Evening Star Newspaper, August 11, 1929, Page 5

ALCOHOL DIVERSION BIG LIQUOR SOURCE Mrs. Willebrandt Would Check Supply by More Rigid Permit Laws. (Continued From First Page.) ‘Many old-time saloon keepers of Bal- timore and Washington included the tax-free product among their merchan- dise, and reaped the enormous profits mecruing from sale of the moonshine brew to a clientele whose pocketbook or taste was satisfied with the cheaper article. There may be, and probably there is, more illicit distilling around Washington now than before prohibi- tion. But the basic condition always existed. The only difference being that in the old days it attracted little attention. ¢ Methods of securing alcohol with which to supply a thirsty populace are as ingenious as they are numerous. Some time ago a drug concern located in a sparsely populated town in Texas, secured the release on permits for medicinal use of 200 barrels of Jamaica ginger, Jamaica ginger is 90 per cent alcohol. Two hundred barrels of it would take care of quite a sizable quantif of old-fashioned ‘“‘tummy- aches"—many more than would be likely to occur in a sparsely populated | Texas community! The fact is ob-| vious that such an immense quantity of the “ready” could not have ai legitimate medicinal distribution by anv | one drug concern in any one small | locality. Biggest Leak of AlL Yn my honest judgment the great- est single source of liquor supply today 1s alcohol diverted illegally from con- cerns bearing the stamp of respecta Scene under one of the scenic bridges in Rock Creek Park when the creek has almost entirely dried up. present condition the creek waters have a greater proportion of sewage contamination than when the water is high, and Assistant Engineer Commissioner Hugh Oram has issued another warning against use of the water for bathing by small boys. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. AUGUST 11, 1929—PART 1, IPLANS UNDER WAY |POLICE GET CLUE. FOR FAIRFAX FAIR' 0 TRAIN BANDITS First Day of Fete to Be Given|First Five Numbers of Li- Over to Pupils and Boy Seoutg. Special Dispatch to The Star. FAIRFAX, Va., August 10.—Robert| OHICAGO, August 10.—The first five D. Graham, Becretary of the Fairfax | numbers of an sutomobile license plate County TFair = Associatiop, announces cense Plate of Car Learned. By the Associated Press. | comprised the only clue tonight to the identity of three robbers, who last night that preliminary plans for the annual fair week, September 11 to 14, are well advanced and that the officials are an- ticipating the biggest fair in 16 years. ‘Wednesday, the first day of the fair will be school day and Boy Scout day. All Boy Scouts in uniform and all school children will be admitted free. The ain attractions will be a pony show and races for children. The Boy Scouts of Northern Virginia are planning to stage a big booster exhibit of scouting with demonstrations of their work. It took possession of & two-car Illinois & bank guard, terrorized passengers and escaped with an estimated $4,000 in currency. The numbers—10386—Were noticed by a witness on a new automobile in which the trio escaped when they left the train at Twenty-seventh street. The statement of a passenger, M. A. Brooks, that he thought he could identify one of the bandits, was the only shred of help produced by the is also the plan of the Washington | coroner’s jury, which this afternoon re- Council, under whose jurisdiction ihis|tumed s verdict holding that Delbert territory falls, to have the different|Sudds, 53, the slain man, was “murdered Scout troops of the county and vicinity | by persons unknown.’ take turns in rendering a definite serv-| Sudds was guarding Jeremiah Carey. Central suburban electric train, killed | In its urposes —Star Staff Photo. | of weakness in enforcement, was that the amounts of alcohol that permittees | highest, esteem. “bumped off" the Bur- | Claims Turkey Mother Language. lington Distillery at Burlington, N. J. ‘Thursd full force. | races. Keith of Charlottesville ice during fair week. will be “chamber of com- merce” day, with a program planned by the Fairfax County Chamber for vis- itors from Washington, Arlington, Lou- don and Prince William Counties. afternoon will feature the horse how and races. Fridav will be “Grange day,” with all | | farmers and farm organizatipns out in The five local granges in Fairfax County are preparing a pro- gram to be announced