Meadows (verse)
Golding, Louis
August 2i, i929 THE COMMONWEAL 403 that the rummers have quit the Detroit River; but not a day passes without the chronicling of the arrests of many smugglers, caught attempting to run the...
...Brennan, whom I have quoted above, admits this when he speaks of alley breweries and American-made liquor...
...Coast guards have been accused of firing on Canadian citizens and in Canadian waters...
...LOUIS GOLDINO...
...In pre-Volstead days, good beer was aged for at least three months...
...It is not unusual for ten or more "scooters" to try to cross the river at the same time, each one on a different course, and but three or four of them loaded...
...American-made whisky is but another thorn in the side of the thoroughgoing pussyfooter...
...This talk, true or not, is passed along and believed by the smugglers, and consequently the situation is often very tense...
...There are many very ugly rumors about concerning the brutal action of various officers, but it is almost impossible to verify them and, of course, the bootleggers tend to color maliciously any action of the government men...
...If the law boat is successful in picking out one of the loaded boats the load is thrown overboard...
...One bootlegger has been killed and two have been wounded...
...In this connection I might mention an interesting case that is soon to be tried in the United States District Court in Detroit...
...Their product is a very fair grade of alcohol...
...In an interview in the Detroit Free Press, July Io, i929, Thomas H. Brennan, Assistant District Prohibition Commissioner, is quoted as predicting that, by autumn, "Detroiters who look upon the wine when it is red and on other colors, as long as they are sufficient in alcoholic content, will be forced to d@end on alley beer, American-made whisky and various synthetic concoctions to satisfy their thirst...
...Now, the alley brewery gets its name from the fact that it is generally situated on an alley for the purpose of facilitating the trucking of its product...
...This is cut, colored and flavored, and the result is a whisky which will stand a chemical test and for which high prices are paid...
...It is not alone the violators who have complained, however...
...Not all are captured, as is evidenced by the supply of Canadian whisky and bottled beer and ale that Detroit is still able to boast...
...I know of but one case where the enforcement officers have been fired upon...
...There has been shooting on both sides...
...Because of the profit to be made in its successful manufacture it has, to my knowledge, engaged the attention of graduate chemists and engineers...
...The defendant is charged with dumping burlap bags, which are commonly used in the smuggling of liquor and beer, into the Detroit River...
...but not a day passes without the chronicling of the arrests of many smugglers, caught attempting to run the river...
...The vigilance with which the coast guard has been obliged to proceed has entailed no end of trouble for the government...
...Whether or not the dry forces succeed in their Herculean task of enforcing the law which prohibits the importation of intoxicants from across the river, it is going to be a very difficult work to dry up the border cities and towns...
...Fishermen have complained of undue and illegal search and seizure, and it seems to be the attitude of the government that the burden of proof of innocence is upon anyone abroad on the river, no matter what his status...
...This is admitted by the prohibition department...
...These men erect stills comparable to the stills of the old-line distillers in everything but size...
...But I--should these things happen, These dire events I sing-I should deplore the meadows And weep like anything...
...Dry advocates make much of the term alley beer, which has in it an implication of filth and garbage...
...Alley breweries, as has been proven by numerous raids on them, are for the most part nothing more nor less than small breweries, fully equipped and immaculately clean...
...The story was that the swimmer was struck at several times with a pike pole in the hands of an officer...
...True, it is green: not sufficiently aged...
...The designation is misleading...
...This beer is made, as a general thing, by brewmasters who found themselves out of employment when prohibition closed down the old-time breweries...
...And you might find it pleasant To slide in the lush ooze, And you might wear with rapture Wheels instead of shoes...
...I do not mean to imply that chemists and engineers are engaged in the actual making of this whisky, but I have known them to build the stills and inaugurate the process for a share of the profits...
...As the imported brew becomes harder to get, so-called alley beer becomes the beverage of the thirsty...
...Granted that imports cease altogether, which is improbable, what is to be done with the native manufacturer ? e_~ga d0 g~)s If God annulled all meadows, Ordaining these should be Divided between cities And the glutted sea, Should men by slow gradations Grow black and slim like eels, Or find their urban ankles Had sprouted into wheels...
...In gathering material for this article I was told of an attempt by customs men to drown a swimming "puller" who had taken to the water to avoid arrest...
...They then buy moonshine whisky, which is nothing more than alcohol made inexpertly by home methods, and redistill it, using a process known as fractional distillation...
...Not alone are small boats employed to outwit the minions of the enforcement department, but other, and sometimes very successful, dodges...
...Members of Detroit River yacht clubs and owners of pleasure boats have protested and are constantly protesting the interference of government boats in their legitimate pleasures...
...They must brew a potable beverage, for competition is keen and there are many of them...
...August 2i, i929 THE COMMONWEAL 403 that the rummers have quit the Detroit River...
Vol. 10 • August 1929 • No. 16
