UC-NRLF $B n 511 ) J]} Hi } imflp'l FFDERAL GOVERNMENf AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC JOHNSON Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/federalgovernmenOOjohnric,h The Federal Government and the Liquor Traffic MECHECUNNAOUA. 'T^he original "Christian lobbyist." Mechecunnaqua, or "Little Turtle," promoted the first law ever passed by Congress look- ing to the prohibition of the liquor traffic. The above is a repro- duction of a lithographic portrait in W. A. Brice's "History of Ft. Wayne" published in 1868. The original painting from which the lithograph was taken was made by Gilbert Stuart in Phila- delphia in 1797. This original painting was long since destroyed by fire. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC By WILLIAM E. JOHNSON Chief Special Officer United States Indian Service Published by The American Issue Publishing Company Westerville, Ohio < Copyrighted By The American Issue Publishing Company 1911 Sam Roberts, John Morrison, Ran- dolph W. Cathay, George Williams and Charles Escalanti cheerfully laid down their lives in assisting my efforts to protect the Children of the Forest from licensed and unlicensed cut- throats who would take advantage of their weakness to debauch them with the white man's whisky. To these lofty spirits this volume is reverently and affectionately dedicated. THE AUTHOR Denver, Col., August 20, 1910 242250 Contents CHAPTER 1. The Federal Government and the Liquor Traffic . . 9 CHAPTER H. Customs Revenue 32 CHAPTER HI. Internal Revenue 54 CHAPTER IV. % The Revenue Aftermath 99 CHAPTER V. The Army and Navy 125 CHAPTER VL The Aborigines 160 CHAPTER VII. The Federal Possessions 210 CHAPTER VIII. Sidelights on Congress 222 The Federal Government and the Liquor Traffic. CHAPTER I. In jungle times — in the Stone Age — might was the only law of conduct. The wolf ate the dog, the dog ate the rabbit, and the bear ate all three. Bear and the man attacked each other as advantage presented itself. The right to assault and subjugate woman was among the most treasured prerogatives of the personal liberty code. Wives were secured by conquest and capture, only to be killed to make meat for the hyenas when they had served the purpose of their master. The doctrine that that government is best which govern^ least was in the flower of its development — there wii no government. This must have been the par excel- lence of all rule, granting the correctness of the maxim stated. Breech clouts, a cave and a club constituted man's equipment for the duties and responsibilities c^ life. Stealing from one another made up the commerce of the age. The elements of science and religion had not yet been born. If two plus two equalled four, no- body knew it. Complete personal liberty, ^he right to do what one's passions and impulses dictated regard- less of the effect upon anyone on earth, was unques- 10 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT tioned by man or beast. But, as a cow learns by ex- perience to consider the barbed fence in planning her movements, just so man began to learn by experience that his acts, in the main, had some relation to the acts of other men. Herein began the study of individual rights. The elemental reasoning powers which prompt the buflfalo to form a herd, the ants to construct a hill, the fish to form a school and geese to flock, led men to develop organization for mutual benefit and advantage. The constituent parts of any social organization what- soever are made up of contributions of individual rights. Men first relinquished the personal right to kill one another. Then followed the abandonment of the right to steal ; then of the right to assault. The right to torture, the right to annoy, the right to spread dis- ease, the right to rape, the right to own more than one wife, the right to appear unclothed in public, were surrendered one by one. These prerogatives were not given up without a struggle. With each new innova- tion a guttural roar would go up from the many who clung to their caves, their breech clouts, and their right to kill and steal. The wiser monkeys, in the interest of the herd, compel a degree of good behavior on the part of the conservatives and recalcitrants of the flock. Just so the primeval man hammered the rebellious Breech Clouts into submission and took from him con- tributions of individual prerogatives which the latter mistook for personal liberties. Throughout all the ages Breech Clouts has rent the air with his bellow of protest against progress. Breech Clouts burned Gior- AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC ii dano Bruno at the stake for saying that the earth was round. Breech Clouts erected the Inquisition in Spain and the scaffold in Massachusetts. Breech Clouts fought progress all the way around the earth before he would give up polygamy. Breech Clouts drenched continents in blood ere he would yield the "right" to enslave his weaker neighbor. And now Breech Clouts is in the ditches defending his alleged right to debauch and rob his fellow by poisoned drinks — the same old Breech Clouts who lived in the primal cave, arrayed in nothing, and who lived by