later. will see the end of the horse show a A _trick horse owned by Mrs. will perform 1so has entered Mrs. Keith ‘The ‘This day a collector for the bank where both were employed. They had picked up the receipts at stations along the line and had boarded the southbound train 1o take the money to the Illinois Central Bank and Trust Co. As the train ap- proached Twenty-third street, the rob- bers covered the collectors and passen- gers ‘with their guns and demanded the money. Sudds was shot and instantly killed when he reached for his gua. One of the bandits then rushed to The motorman and forced him to stop at Twenty-seventh street, where The trio jumped off and fled in a waiting auto- mobile, driven by a confederate, For Impaired Vision «=Consult an Eye P hySiCian As soon as the weak- ness is observed, so that he may give you the bene- fit of his years of study and experience and ad- vise the proper treatment, EDMONDS === O PTICIAN— 915 Fifteenth Street WAS HINGTON —— Established 1899 STAMBOUL, Turkey (A.—Dr. Basri| each da bility in the form of a Government has | 10 ponies in the show. One of the most permit. could handle monthly were greatly en-| These men were informed by the Bur- | larged, and in many instances made | lington people, “You — —— | Gun Tekin, Turkish philologist, The Panama ' Association of Com- merce has voted against the feasibility Long before national prohibition the Government. authorized certain indus- tries such as paint factories, dye and chemical plants, manufacturers of per- fume, etc., to withdraw tax-free alcohol for use in the preparation of such prod ucts. Under the existing law these is dustries are still' permitted to with- draw alcohol with no restriction other than regulations promulgated by the ‘Treasury Department. I maintain, and have from my ex- perience for years, that these regula- tions stop far short of the proper legal econtrol necessary to keep industrial alcohol from being the chief source ©of the {llicit cocktail supply. Let no one make the mistake of as- suming that I would hlmpir, harras or even make unduly difficult the con- duct of legitimate business which needs alcohol. But making the regulations which govern its use, crizp. definite, and as restrictive as the law permits. ‘would safeguard legitimate business. It ‘would hamper only the illegitimate con- cerns which use their permit as a cloak | "N These latter all di-| ~'Such is to divert alcohol. vert through the well-known ruse of shipments via “cover houses.” A “cover house” is to the alcohol Tacketeer what a “fence” is to a thief. Let me {l- lustrate. The dishonest permittee, un- der present regulations, is obliged only to show in his office a letter or some other form of confirmation of the sale of his products. Government inspec- tors take a list of the places where the permittee’s files indicate that his prod- uets have gone. “None of Your Business.” Now I will cite an actual incident Inspectors found that Permittee “A" shipped 50,000 gallons of highly alco- holic “Carnation Perfume” to “X." The inspectors went to see " They asked, | “'Did you receive 50,000 gallons of ‘ca nation perfume' from Permittee A2"| “X" replied, “Yes. ‘The inspectors looked about but “X" had apparently only a rented room. a desk and a tele- phone. They asked to see where the! 50,000 gallons of “Carnation Perfume” ‘was. X" replied, “But it's none of your business where it is or what I have done with it.” And the tragic fact is. that so far as prohibition en- forcement is concerned under the reg- ulations as now written, it wasn't ai af the business of the inspectors to fol- | low the product to its ultimate disposi- | tion. Nor can the inspectors who have plainly run into a lie return and charge | the original permittee “A” with dere- | liction of his duty or revoke his permit ! for sending 50,000 gallons of “Carna- “n® Perfume” to this fake establish- | ment. These fake establishments with | a set-up as ostensible consignees, are what s known as ‘“cover houss In my legal opinfon the regulations frsued by the Treasury Department could be so drawn as to drive these “cover houses” practically out of busi- ness. To do it would, however. mean rtanding firm against a tremendous lot of pounding from the organized drive of thousands of permittees with heavy political influence. I know this, be- cause repeatedly my office has recom- al!nd'd legal changes in the regula- jons. The