PROHIBITION.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 May 1923, Page 4

PROHIBITION.

AMERICA’S ILLICIT TRADE. SM COO LIN'D ORGAN IS ATION. America nhal term include- Cana,la. Newfoundland, ami the United Stale-) i- to-day- being literally besieged by smugglers, bootleggers, and other gentry of that kin, who, encouraged by an avidly thirsty section of the American public, are deliberately violating the laws of three countries, and defying the strictures and penalties provided by the administrator- o> justice, write- E. R. Spencer in ••Chambers’- Journal lor Alaicli. Mr Spencer asserts that lour years' varied experience in Canada and me United State- entitles him to claim veracity for the contents of lus article. ||c obtained an insight into the honterlinr and city traffic, and established an intimate and personal contact vith the smuggling fleet which ranges the three-mile ocean limit ol the American coi-,1-. The rapid growth of illicit traffic in liquor alter the enforcement of prohibition called lor the creation of a new police torce to deal with the evil. This force i- known a- the prohibition agents. Rut. ahno-t a- quickly tiie border towns became centres ol intrigue, Mr Spencer declares, and corruption and graft inevitably began to spread among officials irom tne highest to the lowest. •■Tiie' trade spread from Rriti-li Columbia, whose liquor traffic i- under Government control, to Quebec, toe onlv 'wet’ province in Canada, and from the St. Lawrence down the Atlantic coa—i to Mexico, where, protected I. v the three-mile limit, a smuggling Armada began to run in it- cargoes in continuous .succession. Every conceivable channel began to he used' for the conveying of the liquor, Irom aeroplanes to dinghies, and with the development of the traffic organisation took place. The ensuing profits wore found to he enormous, and those engaged in the traffic became most daring in their methods. A hootlegrge’s’ convention was held openly at Detroit last year, and a statement oi the proceedings was published. 1 ’ IN TIIE UNITED STATES. Mr Spencer tell- ef hi- experiences olt e huii m.••n|,-’ trip that lie took last year from the Rocky Aiutiuiuius to the tlhniih- toast and beyond, to NcwHau l and Si I’teire ct Miquelon. in (algal.', whence lie -tailed, lie f.icml that although the city is Inhabited !:\ idle very t,poodle ol a di---ohue or degenerate people, since prnhibb og! calm' mlo iutve a < raze lor la— v•• 'ln.d ing ha-, h.ol.cn out. "The io , f...., •, u.t, drinking wa- prohibit-t-ij .i a. uraulalc tendencies 111 In! ::* :»•;)!■ l - by gait to iUtrio-t a Cclioll if • ~ bn ii had never boloiv -i!c: i!ii.i.'i -I to tiieiu. Drinking parties hecanm .. it cognised form of amusement. and Iho guests were not ulwaycoulined cxcln-ivoly to the male sex. Rcopli- drank a- a go-lure of defiance, •ami v. itii a disregard of coii-equenees that Ic 1 ilK'vililhly to drunkenness." I’-eliilo-teinperunce bar- and ilrtig -tore- -prang up, ••wiicre the nmvi-

puiMin nt-i eoih in i.,ii \\ lui-li was supj::isi>(| 1,1 1,. whisky.” Raids are made intw and lhell, and an individual suffers. but t la* pi cilia ordinarily made from lhr traffic are apparently too high in permit of such incidents liei ceiiug a ilclcrreM[. "Koine who did not drink at all before prohibition, or who drunk temp -lately, now drink execs-ivcly. This is a peculiar psychological fuel, and worthy of mm-c than orihim r\ interest."

AY hat applies In Calgary applies, it is stall'd, to other large cent res in America. And out ol the excessive ora mo for drinking the smuggling and boot legging trade emerged, and it is the extent of that craze that lias caused the illicit trade to attain such c-nor-mous proportions.