plundering his industrious neighbor. It is a long tedious journey from this government of and by the club of jungle days to the modern idea that it is the duty of law to protect, rather than to starve and enslave, the weak. The idea is not yet fully en- throned, for we find ourselves in the midst of a struggle over the doctrine that the state has the right to sell one a commission to rob and cheat his fellow in its name; the theory that the state has the right to issue letters of marque and reprisal against its own citizens. In the former days the weak were subjugated with a club at the individual caprice of the strong. In these latter days, the idea has been modified into a plan by which the strong commissions one of its number to plunder and debauch the weak on a percentage basis or in return for a stated revenue. The whole duty of the state to its weaker members has thus become the burning issue of the twentieth century throughout the world. 12 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT It is not the purpose, in this connection, to attempt to trace the development of law from its beginning. Such would require volumes in itself. It is only in- tended in this chapter to make clear the constitucional limitations of the Federal Government of the Un;.tcd States in dealing with the liquor problem, and the corresponding powers of the states, in respect to the same subject. The Constitution of the United Stales is the fruitage of the Anglo-Saxon struggle with the Norman Kings for liberty, a struggle of eight hundred and forty years. The English constitution, developed in this contest, was designed only to protect the people from the King. It had no relation to the dealings of the people among themselves. Neither did it contemplate protection of the peo- ple from Parliament or from the courts. So, when the Tudor Kings sought to re-enslave the people, they made use of a corrupt parliament to accomplish the end in view. It was under this English Constitution that Sir John Hawkins initiated the British trade in African slavery, selling slaves at his own price to the Spanish settlements in America at the mouth of his ships' can- non. And Sir John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his prowess and diligence in extending British trade. It was, moreover, under this constitution. King. Parliament and courts, that the American colonists were oppressed and goaded into declaring themselves free and independent in 1776. And so, when this new Democracy, for the first time in history, grasped all the reins of government — legislative, executive and AxND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC , 13 judicial — it set to work to devise metes and bounds for these three functions. This involved the drafting of constitutions, state and national, the first written constitutions in the history of the world. These docu- ments were prepared upon the theory that all power was in the people and that these departments of gov- ernment were created by the people who conferred upon them, in this constitution, certain specific pow- ers and no more. No legislative power was conferred upon the executive or upon the courts. The legislature had no judicial or executive power. The executive was the sole custodian of executive functions. The people retained all authority not specifically delegated in the constitution. They even retained power to re- voke or change the constitution ; which made it merely the expressed will of the people — instructions to the three branches of their government. The state constitutions were adopted first. And, in the making thereof, the influence of the landed prop- erty class predominated. It was thus that the interests of property were diligently conserved in the writing of these state documents. True, all contained the Bill of Rights, which had grown from five paragraphs in the Magna Charta to thirteen in the Bill of Rights of 1689. Nobody would dispute the Bill of Rights any more than he would repudiate the Ten Commandments. So the original provisions of the Bill of Rights appeared in all constitutions, elaborated to sixteen items in the Virginia Constitution and to thirty in that of Massachu- setts. When it came to the formation of the Federal Con- 14 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT stitution in 1 787, diflferent influences prevailed. It had re- quired years of agitating on the part of such pamphle- teers as Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and John Adams to lead the people to consent to any government at all in the place of the Confederacy. When they were finally brought to the point, reluctantly, of consenting to the constitutional convention, they guarded its every act with the most jealous care. The state governments were something close at home where they could be watched. But in days when travel was limited to the horse, the Federal Government was a thing afar off, where it could not be looked after, and upon which no unnecessary authority could be safely conferred. They did not propose to have a remote authority meddling with their local affairs. This feeling was well express- ed in Thomas Jefferson's oft repeated