part in the traf-
fic than one wants to hear of. If
one is absolutely blind and needs di-
rectiOn one need have no hesitancv in
applying to the police, they always
stand ready to lend a helping hand tc
any stranger
1t was Colonel Marsters himself
, who told me that Butte is overrur
: with women, still operators, that one
woman with eight children had re-
Gently been arrested four times fol
making and selling booze. She saiC
it was the only way she could make z
living. She was fined 500.
But perhaps the case of the mother
OF four children brought into the DO
lice court offers more impressive
picture. She told Police Magistrate
Shea that moonshine was the easies
thing to get in Butte.
where DO you get mocnshine ?" h,
asked her.
cali over town." she replied.
: You do not have any trouble get
| ting it in the 300 block where yol
live in South Main street,"
3 There are oceans of it on SoutI
main street." she said.
! Wine in Cellars
: And l can testify that there ar,
: oceans of it in Broadway street ant
. Park street and Galena street an,
Utah Avenue and Wyoming Avenu
o and any number of other avenues an,
y streets and also that greatest liouo
reservoir of them all, the part of tn
4 town called Bottoms" where Their
. IS enough wine stored in cellar an,
! cupboard to float a battleship. A Sat
f urday night in Butte for one who i
i neither deaf, dumb nor blind is lik
: consorting with the shades eff forme
q ages. And If one of your hosts han
o pens to be unfortunate enough to fal
! into the hands OF a particularly off
q clous policeman or state agent VOL
n can be sure he will be right back +,
q wait on you after ne puts up his littI
i pond or slight fine. Few iuries il
q Butte state courts will send thei
+ friends to Jail or even burden hin
+ with a verdict of guilty.
Writer Visits Helena.
One may wish to take "a peep q
t the prohibition picture of Helena tb
l. capital, and striking northward. as
d old, stop in seven towns on the wa
f and try to get drink. The chance
5, are that you will get it, as I did. i
i five eff the seven towns without an,
/ inquiries beyond the question mt +
e me as to whether I wanted beer q
), hooch.
It Helena is a sedate, quiet citv. III
'. capital of the state. -
s The feverish DAYS of the goId boor
l. are over. The pick and shovel in FL
# hills that hold the CITY in its Ian bsv
n been supplanted by the boiler and tn
e coil, and the one-time carts of goId
en- quartz have given wav to truck
\ of powerful "moon."
r. have seen many a shack on Jack
s. son avenue beneath which the ri
5. prospectOr undoubtedly cleaned man
r a measure of yellow dust, but whic
IS now offered only ponies Of excitin
is liquor for pieces of silver. Tt is tn
k same IN Glory street, and Wood an
d Main and Brcadwty. There are !
II helena nnumerable places where on
If may obtain liquors glasswise, and an
" number of bootleggers to serve i
3 pint or quartwise
s. The Helena resident, as a rule, ha
a. some home brew of a sort in his eel
A. ar and his bottle in the pantry an
prefers to do his tipping within tn
confines of his own four walls I
70 those of his friends than in some dir
o gy back room. That is WHY the pc
IN lice blOtters of the town are s
- strangely devoid of arrests for drunl
= enness.
O. Regular Bars in Havre
n Havre, further to the north. is
ir town of another sort. There one "a
take ones ease before some reouls
ir bar and sip "moon" in the atmosphel
e. of the Bowery. The authorit ii g
ay swoOped down upon this elysiun ,
at the tippler recently and took 20 of i
e. star bartenders off to Jail. It h
r | IiffIo offoo4