The  RURAL  NEW -  YORKER 
1045 
Things  To  Think  About 
The  Bootlegger  and  “Moonshine” 
Hon.  Roy  A.  Haynes,  United  States 
Prohibition  Commissioner,  is  publishing 
a  series  of  articles  on  “Prohibition  In¬ 
side  Out,”  in  which  he  gives  details  of 
the  great  business  done  by  bootleggers — • 
or  those  who  manufacture  or  sell  whisky. 
He  says  that  90  per  cent  of  the  men  en* 
gaged  in  this  business  are  foreign  horn, 
many  of  them  unable  to  speak  English — 
who  have  come  here  for  this  commercial 
purpose.  Much  of  the  stuff  they  make  is 
poisonous,  and  so  full  of  lye  and  acids 
that  it  will  in  time  eat  the  lining  off  the 
ordinary  stomach.  The  business  is  very 
profitable,  as  we  may  see  from  the  follow¬ 
ing  statement.  Mr.  Haynes  says  that 
millions  of  dollars  are  spent  in  forms  of 
propaganda  through  the  newspapers  and 
otherwise.  The  R.  N.-Y.  has  for  some 
years  talked  about  the  35-cent  dollar,  but 
that  will  seem  like  a  large  fortune  by 
the  side  of  the  figures  here  given : 
The  cost  of  making  moonshine  whisky 
varies  from  40  cents  or  so  a  gallon  up. 
In  the  case  of  one  of  the  largest  illicit 
stills  ever  apprehended  by  prohibition 
agents,  situated  not  far  from  Washing- 
would  do  the  farmers  more  good  than  all 
the  milk  pools  they  could  ever  organize  to 
put  up  the  price  of  milk.  About  two 
weeks  afterward  I  heard  one  of  the  milk 
pool  organizers  say  to  a  bunch  of  farm¬ 
ers,  “I  tell  you  farmers  you  have  to 
do  something  to  put  up  the  price  of  farm 
produce,  or  you  have  to  stop  running 
these  cars.”  And  I  think  he  told  the 
truth.  But  I  believe  that  common  sense 
is  the  most  uncommon  kind  of  sense  and 
as  I  see  that  most  of  the  farmers  keep 
about  as  many  horses  as  if  they  had  no 
cars;  and  that  the  mortgages  on  the 
American  farms  have  jumped  from  one 
to  four  billion  dollars  since  the  invention 
of  the  automobile  and  tractor,  which 
shows  that  the  cars  and  tractors  do  not 
increase  the  efficiency  of  the  farmer  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  account  book,  and  the 
account  book  is  what  shows  whether  your 
farming  is  scientific  or  not ;  the  most 
sensible  thing,  according  to  my  way  of 
thinking  would  be  for  a  lot  of  the  farm¬ 
ers  to  cut  out  the  automobiles  and  save 
some  of  the  good  money  they  are  pour¬ 
ing  into  the  pockets  of  Ford  and  Rock¬ 
efeller.  GEO.  F.  WOLL. 
St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Unmannerly  Tourists 
On  page  97G  R.  M.  Potter  speaks  of 
oiling  the  detour;  you  think,  too,  it  would 
be  a  good  plan.  I  speak  for  the  ones 
This  represents  a  sled  drawn  by  fans  like  those  on  a  flying  machine.  It  is  said  that 
on  a  sod  this  sled  will  run  smoothly  and  rapidly  under  this  power. 
ton,  D.  C.,  the  cost  of  producing  its  500 
gallons  a  day  was  placed  at  about  50 
cents  a  gallon.  This  liquor  was  sold  to 
bootleggers  at  $2.25  a  gallon  at  the  still, 
the  buyer  transporting  it.  One  of  the 
chief  buyers  was  a  wholesale  bootlegger 
of  Washington.  He  sold  it,  after  first 
adulterating  it,  in  five-gallon  lots  or  more 
at  $S  a  gallon.  After  buying  it  the  boot¬ 
leggers  still  further  adulterated  it  and 
sold  it  at  prices  varying  from  $4  to  $7.50 
a  quart. 
Thus  the  stuff  that  cost  the  moon¬ 
shiner  50  cents  a  gallon  to  produce 
reached  the  ultimate  consumer  at  prices 
ranging  from  $32  to  $G0  a  gallon,  an 
increase  of  from  6,500  to  nearly  12,000 
per  cent.  Some  of  this  liquor  was  col¬ 
ored  with  iodine. 
An  even  more  flagrant  instance  of 
profiteering  in  bootleg  whisky  was  ^uncov¬ 
ered  in  an  exclusive  club  of  an  Eastern 
city,  where  a  pint  of  whisky,  presumed 
to  be  bottled  in  bond,  was  sold  for  $12.50. 