dictum, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." And so the people laid down in their Federal Constitution the precise powers conferred upon the different branches of their government. A few things upon which they could not agree, they ignored. Posterity paid the cost. It re- quired the Civil War of 1861-5 to settle the question of State Sovereignty — one of those things which the peo- ple dodged in 1787. In view of the vociferous talk against "sumptuary legislation" whenever it is proposed to protect person and property against depredations of the liquor deal- er, it is interesting to note that two attempts to in- duce the Constitutional Convention to authorize Con- AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 15 gress *'to enact sumptuary laws" were defeated. An attempt was made on August 20, 1787, when Mr. Mason made such a motion. * He repeated the motion on September 13, and lost again, f Sumptu- ary legislation then referred only to such matters as style of clothing, kind of food, cost of living, etc. In these latter days politicians have ap- plied the term to such matters as keeping saloons, gambling shops, lotteries and all sorts of dives. The modern cry against "sumptuary legislation" is purely a plea in behalf of the criminal classes who desire to traffic in debauchery. For an hundred years, there has never been any serious demand for sumptuary legisla- tion on the part of anybody. It is as dead as the Act of Attainder, and has been for a century. Any protest against legislation to reduce crime and poverty on the ground that it is "sumptuary" legislation is suggestive of cant in its most aggravated form. In the Constitution Congress was given powerf "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises." Power was also given Congress§ "to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and * The motion was defeated by a vote of 8 to 3. Dela- ware, Georgia and Maryland voted "Yes." New Hampshire Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia voted "No." t Madison Papers, Vol. Ill, pp. 1369, 1568. t Constitution, Art. i, Sec. 8, par. i. § Id. par. 3. i6 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT with Indian tribes." Further than this, the Constitu- tion* provides that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Under the constitution, therefore, the powers of the Federal Government in dealing with the liquor traffic are plainly limited to the matter of taxa- tion, customs and internal revenue, and to the traffic therein between the states and with Indian tribes. Con- gress is, therefore, shorn of all authority to exercise po- lice' powders except upon the high seasf and in territory^ exclusively under Federal control. The Fourteenth amendment, adopted since the Civil War, has been in- voked to compel the states to allow the operation of saloons. This amendment reads: "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privi- leges or immunities of the citizens of the United States, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This provision was adopted to safeguard the rights of the freedmen of the South, but the liquor dealers seized upon it as a shelter from the prohibition laws of the states. The Federal courts were petitioned to restrain the states in their attempts to "abridge the privileges or immunities of the citi- zens" through their acts prohibiting the beverage liq- uor traffic. The courts, however, uniformly refused to come to the relief of the liquor dealers, iffirming that * Amendment, Article X. t Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8, par. 9. t Id., par. 16. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 17 the right to sell intoxicating liquors was not one of the privileges and immunities of citizens as contemplat- ed by the Fourteenth amendment,* and that the Fed- eral courts have nothing to do with the exercise of po- lice powers on the part of the state. While the Federal courts thus clearly decline to interfere with the states in the exercise of police pow- ers, they just as clearly support Congress in its author- ity to ''regulate commerce * * * among the several States." In construing this provision, the courts have affirmed the right of Congress to enact police regula- tion over domain or over persons within its exclusive jurisdiction, as in Alaska,t or even to the adoption of local option legislation in such territory. It is further held that the power to regulate commerce with Indian tribes involves the right to regulate commerce between tribes and among members thereof even when they are outside of their reservations and within the limits of a state.J In respect to police powers, the law is most definitely and clearly established that all police pow- ers are retained by the states, except those especially delegated to Congress, those over the high seas, and territory and persons exclusively under Federal juris- * In re Hoover, 30 Fed. Rep. 51; Lemon vs. Wagner, 68 Iowa, 660, 27, N. W. Rep. 814; Edgar vs. State, 45 Ark. 356; United States vs. Riley, 5 Blatch. 