Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1934-12-14
HEALTH DEPT.
SPRAYING TREES
With CHEMICALS

tie of beer-or a glass of water-citi-
zens toasted the end Of repeats first
year on Wednesday of last week.
Some complained the rye was harsh
err than the bootleg they drank in dry
years. Others grumbled that the gin
in Martins cost too much. One group
longed for q return Of prohibition.
Another group felt repeal had made
the world better place.
Liquor merchants, also disagreed
on the merits of legal liquor. Hotel
men, ringing up 35 cents on the cash
register for each cocktail sold, were
thankful for the new source of reve-
nue..
Yet experience had magnified their
last years optimism.
Hotels have had to fight unforeseen
competitors. A few years ago Childs
restaurants emphasized vitamins and
calories and went in for ascetic veg
etarianism. Today they advertise cock
tails and wine. Tea rooms and "Cof-
fee Pots" reach out for their share
of liquor profits.
Liquor stores, catering to the pack
age trade, made the same complaint.
One out Of every four stores that join
ed last years rush to get in on "good
thing" has closed its doors. Yet the
field is still overcrowded. Bargain
beer at chain stores, 5O-cent sherry
crowding low-priced chintzes on de-
partment store bargain counters, and
special-priced gin featured with two
pants suits in clothing stores, kept
the small liquor dealer hustling.
Many distillers, wholesalers, and i'm
porters have also been disillusioned.
Business has fallen far short of expec-
tation. This group blames high taxes
which raise prices, cut sales and en-
courage heavy competition from tax
evading bootleggers. At the same
time, price wars gut into profits. In
the beginning confusing regulations
increased both expenses and worry.
Several States required that their tax
stamps be pasted over the bottle tops
with nothing covering them, conflict
ing with a similar requirement for
tax stamps of the Federal Govern
ment. Minnesota's demand for guar
antee of purity on bottle labels was
counter to the Federal ban on the use
of the word "pure" on whiskey labels.
Of all those who hoped to make their
fortunes in wet country ,wine-mak-
ers and grape-growers, centering in
California, wear the longest faces.
They knew that hard liquor had
grown in popularity under prohibition.
But they hoped and planned for at
least as much wine drinking as had
prevailed before the war. This esti-
mate, they have sadly discovered, was
10 per cent too high.
This Fall many vineyards in Cali
fornia's $3.50, 100000 industry let the
crop rot on the vines. Native vint-
ners have to fight against imported
wines, reputedly superior to domestic.
Homemade wine is another stumbling
block.
With half-year start on the hard
liquor business, brewers wound up
their first year of legal operation last
June. They found themselves in Glow
er. Instead of the predicted 100000
600 barrels, they had sold 38,000,000.
In the subsequent five months they
maintained about the same average
increase.
The new liquor business proved
blessing to advertising firms. Outlays
for publicity of some liquor concerns
ran almost 100000 year. News
papers, magazines, and radio stations
CLEANED a substantial revenue. Glass
makers have also had good year.
The rush to stock up the pantry with
the dozen different shapes and sizes
of glasses needed for genteel, non
speak-easy drinking brought them
their best year since the boom.
Optimists year ago predicted that
Federal tax receipts on liquor would
reach $1,000,000,000. Even conserva-
tives, who expected half that sum,
we're over-sanguine. In the first year
Of repeal, $400,000,000 flowed into the
Federal Treasury. State treasures
collected their quotas, topped by New
York's $35,OO0,O0O.
Joseph H. Choate, Jr., lanky head
of the Federal Alcohol Control Ad-
ministration, realized soon after he
took office that the bootlegger had