Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-01
MRS. W|LLEBRANDT
AIDS GRAPE GROUPS
Growers Face Tricky Problem
Over Juice in Crop
Distribution.
BY WILLIAM HARD.


| vineyardists of her home State of Cali
fornia.
To the Federal Farm Board, Mrs.
Wiliebrandt has conveyed assurances
that the designs of the California vine
yardistS in their shipments Of the juice
of the grape to the wet East are not
only in harmony with the Eighteenth
amendment but also positively in an
tagoniSm to the criminal plots Of its
foes.
In their vigorous and valiant efforts
to get financially Stabilized" by the
Federal Farm Board, the growers of
the grapes of California are first get
ting morally Stabilized" by Mrs. WILLIE
brandt-and also by United States pro-
hibition commissioner. James M. Doran.
Mr.. Doran has just made an epochal
speech in California to great gather
ing of grape growers and shippers. He
stated:
1.-The manufacture of fruit juices for
home use is perfectly legal. 1t is the
law. We are going to stay within the
law"
Pride and Hope Arise.
The hearts and the purses of his au-
ditors are reported to have throbbed in
| unison with pride and with hope upon
hearing these words. Vile aspersions
have been cast upon the Eastward
bound carloads of the juice of the grape
from the Sun-kissed hillsides of the
Golden State. 1t has been whispered
that much of the juice trickles into
casks in the cellers of Eastern cities
and there stays unquaffed till the un-
amended constitution of the world Of
nature has transformed it into bever-
age highly repugnant to the principles
of Bishop Cannon. Against the conse-
quences of such suspicious a militant
host of Californians, headed by Donald
Conn, president of the California Vine
i yardiStS' Association, and advised by the
distinguished San Francisco lawyer, 7.
T. C. Gregory, now are watching de-
termined fight in the rooms and ante
rooms of the Federal Farm Board.
The situation of the vineyardiStS IS
indeed serious. Their industry is one
of the great agricultural industries OF
the country It has been having an
extremely bad time. 1t encounters the
problem of producing more fresh
grapes and more raisinS than convent
entity and prosperousiy can be market
ed. The safety valve for excuses OF
fresh grapes and of raiSins is to squeeze
sufficient number of grapes into juice
and then store the juice and sell 1t in
a steady and orderly manner in pro-
portion to the permanent markets ce-
mands. In a word. justice IS the eco
nomic sterilization" of grapes.
Yet at that point emerge certain vigi-
liant volunteer watchdogs OF the Federal
Constitution, who bark:
Barking Up Wrong Vine.
This juice can be, and is, turned INTO
wine in the cellars and at the marriage
feasts Of the lawless and the dissolute.
Therefore, the Federal Farm Board
ShnitId Grant M 1oac IN II
Mrs. Willebrandt and DR.. Doran,
however, seem to be telling these watch
dogs that they are barking up the wrong
vine.
The fault, it appears. is not in the
vineyardists. At any rate there is no
reason why they should burden them
selves with the fault. They can, and do,
wash their hands Of all completely with
any vicious element which may take
their innocent product and degenerate
it to purposes which unredeemed nature
may have intended but which the vine
yardistS repudiate and resent.
Our plan," Mr.. Conn has stated to
this writer, will tend toward just simply
putting the bootlegger out of business"
In Mr.. Conn's Washington headquar-
tiers there is a vast array of vineyard
"by-products." These by-productS in
clude jellies and candies and numerous
other attractions. but they overwhelm-
ingly resolve themselves into one basic
idea, which is the grapes juice in bot
ties or in tins or in other containers.
The problem is the marketing of that
juice within the law. Upon the solution
of that problem hangs the economic
fate of 2.500,0o0 tons of grapes annually
coming from vineyards and plants in
which $330000 900 have been invested.
The juice, it should be understood,
is all full of "enzymes" and also all full
of "vitamins," which occupy a very
high social scientific standing. Shipped
in a concentrated and economical form,
from which most of the water has been
evaporated, this juice can be re-dlluted
with water and sold as soft drink to
delighted millions at soda fountains or
in the grandstands OF ball parks. Its
precise merit is its "softneSs" and when
Mr. Conn and his associates reflect
upon the householder who may buy 1t
in q grocery store and who may then IN
his cellar change its "Softness" into
hardness" they Indignantly want to
know why the penalties Of the sins
of the householder should be visited
upon them.
Leaders Do Their Best.
Mrs. Willebrandt and DR.. Doran, as
ardent prohibitionists, but also as well
wishes of the legitimate economic
prosperity Of the inhabitants OF tne
commonwealth, seem to have done their
best to rescue the California vineyard
lists from the clutches of this cruel sit
uation, The vineyardiStS attribute
largely to Mrs. Willebrandt the original
creative ideas in the comprehensive
grape industry plan," which they are
now presenting to the Fedora! Farm
thew have lust heard the following en-
couragement mixed with the following
warning:
you have a sound legal basis for the
production and shipment OF juice from
California; but you cannot remain Eere
in California and not pay some atten-
ton to the distribution in the Eastern
markets. You must spend little more
time checking up in the use OF your
product in the East. The whole trouble
is the uncertainty about how much juice
goes outside the home"
The last sentence of DR.. Dorans
puts the searchlight on the knottiest
knot hole in the Volstead law. Under
section 90 of title of that law. as IN
terpreted authoritatively by the courts,
it is completely legal for the householder
to purchase concentrated grape juice
and to let it ferment in his cellar With
out any mathematical regard for the
hostility to one-half of / per cent OF
alcohol shown by section OF title z;
and the householder's only legal culpa-
bility approaches when the juice, or
wine, becomes Intoxicating in fact"
and when he then propels it into pub
lie convivislity and commerce.
Rye and Corn Are Cited.
Are the vineyardists of California to
he refused a loan by the Federal Farm
Board on the large Respondent assets
of their new juice cooperative, Fruit