Evening star., 1926-04-07

fore prohibition came into effect the
police had the right to inspect to
find out II there were violations or
the selling law. but now they have
10 such right.
Mr.. Euckner said that he had found
few cases aga ainst men higher up
when he took office One case OF
alcohol diversion he said was to strike
the men higher up.
"A Federal judgs il worth his
weight In p,atinum in New York.
said Mr.. Ruckner,
Can Get Convictions.
Senator Walsh asked II il was pos
sible to get convictions In good cases
from New York juries. and Mr.
Buckner said that il was, that
great Injustice had heen done to New
York -juries in such report.
Mr.. Ruckner So Id tina, one of the
largest cases tried was mail order
,ase. in which distribution was made
in Is States, Showing that New
York was not the only place where
liquor was In demand. He said
the defendants In this case pleaded
guilty and were sentenced to jail
terms of IS and l9 months.
The diversion Of alcohol Is the
ma jor question. Mr.. Buckner said,
although 1t was not I'm the picture
when he took office.
Gen. Andrews has put his hnger
on this the softest spot in Drohtbi-
tion." said Mr. Ruckner. He added
that the drug stores We're not la the
picture until last Christmas.
Describes Diversion Plan.
MIR. Ruckner described the method
employed in diverting alcohol from
use to the bootleg trade.
''rhe denaturing plan.' he said. will
place on it's books 1o,ao0 gallons
completely denatured. They then
will get John Jones & co. TO pretend
TO buy it,. although he~pever gets
drop. He is paid To carry on cor
res spondence. The agent comes
around. looks at the books and says,
Have you sold this? Yes, replies
the company. to John Jones Il CO..
when as matter OF fact II never
was denatured and went out an pure
a lcohol into the trade. The whole
service is SO fearfuiIy un-
dermanned.
You said. Mr.. Buckner, inter
rupted Senator Reed. that - per
cent of all liquor examined has
traces Of poison liquor. Don't you
ever capture. some of the good
liquor?"
.Where there have been found
traces of the poison" explained the
witness. "the liquor usually was
made with the specially denatured
llcohol for donics, etc.
Now. here ia another astonishing
fact" continued Mr.. Buckner. In
some of Gen. Andrews
men found plant in
JerSey."
Reed Calls for Edwards.
send for Senator Edwards" in
errupted Senator Reed. and when II
vas discovered he was standing be-
mind the committee, the witness
'oom roared.
"Those men" continued the dis
-rict attorney. found a still with
ana city of 1000 gallons day. ON
he track were 10 carloads OF COM
pletely denatured alcohol. The men
followed the trucks and found them
after II had been redistilled. Here
in one plant and still, with an an
oual business of $4,000, ,0o0.
Did they turn out palstable prod
lcts?" asked Senator Reed
II don't know. hut they did good
ob of redistillation." replied the wit
ness. They successfully took out the
poison" At this point Mr.. Buckner,-
informed he would file with the com
ni,tee a scheme" for comba ting the
lcohol leaks.
Taking up the drug stores, Mr..
3uckner ga id no suspicion was direct
I'd against them until three months
go. when one Of his assistants de
ermined to find out il any liquor was
,eing sold or received illegally. In
,is district. MIR Buckner explained.
here are 200 drug stores permitted
q sell whisky and 800 doctors per.
nitted to issue whisky prescriptions.
the stores receive no
more for distribution than the maxi
mum qua nifty called for by the pre-
,criptions under the law.
$50 Stores Inspected.
INV assistant thought 1t would be
to compare the amount OF
iouor drawn out with the amount
ssued on prescriptions. 1t should ne
,ven. except for small amount used
n compounding prescriptions. he
'ound the amount the prescriptions
would Justify to be 100000 gallons
year, and. therefore. assumed the
druggists had drawn out 100000 gal
OHS, III oIuct " SuppfS INC
mount the doctor may prescribe
under the law. Instead, he found the
druggists had drawn out 100000 gal
ons or twice as much. In the last
-hree or four weeks some 40 doctors
and - drug stores were arrested.
Other doctors and $50 drug stores now
are under suspicion.
provided that liquor was cut only
once. the volume Of business attached
10 that excess amount reaches $751;
500 900. And there are II agents on
duty to check up the stores and
physicia ns
Senator Walsh wanted to know II
an inspection of the books would dis
,lose the amount dispensed with.
"They don't put that extra amount
IN the books" replied the witness.
Senator Harreld thought MIR.
Buckner was "indicting" the druggist
trade. by assuming the pharmacists
cut" the liquor received. Mr..
Buckner was willing to withdraw that
reference to dilution. but still insisted
the volume of business still was too
great for $4,000 year prohibition
agent to check.
Senator Reed cleared up the
whisky cutting situation by decIar-
termined is to examine the liquor
sold by the druggists on prescriptions.
Smuggling has decreased ap-
in the Last year or so, Mr..
Buckner said, turning to this phase
Of the liquor problem. Two boats a
week used to he captured but the
New York police have caught only
two in the last four weeks that were
running liquor into me city. Il don't
know whether there is much Snug.
Cling or not" he continued. That
is Coast Guard proposition. In my
opinion. there Is very much less
whisky being smuggled in since the
Coast Guard went into action.
Il wouldn't he surprised, IL in the
near future, the accessibility of boot.
leg alcohol, plus the Coast Guards
activities. would greatly reduce SNUG
Cling. In other words. the two would