The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-08-13

that he would shoot beer any
time he could get away with it.
The modus operandi in Pennsyl
vania is as follows:
The regular beer is manufactured
and the brewery SENDS out it's
"spotterS," or spies, who determine
the location of government officers.
If the coast is clear the regular beer
is quickly "shot" out to what are
termed drops" the latter being
garages, or other convenient hiding
places located about the COM
munity.
During the last year prohibition
enforcement officers in Philadelphia
unearthed a syndicate which had
for its purpose the supplying of in
formation concerning activities
of government officers to brew
cries. This organization was
found to have corrupted some seven
or eight members of the prohibition
organization. It had three offices,
one in a city adjacent to Philadel-
phia operated ostensibly as a radio
shop, the two others upstate.
Use Discharged Agents
Former discredited agents, en-
ployed by this establishment, were
stationed outside of the entrance to
the prohibition headquarters. r.
was their duty to check in all pro-
hibition agents as they reported in
the morning. This information
would be relayed to the city adjacent
to Philadelphia and thence upstate.
where it would, of course, be used
to advantage.
Another method breweries have
utilized, in other sections, to defeat
the law was the supplying of near
beer establishments of products con-
forming to the one-half of l per
cent limitations, but accompanied
by secret supplies of alcohol which
was needed" or shot" into the
glasses of near beer as served.
These difficulties would have been
reduced had the government dealt
intelligently fairly, and in far
sighted manner with established
breweries when prohibition took
effect. Brewers had large invest
ments in plant and equipment and
during the first two or three years
of prohibition most of them made
an honest effort to deal squarely
with the government, converting
plants to other uses, building up a
demand for near beer and disposing
of the excess alcohol taken from
the beer in legal manner.
Government at Fault
Had the government adopted a
forward looking policy and protect
ed the established breweries from
f1y-by-night competition fostered by
politicians, there would have been
fewer leaks from the breWeries. In
stead, however, of restricting brew
ing permits as far as possible to old
line dependable concerns, prohibit
ton executives too often have con-
strued the law as making any per-
son with a nice clean face and no
guns sticking out of his pockets,
eligible to enjoy such privileges,
after, of course, making application
in due form and, most important of
all, bringing along with the appli-
cation an Endorsement of a con-
gresham, alderman, or some other
politicians.
Many of these new companies
had little invested in the enterprise,
knew little or nothing about the
brewery business, and we're unreli~
able in every way. The sole object,
of course. was to keep about three
jumps ahead of the law and while
cutting in on the profits Of the old
established breweries, they not only
surreptitiously sold near beer, the
kind with the kick" but in addition
supplied large quantities of alcohol
to whisky bootleggers and carried On
information agencies and "bribing'
on the side
Hurt BY Easy Permits
The law provides that before a
permit of any nature is issued, pro-
hibition authorities must make a
careful investigation of persons who
made application therefore. The
character of some of the investiga-
tons made were ridiculous in the
extreme.
The general run of such inquiries
would constitute interviewing the
police chief, a banker, and few
other persons whom. the applicant
himself probably had named. Under
such circumstances, one can we'll
imagine that the applicant would be
painted in colors Of a most attractive
hue.
I think one of the most ingenious
evasions of law is that involved in
the manufacture of wort" The
manufacture of this commodity and
its sale to wildcat" or ALLEY
breweries originated and has flour
ished extensively in Chicago, and in
the eastern district of Wisconsin.
especially around Milwaukee.
I appreciate the fact that the
word wort" will not sound particu-
~ - - - = -