Alcohol Lobby. T remember specially the fate of our recommendations about two years ago. ‘They were well received by Dr. Doran, commissioner, and _highly capable chemist and other Treasury officials, and we all practically agreed upon the detalls. But our puny legal beginnings of improvement in the regulations were exposed to the blighting political fluence of the alcohol trade. esolu- tions against the proposed changes, which I didn't know any one but our two Government departments had seen, began to pour in. ~Lobbyists came to my office alleging that I was exerting a malignant influence over the Treasury Department. Drug associations, alcohol lobbyists, the patent medicine group, all appeared. Finally the regulations came out without the proposed changes. ‘The imprdvements had died a-borning. Every permittee, when he makes a) plication under the law, asks the Go ernment for a privilege. It is a valua ble privilege. He expects to make unlimited. Alcohol manufacturing plants | are given the right to make unllmited| quantities of alcohol. These plants are not bootlegging concerns by any means, but they are making all the alcohol | that they can sell, and the amount that i they can sell is increasing daily at an alarming rate, away beyond the rea-| sonable growth of businesses and trades | that need alcohol for legitimate pur- poses. Witness how some alcohol manu- facturing stocks have sky-rocketed on the stock exchanges; note also the in- creased imports of sugar for alcohol factories. Investment bankers, in advertising an issue of securities of an industrial alcohol company. included in their prospectus the following: X “Commercial alcohol plays a vital part as a solvent or base in industrial alchemy, and likewise in the manu- facture of dyes, glass, ink, drugs, paint. perfumes, fiims and hundreds of other ‘nsvnnal products, the demand for which is constantly increasing. the background of the steadily expanding market for the com- | United States has grown from an an- nual production of 1,000,000 gallons in 1906 to more than 90,000,000 gallons lin 1928 " Would it be unfair to the legitimate alcohol companies, anxious to keep a | legitimate business, to restrict the | amount, they can manufatcure to some figure reasonably near the actual needs of the country? Suggests Survey. In my judgment one of the most im- portant steps to stop the largest source of liquor supply in the country today is for the Commerce Department or { some other disinterested agency to find | out how much alcohol is Teally needed to meet, actual industrial demands, and then limit the issuance of permit pri leges to figures reasonably mear such needs. To deliberately grant so man privileges where liquor can flow in un- | tijon right to withdraw 1oq‘om} l?ums ally limited amounts just means increasing proportionately the number of inspec fors to watch how the privileges are used. inspectors' forces have been made. would have been simpler to have with. held these grants. To trace leaks has become wellnigh hopeless. The Gov- ernment’s policy has been like pouring BB shot on the r with one hand | and trying to pick it up with the other. T'm not inferring that all permittees are dishonest. Far from it. But the honest ones are put at a disadvantage by the weak-kneed policy of too easy | grant of permits. They should not be subjected to the competition of “fy- by-night” concerns. There is every economic Teason that old firms with | established reputation will use Gov- ernment privileges most fairly. They should be given first chance. Allowing newly organized firms to have t valuable permit rights should be done very infrequently. Some lawyers in the Treasury Department have justified their “yes-ves” policy by saying that the prohibition law gives ti commis- sioner no power to say “no” to appli- cants for permit privileges unless they are found to be actually convicted law breakers. I do not so construe the law. The only way any law can be made certain is to have the courts speak on it. T have urged. literally begged, prohibition officials yearly since 1922 to refuse applications and let the applicants sue. looked with eagerness to the chance thus to clarify the limits of discretionary powers of the Treasury Department in such mat- ters. But the prohibition office has said “no” so seldom that only one case raising the question has reached the Supreme Court of the United States in the whole 10 