204. t U. S. vs. Nelson, 29 Fed. Rep. 202; Nelson vs. U. S., 30 Fed. Rep. 112; Territory vs. O'Connor, 5 Dak. 397, 41 N. W. Rep. 746. t U. S. vs. Shaw-Mux, 2 Sawy. 364. i8 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT diction. No powers were taken from the state by the Fourteenth amendment; neither were any liberties taken from the people. The problems of dealing with the liquor traffic un- der the Interstate Commerce laws, based on the ex- clusive constitutional power given Congress over such traffic, have chiefly arisen from the great changes in con- ditions since 1787, when the Constitution was adopted. At that time the means of communication and transpor- tation were of the most primitive character. Each manufacturer sold his own wares in his own immediate vicinity. The factory had not taken the place of the shop. Interstate commerce was but a mere incident in the life of the people. Under the Confederation, states had levied tariffs on imports from other states. Some of these tariffs were retaliatory imposts even when the same states were co-operating to shake off foreign oppression. The utmost fiscal and trade con- fusion resulted. It was to remedy this condition that interstate commerce was made wholly a matter of Congressional control. But along came the steam engine, the telegraph, the railway, the telephone, mul- tiplying again and again the facilities of intercommuni- cation and transport. In the wake of these inventions came the partnership, the factory, the associations, the corporations, trusts and cheap postage. Industry and commerce between the states grew by leaps and bounds until, instead of being an incident to traffic, this commerce reached Brobdingnagian proportions. Nearly all trade has become interstate. New York AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 19 buys her flour in Minnesota and Minnesota buys her clothes in New York. Texas sells her steers in Chi- cago and then sends there after her beefsteak. Cali- fornia ships her fruit to Chicago and buys her furni- ture in Michigan. Montana sends her hides to St. Louis and buys her shoes in the same market. Ar- kansas ships her apples to Boston and buys her quinine in Detroit. Utah sends her wool to Massa- chusetts and buys oysters in Baltimore with the pro- ceeds. The factory is now built on a railway siding, from which its products are poured into these arteries of trade. Even the farmer ships his stock and pro- ducts to the railway centers to be scattered thence to the four winds. There then arose the problem of mak- ing this old rule, constructed to fit primitive times, apply to modern conditions as they arose. The courts, however, have always strictly construed this clause of the Constitution as new problems were presented. It has always been ruled that Congress is supreme over interstate commerce, and Congress has always most jealously guarded its prerogatives in this respect. This little clause has been a tremendous force in building up the power of the central government over that of the states. In proportion as interstate com- merce grew, just in that ratio did the central govern- ment develop. And as the power at Washington was magnified, so that of the states correspondingly diminished. Mayors of cities became of more im- portance than governors themselves. Traditions were brushed aside and theories demolished, in this 20 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT resistless sweep of progress. An Imperial Republic is born. The complete authority of Congress over terri- tory exclusively under its jurisdiction has been shown on these pages. There remain two topics relating to the power of Congress over the liquor traffic yet to be considered, both of which arise out of the clause of the Constitution conferring upon Congress power to regulate interstate commerce. One of these is the matter of adulteration. The other is the application of the Interstate Commerce law to interstate ship- ments of intoxicants into prohibition territory. It has long since been a settled principle of law that it is within the police powers of a state to enact legisla- tion safeguarding the public health. The constitu- tional validity of laws prohibiting the adulteration of food and beverages has never been seriously disputed.* The state legislation on this subject has not been fully effective for the reason that it could not apply to inter- state traffic. The fierce competition of the times had led to notorious adulteration of numerous items of food and drink of interstate traffic. After a long, tedious propaganda, led chiefly by Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture, Congress passedf *'an act for pre- venting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious ♦Exp. Kohler. 74 Cal. 38, construing Act of March 7. 1887. t Approved June 30, 1906. Public, No. 384. