A ROARING TRADE.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 April 1921, Page 11

A ROARING TRADE.

“THE FAR FLUNG BOTTLE LINE.” (London Times Correspondent.) Windsor (Ontario). Someone has described the boundary between Canada and the United States as “The far flung bottle line.” Although Windsor has achieved an i iternational reputation as the headquarters of “bootleggers” and “rum-runners,” at various places along the St. Lawrence River there are bands of whisky smugglers, and along the boundary between Quebec and Vermont the runners do a great and profitable business. But Windsor has pre-eminence in the extent of the traffic, the ingenuity and audacity of the illicit traders, and the huge profits thev have realined. No more favorable situation for such a traffic could be conceived. What is called “the border” extends a distance of 40 miles from Stony Point to Amherstburg, along the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, and the St. Clair River. For much of the distance there are flats covered with reeds, and a maze of channels, lagoons, and small islands on which are the huts of fishermen. The river is only 800 yards wide, which, as has been said, is merely “a buzz and a leap’, for a launch which goes 50 or 60 miles an hour, as do some of the boats engaged in the traffic. “A POPULAR TRADE.”

Along many miles of the water extend Detroit and its thickly populated suburbs of Grosse Point, River Rouge, Wyandotte, and Ecorse. Many of the houses are built out over the water on piles, with boathouses underneath. It is estimated that in Detroit . and its suburbs there are over a million people. Farther south is Toledo, as thirsty as the communities along the border, while in all these American centres there is a large foreign population. On the Canadian side is the city of Windsor, with the towns of Walkerville, Ford, Sandwich, Ojibway, and Tecumseh, with a total population of over 50,900, all unjder separate municipal government, ea/ch jealous of its authority, and each with its force of police. Behind is a country district of which license officials at Windsor declare 90 per cent, of the population are engaged in “bootlegging.” The conflict of authority and the attitude of the people have made any effective enforcement of the law a sheer impossibility. As one official said, “The public mind is demoralised. The people have no respect for the present liquor law, nor would they have for any other liquor law. They seem to think that ‘bootlegging’ is a patriotic duty. They say it brings in American money, and they emphasise the war debt and the depreciation of the Canadian dollar as an excuse or justification of their operations.” The ferries crossing the river are used by the petty smugglers, who wear bottles next to the skin or under the skirts, or, for those who have motors, with a secret chamber under the wind shield or a double bottom. SYSTEMATIC SMUGGLING. One American official who has devised a wonderful screwdriver said, “I find that even the screw heads of the false bottoms are painted black.’ Hundreds of American cars cross the river night after night. “Where do all the American cars go?” has become a parody of -winter time.” Many of these cars when returning are stopped by the officials and the occupants forced to stand on the dock while the search for liquor is prosecuted. In a summer cottage not lung ago an officer discovered nine barrels of beer, all tapped and the pumps ready.

In a stretch of seven miles along the Sandwich-road there are eight roadhouses. The signs read “Fish and chicken dinners, frogs’ legs, meals at all hours of the day and night.” All those (places receive .the vigilant attention of the police. Along the river are frame cottages, which rent for 750 dollars (£187) for two months in the summer. Many of Mie residents of these cottages have fast launches which are used for more than pleasure-riding on the river. The “rum-runners” and “bootleggers” have telephone systems and storing posts and a force of spies And agents far better organised, as the license inspectors admit, than the provincial and municipal police. Ecorse is the most notorious distributing centre of all the suburbs of Detroit. The launches under cover of night ply through the Rouge and Ecorse marshes. The backyards of the houses are on the river, and many a humble dwelling is a smuggler’s depot. Many of the runners wear rubber boots. Silently the launches slide into their berths, and silently their cargoes disappear. HUGE PROFITS. In a roadhouse one said casually to an old darkey, “You seem to have nothing exciting around here.” The darkey chuckled. “Better stick around,” he said, “things don’t begin till 12. Between 12 and 6 is the time.” Another man questioned said, “Th£y have just loaded an automobile across the street. But I ain’t telling anything. No, sir. You might have your house burnt down.” A woman living in a shack has a fast launch, and at her credit in one of the banks 135,000 dollars (£33,750), every dollar of which represents the profits of “rum-running.” A two-masted, sharpprowed schooner entered Ecorse Bay in broad daylight and safely unloaded 15 cases of gin and whisky. It is estimated that on this single transaction the smuggler had a profit of 1,000 dollars (£250); and for gin, 36 dollars (£9). He would get for the first lot 85 dollars ( £2l ss) a case; for the second, 110 dollars (£27 10s); and for the third, 100 dollars ( £25). The profits of the traffic have been so tremendous that all risks are taken, and hundreds of persons defy law and decency in order to get the high rewards of a disreputable business. As serious is the fact that great amounts can be spent in bribing officials and securing protection for the runners. There is no doubt that some of the public officers were singularly inactive in the pursuit and prosecution of offenders. In cases there has been reason to suspect active collusion.