The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-01-13
Beer, Wine and Whiskey
Sold in This Way in
Quantities Hereto
fore Unknown

CHICAGO, Jan. 13.-Setting up
their dangerous partnership along
innumerable country roads, gaso-
line and alcohol are making new
| highway problem. The nation has
had none just like it before; III
quantities hitherto unknown, beer,
wine, ale and sometimes whisky
being sold along with gas ana OIL
to motorists as they stop by lhe
roadside. :.
Missing of these proverbially IT,
rcconcilable Liquids is undouoteo-
w contributing to the multiplying
menace of drunken drivers ana
their traffic accidents.
In many states it has become
casv to drink and drive.
! MARKET BROADENS
As the rural market for liquor
broadcns. stories mentioning the
! combination of gasoline and
az oo%e" tricklc into the newspa-
pers. These reports are beginning
10 catch the notice of observant
spokesmen of the oil industry.
/ Iiere and there an oil leader IS
recognizing that n fresh source OF
accidents is expanding, and grants
| that he expects to hear more OF IT,
What's new Is this:
|. Standard types of business IN
the country, with their gasoline;
pump outside, none Of which used
/ to be associated with liquor, are
now taking on intoXicantS as Il
sidcline. Generally their wet goods
are limited to matted liquors. Hard
liquors. such as whisky and gin,
can also occasionally be picked up.
IN SMALL TOWNS
These alcohol outlets include lit
tie highway lunch stands, restau-
rants, grocery stores, chicken dln-
ner houses. candy stores, tourist
cabin camps, soft drink stands,
general stores, etc, as well as an
infrcquent filling station.
Pairings of oil and intoxicants IS
also working back into small
towns, as cafes on the highway
with gasoline service install liquor
also. This trend of rural concerns
to take on alcohol has of course
come since the repeal of national
prohibition. 1t is only a few years
old and is spreading.
.. Roadhouses, taverns, beer
stands and other places primarily
devoted to liquor have lately
mush-roomcd in the country, on
the outskirts of cities. These
houses frequently have their gaso,
line pumps, and many carry hard
liquor, -,
9. Sudden expansion of the
liquor market in country districts
has made q hook-up between IN
toyicants and motor vehicles OF a
magnitude such as never existed
! before.
ALREADY DRY ,
Prior to the coming of national
prohibition in 1920, much OF the
rural territory was already dry,
either through local option or
statewide prohibition. During ma
tional prohibition the rural boot
logger, a minor figure, did not
cater to strange motorists along
the highway, who might prove pro-
hibition agents. Today in contrast
with the restricted rural sale OF
many years, great areas of the
country stand wide-open for the
dispensation. of gasoline with
liquor.
The perilous union of the two is
barred in some populous states,
but these account for only a frac-
ton of America. In much more
than half Of the rural area Of the
nation it is possible for beer to
make alliance with petroleum. The
situation is spotty, in some locali-
ties worse than in others.
4. A vast increase in the num-
Der of motor vehicles on the high
ways has occurred, jumping 20
600. 900 from the last pre-prohibi-
ton year of 1919. Only 1861
446 passenger cars and trucks
were registered in that year, &C.
cording to the Automobile Manu-.
facturers' association. The prob.
able total in this year, which will
fetch a record, is fixed by the
magazine Automotive Industries
as 2S,500, 000-almost four times
as many.
FOSTERED THE URGE
5. High-speed roads and high
speed cars have fostered the urge
toward faster travel. Mileage OF
paved roads has made great adj
vances. Drivers are also using
their cars more as attested by the
bigger consumption of gasoline
per motor vehicle.
Each of these factors conspires
to magnify the drunken driver
menace on the rural highway.
Fortunately, the majority of the
operators Of gasoline pumps in the
country have not as yet become
liquor statesmen.
For what informal estimates
may be worth, observers in several
states calculate the number of
places in their rural districts with
both liquor and gas at a quarter of
all the rural gasoline dealers. Adj
iacent to the big cities, the part
nership Of gas with intoxicants is
deemed to double, taking in half
the gasoline sellers. These, how
ever, are but guesses.
rENCIIC pIIDEAII
While the number of gas pumps
in the United States where alcohol