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 21 foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulat- ing the traffic therein." The principal opposition to this measure came from the rectifiers of distilled liquors. This act has already revolutionized the character of numerous items of food and drink. While some of the regulations drafted to carry this law into eflfect have been attacked, the constitutionality of the Act itself has not been seriously questioned. Congress remains the undisputed master of interstate traffic, in the matter of adulteration. In the exercise of their police powers the states have enacted laws prohibiting, in whole or in part, the traffic in intoxicating liquors within their borders. In the enforcement of these laws, these states have come into constant collision with the provisions of the Fed- eral constitution relating to the interstate commerce powers of Congress. Again and again have the states protested, but Congress has tenaciously refused to give up or appear to surrender any part of her authority over interstate traffic. Thus has been created a situ- ation that has been a source of irritation for twenty years. And the increasingly drastic character of anti- liquor legislation in the states has served to increase in acutene§s this unsatisfactory condition. The origi- nal rule,* determined in 1827, in respect to goods im- ported from foreign countries, was that any article of commerce authorized by Congress to be imported from a foreign country continued to be an article of foreign * Brown vs. Maryland, 12 Wheat. 415, 449. 22 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT commerce until it reached the importer and while it remained in his hands in its unbroken condition. And, moreover, such importer could sell such article in the original package in which it was imported, without regard to state or local laws. The question subsequently arose as to the application of this prin- ciple to commerce between the states. To test the matter, three cases were selected for appeal by the liquor dealers. Rufus Choate and Daniel Webster were employed to prosecute the appeals with the view of extending the principle enunciated in 1827 to interstate commerce.* The efforts of the liquor men were defeated in this attempt, chiefly on the grounds that Congress had not exercised its powers by enact- ing legislation, whereas it had legislated in the matter of foreign commerce. In summing up the cases in his decision, Chief Justice Taney said: "Upon the whole, the law of New Hampshire is in my judgment a valid one. For although the gin sold was an im- port from another state, and Congress has clearly the power to regulate such importations, under the grant of power to regulate commerce among the several states, yet, as Congress has made no regulation on this subject, the traffic in the article may be lawfully regulated by the state as soon as it is landed in its territory, and a tax imposed upon it, or a li- cense required, or a sale altogether prohibited, according to the policy which the state may suppose to be its interest or duty to pursue." * The cases argued were Thurlow vs. Mass; Fletcher vs. R. I., and Pierce vs. N. H., the cause being generally known as "License Cases," 5 Howard, 504, 586. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 23 During the next forty years it was the settled doctrine that intoxicating liquors imported from one state to another were subject to the laws of the state into which they were taken and could not be sold in such state, either in original packages or otherwise, except as the laws of such state might prescribe. It was held that even if the laws of any state did inci- dentally affect foreign or interstate commerce, such laws did not conflict with the Federal constitution unless they discriminated against foreign commerce. In 1888, signs of trouble came to the Prohibitionists as to interstate commerce. The state of Iowa had enacted a law forbidding any common carrier to bring intoxicating liquors within the state. A case* arising under this statute, known as Bowman vs. Railway, was carried to the United States Supreme Court, where it was declared unconstitutional as an attempt to regulate interstate commerce.f This emboldened the liquor dealers to further activities along the same line. Two years later they were rewarded in the famous Original Package decision^ in which the former decision in the License cases of 1847 was directly overruled, and in which it was further decided that liquors imported from without a state could be * Bowman vs. C. & N. W. R. R. Co., 125 U. S. 465, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 689. t Chief Justice Waite and Justices Harlan and Gray dis- sented. t Leisy vs. Hardin, 135 U. S. 100, reversing 78 Iowa 286. 24 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT sold by the importer in the original packages regard- less of state law. This revolutionary decision led to the passage of the Wilson Act as detailed in Chapter VIII, making such shipments amenable to state law "upon arrival in such state or territory." This was construed to mean when the shipment had reached the hands of the consignee. Under this decision it is the practice of liquor dealers to make shipments of liquor into Prohibition territory, which shipments are under protection of the interstate commerce law until they reach the possession of the consignee. To re- move this interference of the Federal government with the police powers of the state is one of the chief de- mands of the Prohibitionists. As to the constitutional authority of a state to prohibit