Analysis  proved  the  w'hisky  to  be  a  poor 
grade  of  bootleg  whisky  made  from  cheap 
alcohol  and  liberally  adulterated.  A  gal¬ 
lon  of  alcohol,  selling  for  50  cents,  sup¬ 
plied  the  basis  of  the  stuff  sold  at  retail 
for  $166.67,  a  profit  of  about  33,000  per 
cent. 
“A  Boycott  on  Gasoline” 
Last  year  in  speaking  of  Henry  Ford 
you  said  that  “There  seems  no  denial  of 
the  statement  that  the  cheap  car  has  been 
of  vast  advantage  to  farmers.”  Now  I 
want  to  challenge  that  statement  most 
emphatically.  If  it  were  true,  why  is  it 
that  in  those  very  sections  where  the 
farmers  have  purchased  heavily  of  autos 
and  tractors,  as  they  have  in  the  Middle 
West,  there  is  more  howling  and  com¬ 
plaining  than  among  any  other  class  of 
farmers?  It  has  been  my  observation 
that  in  just  such  sections  is  where  the 
farmers  are  organizing  all  kinds  of  pools, 
grain  corporations,  etc.,  hoping  thereby 
to  keep  up  farm  produce  to  a  price  which 
will  enable  them  to  buy  heavily  of  gas¬ 
oline.  Right  here  in  St.  Lawrence  Coun¬ 
ty,  N.  Y.,  there  are  several  Ford  garages, 
and  one  of  them  alone  took  in  about 
$300,000  last  year  and  there  were  several 
other  garages  in  the  town  where  it  is 
located.  When  I  heard  of  it  I  made  the 
remark  to  a  friend  of  mine  that  a  boy¬ 
cott  to  put  down  the  price  of  gasoline 
who  live  on  said  detour.  The  dust  has 
been  terrible  and  oiling  would  help,  but 
I  have  other  grievances.  Have  the  State 
put  up  signs  telling  how  far,  etc.,  also 
road-houses  to  accommodate  the  travelers’ 
as  we  have  all  been  worn  to  a  frazzle  in 
many  ways.  They  use  our  lawn  to  pic¬ 
nic  on,  and  exercise  their  poodle  dogs, 
leaving  their  rubbish  behind  ;  think  it 
means  nothing  to  us  to  furnish  buckets 
for  water  for  drinking  and  radiator.  One 
even  drove  in,  passing  a  water  trough 
full  of  water  and  a  bucket  kept  there  for 
such  as  he,  to  where  a  bucket  of  water 
was  for  the  chickens  to  drink,  which  he 
drained  for  ids  radiator.  They  sit  in 
their  cars  and  blow  horn,  and  when  you 
appear  ask  how  far  to  paved  road.  We 
do  not  object  to  answering  questions,  or 
in  any  way  being  civil,  but  feel  that  we 
too  have  rights  which  are  being  abused. 
We  have  been  long-suffering  and  kind  to 
the  end,  but  we  are  just  to  the  breaking 
point,  when  yesterday  a  new  paved  road 
was  opened,  and  it  came  as  a  calm  after 
a  storm ;  no  bother,  no  questions ;  no 
dust — just  peace  and  quiet. 
Pennsylvania.  MRS.  c.  w.  s. 
R.  N.-Y.  We  rejoice  to  find  a  person 
who  enjoys  “peace  and  quiet.”  In  this 
“age  of  gas”  most  people  demand  a  place 
on  the  main  road  or  in  the  city  where 
“things  go  by.” 
Light  Punishment  for  Auto  Hogs 
I  read  with  interest  your  article  as 
to  the  light  sentence  meted  out  to  two 
auto  hogs  in  Massachusetts,  but  our  fair 
land  of  Jersey  deserves  equal  censure.  We 
have  had  two  flagrant  cases  in  Essex 
County,  one  over  10  years  ago  and  the 
other  in  1922.  In  both  cases  people  were 
killed,  one  driver  being  guilty  of  ex¬ 
treme  reckless  driving  and  the  other 
driving  recklessly  while  drunk.  The 
first  man  received  a  short  prison  sen¬ 
tence,  and  after  being  in  less  than  a  year 
was  pardoned,  and  the  other  was  sen¬ 
tenced  for  18  months.  J.  L.  G. 
Mrs.  Matthews  was  learning  to  drive 
her  new  car  and  was  very  much  thrilled 
over  it.  “Of  course,”  she  said,  “I  could 
never  change  a  tire  myself.  Why,  I  can’t 
even  lift  one.  You  know  they  have  80 
lbs.  of  air  in  them  in  addition  to  the 
weight  of  the  tire!” — Judge. 
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