ST. IMKIMi'K A DEAD (EXTRE. At .Montreal, Mr Spencer met a Frenchman whom he li.-ul known some years previously in S;. Pierre. Then the Frenchman had owned a small fleet of motor launches and sailing boats, lie had been so sueiesslul meanwhile, in The sir.ltggiing business, that he luid just been able to acquire two Canadian ships, which were leaving immediately lor Scotland to load whisky. It seemed tlial the I- reach Covennnont had recently passed a law allowing the importation of whisky into Ki. Pierre. But all t he whisky that levaes Scotland for St. Pierre does not reach there. Much of it is landed inside the three-mile limit of America. ••I state without hesitation,” the writer of the article goes on, "that 1 believe the Atlantic coast smuggling trade to he the most spectacular, adventurous. ami formidable of its kind the world lias ever seen, and that the concentrated, continuous besieging the three-mile limit hy hundreds oT sailing craft i' without parallel ill history. The whole thing is immense, mul it has attracted the most motley lot of adventurers which has ever congregated oil hoard ships. They are recruited from the ranks of Neva Scotian. Newfoundland, and Gloucester seamen, and from the pick, and the scum of tlie world’s ports. Those men are not only among the finest sailors extant, hut are also fearless and intrepid, whether facing the continuous hazards of the sea, or the armed vigilance of the revenue officers. They have taken to this trade for various reasons, among them necessity, oilers of good pay, and a taste for adven- , lure. They work in many devious ways. At Sydney (not the Australian capital) T found that vessels engaged in the coal trade brought whisky hidden beneath their ballast: and false floors in their forecastles: that the sailing ships and steamers registered under the French flag, which allowed them to come inside the three-mile-limits with intoxicants aboard: that pseudo fishing vessels carried wines In their bait lockers and blubber butts; and that things had come to such a pass that, in the futile attempt to stop the traffic, the agents were searching every vessel that came to port. Some were being caught, hut this had no effect upon the rum runners. The profits of one successful ‘running’- were equal to a whole season’s freight rates.” ST. PIERRE. Visiting St. Pierre itself, Mr Spen-

cer found it rejuvenated. He fell in there with a captain whom he had known in other days as a fisherman, and from him it was learned that there was a large and very powerful inner circle of the smuggling-ring. It worked through a big fleet of motorlaunches and auxiliary yachts, which did the business of unloading. Ihe yachts and launches hung around unpatrolled portions of the coast, and waited for the ships they were to unload. The ships usually made in and signalled them in the night, and when the signal was answered and the coast was clear would conic inside the threemile limit as far as possible, and unloading would begin. “It’s enormous, said the captain. “There must be millions behind some of those chaps. If they get caught, they often get off with a line, and sometimes the wires are pulled and there is no fine, and tut* stuff is not even confiscated. 1 eurtied a load myself for two private yachts. I unloaded at sea a hundred miles out. Those yachts went back towards tbe American coast, and neither one of them was held up. Oraft! Our end of it is the most dangerous. AVe have to S hang about the coast in bad weatnei, | and we’re always knocking up against j the revenue cutters. A\ ere at a die | advantage, 100. in depending oil sail. ] When we're chased, it’s only a matter of luck if we get dear. Then we have to go inside the limit sometimes. The launches won't come out. so we

luive u. go in. And that’s always a ticklish business. It wasn’t so bad a yea I- ago. lull now it's a pretty difficult job. and they've increased tile penalties, and we've had to pay our crews higher wages. "The polish v now is confiscation of -hip and cargo, a heavy fine for the owing-, a short term of imprisonment lor the crew, and anywhere from tln ee months' to two years’ imprisonment for the captain ami mate. ■T'ifteen sail left here in one wed;. Three ran to .Scotland ; the rest cleared for Nil-, -all. ami landed their cargoes in lh<* Tti e conclusion. ■ln this i oiintry (liritain) America’prohibition troubles have hitheito arut-ed more amusement than anything d>e. Inti far-seeing men and women are beginning to realise that prohibit ion may develop into an internalioiiat qmviimt .writes Mr Spencer in coiidusion). Tbe recent decree in Hoc I'icU'd Slates that no foreign ships may cider its ports with liquor on hoard strikes til the liberty of ni hers than American people. That decree was made to try to stop the many smugglers who use a lorcign register as a means to their dubious end.-, but it is doubtful ti' the legislation can lie satisfactorily adjusted. Especially is this so in connection with French and Italian shins, whose crews cannot, and will not, do without their daily allowance of wine, whether in America or out of it. •■Personally. 1 do not think Unit tint; kind of legi-latioit can do any good, 'dy experience in connection with the liquor traffic has caused me to believe that to put an end to it. either by legislation or by armed force, i- practically an impossibility. One has i n!v to consider tbe thousands engaged in the trade, the immense territory to be patrolled. and tiie temper of that section of the American public which is determined that its requirements shall not be restricted by prohibitory laws, to understand the difficulty of the under-

taking, ami the improbability that it v. ill ever cnmnletely succeed. "The question as to what will lie the eventual result of ibis route-! between t !■•■ la iv and the w ishes el a section of the American people is difficult to art-

but I venture to asses l that one d two tilings will happen, -either the

IV- 'ubitien Eato!eemeiit Act will cease to exist, or, steadily and iiirrra-mg-ly, it will combine to be defied aim broken