PROHIBITION AT WORK

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13231, 26 September 1908, Page 4

PROHIBITION AT WORK

AX OBJECT LESSON IN OKLAHOMA. (From Kansas "City Star.") She was a large woman, of masculine demeanour, close to middle age, and seemed determined to have her own way. "Well, young man," she said, addressing a clerk in tho local dispensary at Oklahoma City, "if it takes all this trouble to get -whiskey when there's sickness in the family, 1 feel just like scratching my name off the rolls of the W.C.T.U.!" j This large, elderly lady was annoyed at tho routine that beset her in buying half a pint of whiskey. She may not have been a member of tho Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and simply wished to wither with scorn tho State's plan of controlling the liquor traffic. j Here is what sho had done, granting that sho or some member of her family was sick and believed to be in need of liquor. Entering the office of her physician a diagnosis was mado of her symptoms, the patient- insisting that ■ she needed whiskey. To that extent sho was writing her own prescription. -Many physicians, however, seldom prescribe whiskey, preferring some other remedy. This physician may have suggested a tonic of iron, strychnine ami quinine, somewhat at his own risk. But ■in this instance the patient got what she went after. She went next to' the 1 local dispen- ! sary, of which there must be one at j each county seat, and thero may be ' another in each town of 1000 or* mere inhabitants. Thero are few counties that have more than a county seat agency. Arriving at tho agency the elderly woman made an affidavit' that she was the person for whom the whiskey was prescribed, and that it would be used only for medicinal purposes. Then she signed a receipt for the liquor from the agent. The prescription, the affidavit, and the receipt were marked with tho same register number. The ' purchaser then departed with her halfpint, quart, or gallon of whiskey, as j prescribed by her physician. Tho State's agent is something of an j autocrat, however, should ho wish to ! exercise the discretionary lowers eon- ; ferred upon him by the State superin- | tendent of agencies. Should ho susj pect that tho preserintion is irregular j in any way, that the" liouor is not inj tended for medicinal purposes, or that I the applicant is a person who should j not have intoxicants in his possession, ho may refuse to accent tho prescription. And suffering humanity in need of whiskey gets a jolt. j The keeper of a local agency, especially in a large town, or in a county with a heavy population, naturally would be suspected of piling no a fortune hand over fist. The State pays him a commission of 10 ncr cent, on the gross amounts of his" sales, and bears all the oxpenso of maintaining the agency. When the agency system was first proposed there was great glee among politicians attached to the' State Administration. They saw millions in it, and there was a rush for appointments. With commissions in their "pockets, and a consignment of liquor following on tho next_traiu, they went homo and opened shop. Then tho cold, steely truth began , boring into them. The local agency at Guthrie, the capital of tho State, ia ■in a grocery store, and kent by a radical prohibitionist. Sometimes ho has as much as nine gallons of tho official brand of whiskey on hand. Citizens of Guthrio seem remarkably free of ills that/require whiskey as a'ouro. The • agency has been open slightly more than :• month. At tho end of tho first five weeks, four prescriptions for whisky had been filed, namely, two half-pints. s one pint, and one ouart, a total of" 3 dol. 20c. -worth- of •whiskey, from which'tho agent drew a commission of 32 cents. At this rate the agent -would make 3dol. 38c. a year. Last week the agency at Oklahoma City, tho largest town in the State, serving fully 50,000 people, had been open sinco May 13th. On Wednesday, the total sales of whiskey amounted to B<lol., which the agent said was a highwater—or, rather, hi_h whiskey—mark for one day's business. Tho agent's income for that day was eighty, cents. In April he would not have* taken 8 dollars for his income on that;day. Tho total sales at other agencies last week were: Hugo, 15dol 57c; Lawton, buol; Blackwell, 3dol _0c; Shawnee. Pdol 85c, Ardmore, 28dol 27c; Durant; 22d0l 50c; Alva, 34d01; Arapahoe, Idol 00c; Mangum, 15dol 86c. ■Many things effect a difference in the sales in different towns, in some communities the poonlo are . prejudiced against, the. State's engaging in tjjio liquor business, oven for medicinal purposes, and refuso to patronise the agencies. This sentiment extends many times to physioian3 who resent being maao responsible for the only way m which whiskey may bo sold. Physicians that violate the law, or who prescribe without making c. personal diagnosis, may be prosecuted and ultimately deprived, of their license to practice medicine. in Oklahoma. In rural communities larger purchases arc permitted; a farmer living fifteen miles in the country, for instance, being allowed to buy a half-gallon or a gallon. Any person living close to the agency who applied for a half-gallon would oe suspected of wishing to use it for beverage purposes, and could be turned -own by the agent. Furthermore, the bootlegger does not drive so prosperous a business in coun try towns as he does in the larger cities, whero he is bettor able to hide and escape the officers. Enquiry throughout the State leaver little doubt that bootlegging is general. Thero aro few wide-open "joins," persons who know tho ropes have little trouble in getting whisky in most of the towns. The State has a fund of sO,oodoCs for tho enforcement of pre]-: bition, and employs secret service officers to run down violators of the law. xv. E. Loziei, Stat© superintendent o; agencies, said that the war on bootleggers was just beginning. Organisation for this puposo will ue perfected in 1 a week or two. The work will be directed by an enforcement attorney, Fred S. Caldwell, of Oklahoma City, an extreme Prohibitionist, who received his appointment only a iew days ago.' The bootleggers resort to every possible scheme to brina thoir contraband liquoi into the State without detection. Seizures arc being made almost daily in the railroad towns. Thousands of dollars' worth of whisky and boer taken from bootleggers is stored in tb_ State dispensary at Guthrie, much of it being the official brand -old by the State. One scheming bootlegger attempted to impersonate a carpenter, and shipped his whiskey in a tool chest* The latter had been divided into com.partmemt3, each just largo enough to hold a pint lxottle. Detectives seized tho chest, heavy with whiskey, and tho "carpenter" is in jail. A'number of _the seizures are heavy oaken barrels into which ha_ been slipped barrel? of whiskey, the shipment being billed as molasves or vinegar. Many bootleggeTs, especially in the larger towns, show a spirit of fine competition w£__ the States, liquor depart- i merit by selling tJio best brands of i whiskey. Their price usually is 3dols. a quart, against l.GOdols. charged by the State. Persons in scarab, of beverage- whiskey prefer to pay tho differersco of forty cents to tho bootlegger rather than undergo the annoyance and possible failure of trying to get whiskey from an, agency for "nicditinal"' purposes. Tho supprcEsion of the bootleggers ftould increase .the bus-mese of the

agencies and add to the comuwnsQtion of the agents- At this time only wmskey and alcohol ai'o sold by,thi» State. Later braoidies. wines,. and malt bevera|seß will be add ad to ager-cr stock}, which would cause receipts to jump to much higher figures. The sale of bet-r alone probably would far exceed the salo of wliiskev". as beer »s .requently proscribed hy most physicians, especially in tnis latitude, and ■ would bo sold in hardly lc_s quairtitv than a case. Persons who do not wish to patronise either the State a coney or a Ixx>t!c~ger may lawfuly have" liquor sh.ic-r>ed to thc-m from outside States Th«* bulk of the liquor traffic in, Oklahoma is canaueted in that manner.