Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-11

highest esteem, bumped off" the Bur-
lington Distillery at Burlington, N. j.
These men were informed by the Bur-
lington people, You - - -
won't last 80 days"
On January 2. 1925 at II am, these
agents we're handed a telegram, dated
December 81, from Washington, which
read:
Your services are discontinued at
the close of business as of December
81. 1925, without dereliction or mis-
conduct.
(Signed) WALTON A. GREEN"
However. when the men stood pat
and dignifledly refused to enter into
any bargains for reinstatement. w. C.
Murdoch. as administrator acting for
don't tell anybody, not even your fam
lilies, about that telegram" The men
| were reinstated.
This Burlington concern had been
given a permit in 1920. The permit
had been withdrawn by the Govern
ment for several years, but about 1924
! there was a reorganization Of the COM
pany and a resistance of permit privi-
| leges. The evidence of the diversion Of
about $4,000 gallons of alcohol through
cover house was very plain. When the
| revocation of the permit was in litiga-
! ton. the Government was represented"
by Roscoe Harper, another one OF Gen.
! Andrews appointments mentioned else
where. He failed to call as witnesses
/ the two agents who had collected the
| evidence. Consequently the Govern
! ment lost the case and the permit was
reinStated. This is one of the permits
! which gave by the loose administrative
! policy / have just described. the power
| to manufacture an unlimited quantity
of alcohol and to put it out denatured
! by any one of the special formulate,
many Of which enable the alcohol to be
! used in beverages after comparatively
simple cleaning process.
Locking the Door Before the Theft.
AS an excellent example Of the value
OF a thorough investigation before
granting permits. the Quaker Industrial
Alcohol Distillery is case In point: II
had broad basic permit granted In
| 1924. In 1927 it asked for the addl-
ton right to withdraw 100000 gallons
a month of their own specially de.
natured" alcohol for the purpose Of
manufacturing. on their premises, ethyl
acetate. The administrator before
whom their request was pending refused
to say Eyes" loosely, without careful
| investigation. The investigation dis
closed that there was no legitimate
market for the requested ethyl acetate.
and the plant did not have the capacity
tn handle that much alcohol The AL
legged increase was based upon faxed
orders. AS a result of a court hearing
the permit to withdraw the 100000 gall
Ions of alcohol a month was not only
refused but the Quaker Industrial Al
cohol Distillery had It's permit prlVl-
leges revoked on the ground OF fraud:
In october, 1928, in Baltimore. Col.
A. w. w. Woodcock. one Of the abiest
of United States attorneys, success
fully prosecuted an alcohol case which
Is quite typical of the kinds OF fraud
in diversion which often are not de-
tected or stopped. This was an inside
deal" An election official Of the State
of Maryland bribed chemists In charge
of the denaturing process and others
who ran the pumps which carried the
pure alcohol to tanks. He spent alto
eether in brides $4,000. They loaded
car with pure alcohol and billed it as
"pyro" (pyro is a .denatured alcohol
used in automobile radiatorsl. The
cars initials and number, diverted 1t
and sold the contents In the bootleg
trade. He succeeded In getting about
10 cars out that way in year. A SIM
pie calculation shows how much money
he made in these transactions which
were discovered. One carload Of pure
alcohol would make $4,000 quarts Of
synthetic whisky. At 81 quart. the
10 cars reached bootleg value OF
S2,560. 900. Even II obliged to bride
few city police and deduct the price
Of bottling and delivery. the conspira-
tors made small fortune on an initial
outlay in the form of bride Of only
$4,000.
Before I lived so close to repulsive
facts of this kind, found 1t possible
to be much more unconcerned at the
sight of really splendid people of high
principles imbibing bootleg liquors. Re-
peatedly facing the trail of bribery and
ugly. unfair profits in the hands Of
racketeers which every quart of whisky
signals today, 1 cannot put aside the
conviction that the price is too high.
Copyright, 1922 by Current News Features,
Incl
I'm her next installment Mrs WILLIE
brandt tells about the beer leak.)