the beverage liquor traffic, as against any in- herent or natural right of a citizen to sell, the United States Supreme Court has uniformly and firmly ruled with the state. The basis for the claim that it is the natural right of a man to engage in any sort of busi- ness has its origin in the Magna Charta of King John,, which says *'no free man shall be taken, or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any ways destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send upon him unless by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land." In the reissue of the Charter by Henry III, these words were added after the word "disseised," "no free man shall be deprived of his liberties or of his free customs." Practically the same idea was expressed in Articles IV, V, VI, VII AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 25 of the original amendments to the Constitution of the United States. They were further elaborated and more explicitly stated in the Fourteenth amendment adopted after the Civil War. During the "eighties," when the states were engaged in so many contests looking to constitutional prohibition, these measures were savagely attacked in the courts by liquor dealers raising constitutional questions involving matters of "compensation," "impairment of contracts," and the inherent or natural right of any person to engage in any sort of business, regardless of its effect upon the community. The first of the important decisions in- volving inherent rights resulting from this contest was that in the case of Bartmeyer vs. Iowa,* in which the court flatly declared that "so far as such a right [to sell intoxicating liquors] exists, it is not one of the rights growing out of citizenship of the United States." Following this, another decision was rendered in a lottery casef in which similar principles were in- volved. The state of Mississippi had chartered a lot- tery in 1867. Two years later it had adopted a con- stitution prohibiting the same. It was under Section 10, Article i, forbidding a state to pass laws impairing existing contracts, that the plaintiffs sought relief. Chief Justice Waite, in rendering the decision of the Court in the case, said: "No legislature can bargain away the public health and the public morals. The people themselves cannot do it, much * 18 Wallace, 129. t Stone vs. Mississippi, loi U. S. Rep., p. 815. 26 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT less their servants. The supervision of both these subjects of government power is continuing in their nature, and they are to be dealt with as the special exigencies of the moment may require. Government is organized with a view to their preservation, and cannot divest itself of the power to pro- vide them. For this purpose the largest legislative discre- tion is allowed and the discretion cannot be parted with any more than power itself." The next important decision grew out of an attack upon the law in the famous case known as Beer Com- pany vs. Massachusetts, decided in 1877. The Boston Beer Company had been granted a perpetual charter in 1828. It was complained that the Prohibitory law of 1869 was invalid for the reason stated in the Stone vs. Mississippi case. Justice Bradley, in decid- ing the case, had said :* "If the public safety or the public morals require the discontinuance of the manu- facturing or traffic, the hand of the legislature cannot be stayed from providing for its discontinuance, by the incidental inconvenience which individuals or corpora- tions may suffer. All rights are held subject to the police power of the state." For the purpose of assail- ing the Bradley decision two typical cases were se- lected, Mulger vs. Kansas and Kansas vs. Ziebold. Both of these men were Kansas brewers whose busi- ness had been destroyed by the Prohibitory law. In * 97 U. S. Rep., p. 32. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 27 rendering the decision* of the court, December 5, 1887, Justice Harlan said: "There is no justification for holding that the state, under the guise of merely police regulations, is here aiming to de- prive the citizen of his constitutional rights; for we cannot shut our view to the fact, within the knowledge of all, that the public health, the public morals and the public safety may be endangered by the general use of intoxicating drinks; nor the fact, established by statistics accessible to every one, that the disorder, pauperism and crime prevalent in the country are in some degree at least traceable to this evil. * * * * "The principle that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, was embod- ied, in substance, in the Constitution of nearly all, if not all, of the several states at the time of the adoption of the fourteenth amendment thereto, and it has never been regarded as incompatible with the principle, equally vital, because es- sential to the peace and safety of society, that all property in this country is held under the implied obligation that the owners' use of it shall not be injurious to the community. * * "The power which the states unquestionably have of pro- hibiting such use by individuals of their property as shall be prejudicial to the health, the morals or the safety of the pub- lic is not, and — consistently with the existence and safety of organized society — cannot be burdened with the condition that the state must compensate such individual owners for pecuniary losses they sustain by reason of their not being permitted by a noxious use of their property to inflict injury up- * 123 U. S. Rep. 623. See also, In re Raher, 140 U. S., 545; Cantini vs. Tillman, 54 Fed. Rep. 969; IVIunn vs. Illinois, 94 U, S., 113; Tanner vs. Alliance, 29 Fed. Rep. 196; Foster vs. Kansas, 112 U. S., 205; Eilenbecker vs. Plymouth County, 134 U. S., 31; Kansas vs. Bradley, 26 Fed. Rep. 289; In re Bros- nahan, 18 Fed. Rep. 62. 