years of enforcement. It was the case of the Ma-King | Products Co., 271 U. S., 479. where the court, observed. “Here plainly the re- | fusal of the permit involved no error | of law.” Easy to Obtain Liquor Now. | What I'm emphasizing is that thic too liberal grant of “special” permits | has ereated a big source of liquor sup- | money out of it. To get that privilege he enters into a contract with his Gov- ernment. In my judgment the Gov- t has a perfect right to require as a condition to his receiving this valuable privilege a considerable de- gree of diligence on his part as to where and to whom he will sell his products. There is no reason why before per-| mittee “A” above mentioned ships the 50.000 gallons of “carnation perfume” with high alcohol content to “X" he| should not by contract agree to let the Government into the secret of “X's” re- quest for the consignment. In an attempt to prevent the diver- slon of alcohol, treasury regulations pre- scribe that it be treated by certain formula of denaturants which are sup-|{ to make it undrinkable. For some uses the alcohol must be what is termed “specially denatured” and for other uses “‘completely denatured.” Lit- tle trouble comes from misuse of the latter, which is either nauseous or Much of the “specially. de natured” alcohol, however, is suscepti- ble to manipulation whereby the de- maturing products may be eliminated. Gen. Andrews’ Regime. mormked mdmmgel ru: turally pfi““{ “specially denatu type. Grea pressure is_exerted on every admini- strator to O. K. more and more, and ‘weaker and weaker, formula for “spe- ciglly” denatured alcohol. Such a per- mit becomes an open door by which the permittee can enter a field of op- erations entirely outside the law. The Py in the United States teday. eesy to obtain liquor now. The public believes that enforcement has broken down. The conditions might be quite different if a sturdy policy of restric- tion of special permits had been stead- ily_malintained from the first. ‘Permits are no longer issued in ‘Washington, but the formulae for these specially denatured alcohol privi- leges are subject to approval at Wash- jngton. In the Teorganization of the Jast year and since civil service ratings have b-en required. some courageous administrators have been wrestling valiantly with the permit situation in their respective districts. Their task is no easy one, for, although they may say “no” to the loose issuance of & new permit, most of them took charge of districts where far too many permits were already in existence, It is & much harder job under the law to revoke s privilege once given, upon which the citizen may be able to show & large outlay, than it is to prevent his securing the Government sanction to handle alcohol in the beginning. One Leak Plugged. To illustrate: In Philadelphia there functions as prohibition administrator, Col. Samuel O. Wynne, one of the ablest men in the entire service. He inherited a whole flock of malodorous out-and-out diverters of alcohol from former halcyon days for alcohol rack- eteers in the City of Brotherly Love, when permits were evidently doled out with a prodigal h: He is reducing policy of handing out. permit privileges has always been subjected to so much political pressure that it has been It is true that while Dr. Orville Mat- $hows w=s Commissioner Haynes' assis! -n'x;ne said l?entx’:mly '!1& ‘:o :Ee h}ul- ) applications. )y the close J ueg Andrews' regime permits and ttees had reached into )\Ithfll ithematics. A thing little apprehend- wed, -but ‘whieh formed » serious source d. the flow of alcohol in his district very materially. Frequently agents are called upon for mercial alcohol industry, which in the | But no such increases in H}E‘ won't last 30 days. On January 2. 1926, at 11 a.m., these | agents were handed a telegram, dated | Derdember 31, from Washington, which | read: the close of business as of December 31, 1825, without dereliction or mis- | conduct. (Signed) “WALTON A. GREEN.” However, when the men stood pat and dignifiedly refused to enter into any bargains for reinstatement, W. G. Murdock, as administrator acting for Gen. Andrews. said, “For God's sake. don't tell anybody, not even your fam- ilies, about. that telegram.” ~The men were reinstated. ! This Burlington concern_had been given a permit in 1920. The permit had been withdrawn by the Govern- ment for several years, but about 1924 there was a reorganization of the com- any and a reissuance of permit privi- eges. The evidence of the diversion of about. 