The Daily Alaska empire., 1944-06-02
LIQUOR SHORT
 CABI CHAIRMAN
 TELLS DEALERS
Beverage Industries Man Explains Necessity fo
 Trim Sails"

If your local liquor dealer is out" of the brand of liquor for which you ask, if the price is so high that you gasp then gripe at all of the money the dealer is making, pause and consider facts and figures that Bernhard Badrian, c m n, Washington Committee, of the Con- ference of Alcoholic Beverage In- dustries, Inc, can present.
 To bring before the liquor re- tailers of Alaska the situation to- day in the alcoholic beverages in dustry, MT. Badrian, whose head quarters are in Seattle, Al Shyman, manager, and J. J. Meherin, sales director of Alaska Distributors, are meeting in Juneau today and will travel through the Territory. Already MT. Badrian and MT. Shy man have visited Ketchikan, Wran- gell and Petersburg. Today the group met with all local liquor deal CTS at an informal luncheon at the Baranof Hotel to discuss their mu- tual problems.
 Problems Are Many
 And these problems are many First of all, as proved by the statis- tics of the Internal Revenue Bu- reau, there is a shortage of liquor. Following Pearl Harbor and our entry into World War II, the Gov srnment's demand for alcohol for war purposes became so great that the manufacture of it for beverage purposes was prohibited, effective October S. 1942, and since then not a drop has been made.
 Distilled spirits on hand (inven- tory of Feb 28, 1944) were 302 2,9O7,- 255-just about a two-year supply, if one judges by 1943 consumption, which totalled 153,l78,500 gallons.
 Consumption had decreased about 30,00O,000 gallons in 1943 from 1942, due to enforced rationing by dis tillers who saw the threat of the end of their supply of liquor.
 And as liquor supplies have de- creased, taxes have increased.
 At the time of repeal of the pro- hibition act in December, 1883, the Federal tax on distilled spirits was s1.10 per proof gallon Almost year by year increases were made until, effective April l, l944, the tax be- came $9 per proof gallon-an in- crease of II per cent.
 Industry Tax Bill Biggest
 'The industry's 1943 tax bill for the nation, including distilled spir- it's, beer and wine was $1,454, POI ,727, which would buy 5000 Flying Fort resses. fully. equipped and in the air." MT. Badrian said, adding that this is the highest industrial tax paid by any industry in the country.
 Taxes account for the increased price of liquor to the consumer. Because of the scarcity of liquor, the industry has been accused of hoarding supplies for higher prices and profit, an accusation which is unfounded. Prices are fixed by the OPA, and higher prices have re- suited from higher taxes,' Badrian explains.
 Per capita, the liquor release to Alaska by the distllers has been greater than in any part of the country. In the seventeen monopoly states rationing ranges from one bottle of whiskey in two weeks to one bottle in seven weeks with, in some states bonus, when supplies allow, of rum, &.andy, gin, and wine.
 In private sales states, available supply automatically rations liquor.
 It is the purpose of Badrian, Shy man and Meherin in their trip through the Territory to present to dealers the national situation in the liquor industry, to give them clearer conception and understand ing of the serious shortage of lio-