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

MI @ASG4AOyg DSll6NG GAAoS SAASAA AC
the repeal of their state dry laws. It
will be test of their mental attl-
tude.
Druggists Sell SurreptitiOusly
They know only too well what their
appetites are like, as Colonel Elias j..
Marsters, their federal prohibition ad-
mlnlstratOr, knows, and l have dis
covered Montana, whatever its avow-
ed sentiments may be, is a very wet
state in fact.
1t is considered by those whose duty
1t IS to enforce the liquor laws here
to be the wettest in the Northwest.
The 535 miles of Canadian border
line is a veritable sluice gate for per
! petual floods of Dominion liquor
stocks. More DRINKS are packed into
some of her average little town jailS
IN proportion to their population
than New York could boast of, and
some of her communities are more
blatantly law-defying than that "Bag-
dad on the Subway ever dreamed of
being.
Her $50 physicians are permitted to
issue 100 prescriptions each for llq-
uors every ninety days, and it may be
said that they do. And here is another
enc of the spots into which the Cal
lfornia grape growers secretly pour
| their vast crops of Wordens and Cata-
wabs for eventual transformation in
to certain well known red wines. Last
year the $4,000 inhabitants of this
state imported $50 carloads of these
grapes to yield them 225,000 gallons
of the liquid which at times brings
the flush to the cheek.
There is, of course, the usual home
brew beer to be found in almost any
| household, but this is looked upon of
little consequence in a land where
mOOnshine and Canadian liquors are
plentiful.
What is done about it? The state
has three departments to enforce her
liquor statute among other duties re-
quired eff them. The federal forces
here consist of IA men with sprink-
ling of about an equal number along
the 535 mile Alberta and Saskatche-
wan border. There are the county
sheriffs and the local police, who are
not observed to be breaking their
necks in enforcing the prohibition
laws.
The federal agents made 484 ar
rests IN the year ended June, 1925,
tween September, 1925, and June of
this year the prosecution both in the
state and federal courts instituted by
the federal agents alone amounted to
533 cases. In addition the authorities
in this state use the legal paddock in
strument, which appears to have been
entirely eschewed in Idaho and Wv
oming, having brought $50 such ac-
tlcns last year with success in 90 pei
cent of the cases.
Courts Lenient in Booze Cases
The courts for the most part are
only system of bonding having beer
lenient in the state courts particular
developed to the great enrichment OF
the state, but little advantage to law
enforcement. The offenders are usu
4 ally let out under bail of S25 to 500
to await trial and never show VI
again. Their bond is forfeited, the
case is ended and the bootlegger goe:
on his way of bOotlegging again. Las
year there was collected in Butt,
alone 100000 in forfeited bail bonds.
A federal attorney Jealous of tn,
funds collected by the state treasur,
! in this manner threatened to pro
coed against all those whose bail haC
been forfeited, but the federal iudg,
before whom an instance of this kim
was brought, questioned the right O.
tn e f e d era attorney to proceed
against viclators who, he held, had al
ready expiated their offense by tn,
forfeiture of their bond. It may bt
assumed that many rum runners flocl
to be put under a slight bond in tn,
state courts and obtain exemption
:, from more serious prosecution in thu
federal courts. Even in the fedora
courts, severe penalties are rare, thu
punishment being usually a fine O.
$500 to $500 and if a jail penalty no
more than 60 days.
Women Are Active
The courts are especially lenien
with women offenders, thus explain
ing the presence of scores of skirtet
bootleggers in all the larger towns O
the community. A woman. it seems
! through a nice gallantry eff the Mon
tanans, is not accepted as an offend
er. If she is found in a car wher
a bundle of Scotch bottles is discov
cred it is assumed by many courts,
seems, that it was not her property
that she had nothing to do with it
presence in the car. IF she is married
it must have been her husband;
not married, then her brother o
sweetheart, or possibly the garag
man-at any rate some male.
The Montana doesn't make hula
baloo about his drinking-that is. Tn
\ Montanan net resident in Great Falls
or Butte, or few similar settlements
: He usually resorts to some neighboI
boring near-beer mountain, confide
to- the proprietor that brand of hi
desire. strolls about bit. comes bac
and there it is. IF it is goo
''mocn," as it is likely to be, he wi
pay SO an imperial quart for it.
: it is beer of a violent temper it ma
7 cost him so cents a quart bottle
e There is little cooked alcohol-that i:
redistilled denatured avails
I BILE. A small quantity arrives occs
r sionally from Minneapolis.
r MOOnshine Is Favored.
: For the most part, the averag
s Montanan drinks moonshine. TIL
! dealers in the hills have brought u
\ some expert hands from Kentuck
g and Tennessee and Missouri t
: breathe some quality into their pre-
t duct, and they do, and the Montal
ans take as much pride in the
n moon" as in their gold fields.
d Of course, they can sit in the
d homes, as many of them do, and mer,
n ly tell their bootlegger what the
want over the phone, and it will be ;
e their door almost as socn as the r.