DRY LAW REPEAL

Hokitika Guardian, 21 December 1933, Page 6

DRY LAW REPEAL

MEANS LITTLE TO AMERICA,

NEW YORK,.December 12

Illegal drinking 111 America-, has been so steady in the past thirteen years that the . repeal o-f Prohibition means little. -

Bootleggers expect t-o continue in illegal business, since many States have not gone “Wet,” and will provide custom. There sar-e also great possibilities of illegal traffic with Canada, where liquor prices and standards are higher •than dh the United-States.

- ‘The law-breaking, forces to yvhich .Prohibition - .'gave -birth.,' s uch/ as" rumrunners, bootleggers and .speakeasies., have not 'byVany .means . dissolved- overnight as a resul t - of' repeal ■ ' Neither has-repeal disbanded ‘ the- extra law enforcement agencies which the Volstead AfiUse't'np.' • J Rlim-vunneVs are just as busy .at the moment, as the twelve-mile territorial limit li ;i s been:retained, and .the initial quotas allotted-'tn Ognadn. Great- Britain) France and other supplying countries .are .-considered by them to be so small a-s to give unlimited scope to-the rum-ruiiner fleet. The bqotlegger s are not greatly disturbed. Their activities, as between Canada and th e United States, are likely to swell to enormous proportions, as the prices of “hard ■ .liquors” throughout "the United States are 20 to 40 per cent, less than Canadian prices except for 'champagne, which is the same price in each country. Bootleggers further expect to-have ,an enormous trade within the United States, as only twenty odd ~ States have implemented •• repeal' .by legislation. Even when they do there will be a dozen or- Sp ‘States/ such; us-: North and South Carolina, which iirtiit. “dry” last month andfwere noted consumers in pre-Prohibition days.