The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-03-28

tnere Is no Iruln III IL. 1uey hllo" III 10 IloI
true, never has been true and never will
be true. They know that the men who are
willing to fill the stomachs of their fellow
citizens with poison for the profit there IS
in it, have always violated the laws OF the
land and always will violate them. They
know that legalizing the manufacture and
sale of alcohol will not stop illicit manu-
facture, rum running, boOtlegging and all
the other evils charged to prohibition.
They know these evils overwhelmed the
country in pre-prohibition days and that
under a restoration Of legal manufacture
and sale these evils will remain with us.
As matter of fact-right here at the
introduction of the legalized beer business
into certain territory of the United States,
the liquor crowd and many OF their mis-
taken and deluded allies, are right out in
the open admitting that the law enacted a
few days ago by Congress and signed by
President Roosevelt is going to be violated
on wholesale scale. One only has to read
the newspapers of North and South Care
lima to get an accurate line on the position
of the friends of liquor in these states.
We are told that while it will be illegal
to ship beer into the Carolinas for sale,
beer will be shipped through the CarolinaS
and that will be made preteXt, and will
furnish the opportunity, for wholesale viz
lations of the prohibition laws of the Caro-
linas by the alleged law-lOving and law
obeying brewers, beer distributors, and
beer truck drivers of other sections Of the
country.
Well, if legalizing the sale of alcohol in
creases the consumption of alcohol it will
strike a paralyzing blow at the legitimate
business of the country. The extent of the
blow will depend on the amount of in
crease of consumption of alcohol.
How, then, can an intelligent, sensible
business man engaged in any legitimate
business favor a course that will increase
the amount of money spent for alcohol and
decrease the amount of money spent II
general business? If he votes to increase
the sale of alcohol he is voting to tear
down his own business. If he encourages
in any way the increase in the sale of al
cohol he is tearing down his own and the
legitimate businesses of his neighbors.
If the sale of beer was legalized in Hen
Jacksonville and Henderson county and the
cash spent for alcohol in the town and
county was increased by hundred thou
sand dollars, it is certain that hundred
thousand dollars would be removed from
not be spent for food, clothing and other
necessities, not to mention harmless and
satisfying luxuries. A large part Of it
would go to brewers and handlers of beer
elsewhere and the little that would be
spent here for rent and other purposes and
to pay few beer dispensers would not be
a drop in the bucket compared to the
total.
The money would be wasted as far as
this community is concerned. That would
be true even if it be conceded that beer is
harmless. Of course, no intelligent and in
formed person swallows the bait of the
brewers that beer is food" Beer is just
as much of food" as hard liquor. The
beer with which the country is to be flood
ed contains four per cent. by volume of al
cohOl, and to that extent it is a poison. 1t
is much slower poison than hard liquor,
and affords the makers the opportunity to
sell their customers many more gallons
than would be required of hard liquor be-
fore it finally breaks down the physical
constitution and makes bleary-eyed, sod
den beer-sot of the habitual consumer.
The Times-News sounds a warning to
the business men of this community and
the State of North Carolina. They are hoi-
1ering about taxes, about proposed sales
taxes, about diminishing volume of bust
ness. If they want to further decrease the
volume of business, let them help the liquor
crowd to put the legalized alcohol traffic
back in North Carolina and turn over to
the manufacturers and sellers of alcohol
millions Of dollars annually that are now