Evening star., 1951-03-11
Southern Boot|eqqers
Buying at Retail Here;.
Sales Are Called Leua|

A Federal official reported last
night that Southern bootleggers
are buying from some liquor re-
tailers here. but Q District ofiicial
said the sales were legal and that
nothing can be done about it.
Their comments followed testi-
mony before the Senate Crime
Investigating Committee that dry
areas of Southern States are being
flooded with whisky from two
wholesale liquor houses in Cairo,
ILL.,. which evade paying State
taxes.
The Federal official, who re-
fused to be quoted by name, said
the problem here was not at the
wholesale but ut the retail level.
The District official, Assistant
Corporation Counsel Robert D.
Wise. who prosecutes Alcohol Bev-
erage Control Board cases, said
he was not surprised by the Fed
eral officials statement but under
the ABC Act nothing could be
done about 1t.
Stores Can't Refuse Sales.
"A package store can't refuse
to sell even to notorious boot
logger" Mr.. Wise said. He may
just want the whisky for q we'd
ding party"
Chairman Alan w. Payne Of
the ABC Board said the board
has reports that large quantities
of whisky from the District have
been bootlegged in North Caro-
lima. The majority Of the board,
he added, believes that selling to
bootleggers violates the ABC Act.
That, he said, was why the
Commissioners last December
asked the Corporation Counsel for
new ruling on whether sales
by liquor dealers to bootleggers
violate the ABC Act. He said
he was still waiting for a ruling
Would Repeat 1946 Opinion.
Mr.. Wise said he had not heard
of this request but If it came to
him, he would repeat a 1916 opin-
ion that it does not violate the
law to sell to bootlegger.
During testimony before the
crime committee, Chairman r.
w. Winston of the North Caro-
lima Board of Alcoholic Control
commended the District for clamp
ing down on illegal interstate
shipments. Mr.. Payne said he as
sumed Mr.. Winston was talking
about three recent cases before
the board.
Chairman Kefauver Of the
crime committee commented yes
terday that it will require the
combined efforts Of distillers,
Federal, State and local officials
to clean up a very sordid situa-
ton flood of bootleg whis-
key into the South.
Proposals Are Studied.
Committee sources said these
proposals for corrective legislation
were under consideration:
A law prohibiting the transpor-
tation of liquor without a State
permit into or through dry States
This one has been introduced in
the House.
More severe penalties and
stricter enforcement to compel
those seeking Federal retail liq-
uor dealers stamps to supply full
identification. 1t was brought out
that many persons getting the
stamps use fictitious names ano
addresses.
A law requiring wholesale liquor
dealers to get their Federal per-
mits renewed annually as a means
of screening out criminal elements
who have infiltrated the liquor in
dustry. This one has been ap-
proved by the House Ways and
Means Committee.
The testimony that two Cairo
wholesalers transport $40 million
worth of liquor a year into
the South without paying State
taxes yesterday prompted Cover
nor Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois
to wire the committee that q
court Injunction has prevented
| collection of State liquor taxes