2S THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT on the community. The exercise of the police power by the de- struction of property which is itself a public nuisance, or the prohibition of its use in a particular way, whereby its value becomes depreciated, is very different from taking property for public use, or of depriving a person of property without due process of law. In one case, a nuisance only is abated; in the other, an unoffending property is taken away from an innocent owner." The scope of this decision was somewhat enlarged shortly after in the case of Kidd vs. Pearson, in which the principle was established that a state could sup- press the beverage manufacture of liquor even when the liquor was being manufactured for sale in another state. This decision was quickly followed by the crowning deliverance of the series, that rendered in the case of Crowley vs. Christensen.* Justice Field, in rendering the decision of the Court, said : "It is undoubtedly true that it is the right of every citi- zen of the United States to pursue any lawful trade or busi- ness, under such restrictions as are imposed upon all persons of the same age, sex and condition. But the possession and enjoyment of all rights are subject to such reasonable con- ditions as may be deemed by the governing authority of the country essential to the safety, health, peace and good order and morals of the community. Even liberty, the greatest of all rights, is not unrestricted license to act according to one's own will. It is only freedom from restraint under conditions es- sential to the equal enjoyment of the same rights by others. It is then liberty regulated by law. The right to acquire, enjoy and dispose of property is declared in the Constitutions of several states to be one of the inalienable rights of man. But this declaration is not held to preclude the legislature of ♦ 137 U. S. Rep., 86. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 29 any state from passing laws respecting the acquisition, en- joyment and disposition of property. What contracts re specting its acquisition and disposition shall be valid, and What void or voidable; when they shall be in writing, and when orally; and by what instruments they may be conveyed or mortgaged are subjects of constant legislation. And as to the enjoyment of property, the rule is general that it must be accompanied by such limitations as will not impair the equal enjoyment to others of their property. Sic utere tuo ut alien- um non laedas is a maxim of universal application. "For the pursuit of any lawful trade or business, the law imposes similar conditions. Regulations respecting them are almost infinite, varying with the nature of the business. Some occupations by their noise in their pursuit, some by the odors they engender, and some by the dangers accompanying them, require regulations as to the locality in which they shall be conducted. Some by the dangerous character of the articles used, manufactured or sold, require, also, special qualifications in the parties to use, manufacture or sell them. All this is but common knowledge, and would hardly be mentioned were it not for the position often taken and ve- hemently pressed, that there is something wrong in principle and objectionable in similar restrictions when applied to the selling by retail, in small quantities, of spirituous and intoxi- <:ating liquors. It is urged that, as the liquors are used as a beverage, and the injury following them, if taken in excess is voluntarily inflicted, and is confined to the party offending, their sale should be without restrictions, the contention being that what a man shall drink, equally with what he shall eat, is not properly matter for legislation. "There is in this questioVi an assumption of fact which does not exist, that when liquo'rs are taken in excess the in- juries are confined to the party oflfending. The injury, it is true, first falls upon him in his health, which the habit under- mines; in his morals, which it weakens; and in the self-abase- ment which it creates. But, as it leads to neglect of business 30 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and waste of property and general demoralization, it affects those who are immediately connected with and dependent upon him. By the general concurrence of every civilized and Christian community, there are few sources of crime and mis- ery equal to the: dram shop, where intoxicating liquors in small