95,000 gallons of alcohol through a cover house was very plain. When the | revocation of the permit was in litiga- tion, the Government was “represented” by Roscoe Harper, another one of Gen. Andrews’ appointments mentioned else- where. He failed to call as witnesses the two agents who had collected the | | evidence. Consequently the Govern- ment lost the case and the permit was reinstated. This is one of the permits which gave. by the loose administrative policy I have just described, the power to manufacture an unlimited quantity of alcohol and to put it out denatured | by any one of the special formulae, many of which enable the alcohol to be used in beverages after a comparatively simple cleaning process. 2 Locking the Door Before the Theft. ’ As an excellent example of the value of a thorough investigation before | granting permits. the Quaker Industrial | Alcohol Distillery is a case in point. It had+a broad basic permit granted in 1024, In 1927 it asked for the addi- | a month of their own ‘“spec de- | natured” alcohol for the purpose of manufacturing. on their premises, ethyl acetate. The administrator before whom their request was pending refused to say “yes" loosely, without a careful investigation, The investigation dis- closed that there was no legitimate market for the requested ethyl acetate, | and the plant did not have the capacity to handle that much alcohol. The al- leged increase was based upon faked orders. As a result of a court hearing the permit to withdraw the 100,000 gal- lons of alcohol a_month was not only refused but the Quaker Industrial Al- | cohol Distillery had its permit privi- | leges revoked on the ground of fraud. In October, 1928, in Baltimore, Col A. W. W. Woodcock, one of the ablest of United States attorneys, success- fully prosecuted an alcohol case which is quite typical of the kinds of fraud in diversion which often are not de- | tected or stopped. This was an “inside | deal.” An election official of the State |of Maryland bribed chemists in charge of the denaturing process and others who ran the pumps which carried the pure alcohol to tanks. He spent alto- gether in bribes $6.000. They loaded a | car with pure alcohol and billed it as “pyro” (pyro is a .denatured alcohol | lused in automobile radiators). The | | election official, being notified of the car's initials and number, diverted it {and sold the contents in the bootleg |trade. He succeeded in getting about 110 cars out that way in a year. A sim- | ple calculation shows how much money | he made in these transactions which | were discovered. One carload of pure | alcohol would make 64,000 quarts of | synthetic whisky. At $4 a quart, the 10 cars reached a bootleg value of | £2,560,000. Even if obliged to bribe a | few city police and deduct the price of bottling and delivery, the conspira- tors made a small fortune on an initial | outlay in the form of a bribe of only $6.000. i | Before T lived so close to repulsive | facts of this kind, I found it possible to be much more unconcerned at the | sight, of really splendid people of high | principles imbibing bootleg liquors. Re- | | peatedly facing the trail of briberv and It 15 |ygly, unfair profits in the hands of | racketeers which every quart of w hisky | signals today, I cannot put aside the conviction that the price is too high. (Copyright, 1929, by_Cirrent News Features, ne.) (In her next installment Mrs. Wille- | brandt tells about the beer leak.) TOURISTS ENTERTAINED. Greeted in Berlin. BERLIN, August 10 (/).—Members of the world acquaintance tour of the Na- tional Federation of Business and Pro- | fessional Women of America were en- tertained this-afternoon by the Berlin American Women's Club. In the absence of Miss Lena M. Phillips, president of the federation, who is ill at a sanitarium outside of Berlin, the delegation was led by Miss Mary Kennedy of Lafayette, Ind., and Miss Helen Havener of New York. Prau Clara Mende, a member of the Reichstag and head of the economics division of the ministry of the in- terior, was a guest. Spa Makes Bid for Fame. FRIENWALDE, Germany (#)—This East German spa is making & new bid | published a work in which he claims s aham is that a Shetland pony, now Turkish is the mother of all languages | on display at his home, will be given | He Ad: om “Your services are discontinued at' Turkish for “father” Business and Professional Women for fame as the possessor of a leaning tower. The foundation of one of the ancient towers that defended the place in olden times, settled on one side, but since there seemed to be no danger of i the structure's collapsing, the town 1 council decided to let it stand as a high degree of courage in curbing a high degr P [ these powerful permittees. cember 12, 1925, two investigators, Leo Connor and Andrew Quigley, with whom I have come into close personal contact with the result -1 hold their efficiency and int in the landmark, e e 3 While wage rates in Sweden were higher last year than in 1927, average mw lower because of loss. of e -prolonged. strikes, | interesting announcements made by Mr. of government co-operation in the con- struction of homes for working people, but has approved a plan for government construction of small homes to rented or sold on the installment plan. ame | away during fair week. An innovailon he | this year will be the policy of keeping | the exhibit booths open each night. that the ta” and “am, “‘mother.’ says, for exam lam comes Open Saturdays Until 2 P.M. You Get the Best of it Right Now Prices have been “re-reduced” to quicker clearance—and with assortments in good variety—you can supply practical- ly any wardrobe deficiency—to unusual price advantage— and with Mode quality. Wool Suits and Top Coats Suits; Tropical Suits, etc. Fashion Park Tropical Worsted 3-piece. Were $31 .75 All Fashion Park All Charter House All Mode Spring Weights that were $38 to $75 now Alterations at Cost $50 to $75........... Mode 2 and 3-piece Tropical Worsted Suits. Were .75 $27.50 to $35.00...... 319 Imported Linen, Nurotex and Mohair Suits. Were sl 2.75 $15.00 to $22.50...... White Flannel Trousers. 37.75 Were $10 and $12...... Imported Linen and Nurotex Knickers. Were 3329 $410/$8I50. ... covene Wool Knickers. Were .95 $850't0 $12..........: 35 & Cnmel‘»nv Hnirs Sports oats. Were $25 and .75 $30 ... 521 IEREER) Shirts $2.00 and $2.50 Fancy Shirts; separate collars 81.29 or collars attached. .. 3 for $3.50 Broadcloth Shirts; neckband or collar ched; all pl shades and white, 31.39 Were $2.50......... 3 for $5.00 Imported Fancy Ma- dri Broadcloth, ete. Shings ; separate colla 3 for $6.00 only; neckband or Lot of Silk Shirts; 33435 High-grade Silk Shirts; or collar attached. sz.zn Were $3.50, $4 and $5. Best - grade Cocoon Broadcloth; white sz.n collar attached. Now. . 3 for $8.50 collar attached only. Were $7.50 to $10.. separate collars to match; $8 and $12. ‘5.35 ""3 for $15.00 Pajamas $2 and $2.50 Grld.l“lJ’ 3 for $4.00 and ‘2.3’ 3 for $6.00 46 to $8 Grades.... $3.79 3 for $11.00 $3, $3.50, $4 $4.50 Gra $35 Topcoats Broken sizes. . Neckwear $1 Mode grade Cut Silks . 49e 3 for $1.25 $150 Mode Cut Silks [ 3 for $2.25 $2 and "$2.50. Mode $1.19 Cut'Silksi ..o s 3 for $3.00 $3, $3.50 and $4 $1.39 Mode Cut Silks..... 3 for $4.00 Fancy Hese Were 75¢c and $1.... 59‘: 3 for $1.50 Were $1.50 and $2.. 31.15 3 for $3.00 $2.50, $3 and $3.50. . cz.n * 3 for $6.00 Golf Hose Wers $1.50 and $2.. QB0 Were $3 and $5.... az.ss' Were $7.50 to $10.. 34"5 Handkerchiefs Men's Fancy Pyramid andkerchiefs. Fast 6 for $1.65 Fine fancy silk Hand- kerchiefs. | Were $1 10 89C $2.50. 3 for $2.50 Summer Robes Crepe, Terry, ete. 33.95 Were $5 and $7.50.. $10 and $12........ Foulard Ipported Flannel and Rayon. 310.’5 Were $15 and $20.. Finest of the Robes in Silk and Flannel Were $25, $30, $35 318-75 and $40........... Underwear Madras Union $1 and 79C T S tor 92,28 Rockinchair Union Sul Were $1.50 and 81.1! $2 . Mode Suits. $1.50 .... 3 for $3.50 Mode fancy Shorts. Were #1"and s1.50.. 09C 3 for $2.00 Rayon Usdershirts; 69c plain shad only. Were $1.50.......... 3 for $2.00 The Mode—F at Eleventh ¢ Ha It won’t be long now! This tremendousmark- down of Summer Shoes from pre- vious sales—can't last much long- er! Whites— blacks—colors. Ar Tth St. and “Arcade” Stores Imported Sandals $]. Originally $3.95—then $2.95—and now for final clearance $1.95! Plenty of hot weather ahead— no cooler shoes than these, nor more charming. Tan, trimmed with brown on beige. Women's All- Silk Chiffon Hose — ex- traordinary value— $1.19 And at same price for little girls Closing out 100 pairs woven sandals — at half price. Four different color combinations. Sizes mostly to 11 only—now— $1.95 (Tth St. & “Arcade” Stores only) 7th & K 3212 14th