quantities, to be drunk at the time, are sold indiscrimi- nately to all parties applying. The statistics of every state show a greater amount of crime and misery attributable to the use of ardent spirits obtained at these retail liquor saloons than any other source. The sale of such liquor in this way has therefore been, at all times, by the courts of every state, proper subject of legislative regulation. Not only may a li- cense be exacted from the keeper of the saloon before a single glass of his liquor can be disposed of, but restrictions may be imposed as to the class of persons to whom they may b€ sold, and the hours of the day and the days of the week on which the saloons may be opened. The sale in that form may be absolutely prohibited. It is a question of public expediency and public morality, and not Federal law. The police power of the state is fully competent to regulate the business — to mitigate its evils or suppress it entirely. There is no inherent right in a citizen to thus sell intoxicating liquor by retail; it is aot a privilege of a citizen of a state or a citi- zen of the United States. As it is a business attended with great danger to the community, it may, as already said, be entirely prohibited, or be permitted under such conditions as will limit to the utmost its evils." In this series of decisions, the liquor dealers met defeats of the most vital and overw^helming character. They won some comfort under the interstate commerce decisions, enabling them to ship liquors to a consignee in a prohibition state, which right will doubtless be taken from them by early Congressional action. But they had irrevocably lost all of their main contentions AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 31 as to the impairment of contracts, as to taking property without compensation, as to police powers of the state, as to the Fourteenth Amendment and as to the inher- ent or natural rights of men. With the modification of the Interstate Commerce law by Congress, so as to pre- vent Federal interference with the states in dealing with this subject, the way will be fully open to the states more successfully to stay the hands of the wick- ed, designing men who would make their business that of oppressing, debauching and maltreating the weak. A nation does not consist of mountains and hills and valleys and mines and lakes and rivers; it is the character of the people that makes the glory of a Re- public or Empire. If there is any reason for preventing ghouls from scuttling the nation's ships of war, or pois- oning the public water supply, the same reasons with the same force counsel the restraining of treasonable men from rotting its citizenship by traffic in debauch- ery. The United States Supreme Court has armed the states to finish the work thus well begun. Let them complete the task. Customs Revenue. CHAPTER 11. From the beginning of the government up to the year i8i6, while the customs revenue was partly in- fluenced by foreign considerations, it was largely a matter of fiscal concern. Since that period foreign in- terests have disappeared, while fiscal and political re- quirements have forged to the front. The debate, since that time, has chiefly revolved around proposals for "protection," "free trade" and "tariflf for revenue only." The right to import, in earlier times, was usually associated with the right to sell. The right to import seemed to imply the right to sell. This theory, how- ever, was sentenced to death by the United States Su- preme Court in 1847, after one of the greatest legal battles of the century. The litigation grew out of the aggressive policy adopted in the early forties by the various states, of enacting drastic licensing and local option laws. In order to contest this legislation, the liquor dealers banded themselves together and employ- ed Rufus Choate and Daniel Webster, the two leading constitutional lawyers of the period, to defend their in- terests. Three test cases, wherein the defendants in the Court below had been convicted of violating the state AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 33 laws restricting or forbidding the selling of liquor, were appealed to the United States Supreme Court,* The first argument was held in 1845, but no decision was reached. In 1847, the subject was reargued before seven of the nine justices. In his argument, Mr. Webster pre- sented the general proposition that the "right to im- port implied the right to sell." Mr. Choatef confined his argument to the contention that the legislation ♦ These cases were Thurlow vs. Massachusetts, Fletcher vs. Rhode Island, and Pierce vs. New Hampshire. t In this litigation, Choate and Webster appeared simply as attorneys, and not to express their own personal views. Webster, at least, was noted for his drinking habits, yet both were friends of the temperance movement. In the winter of 1846, Mr. Choate delivered a dramatic address in the Massachusetts Senate in behalf of measures to restrict the liquor traffic. In his impassioned manner, he said (Journal of the American Temperance Union, June, 1846, p. 84) : "The argument is that they live in a free country. 'Your temperance fanatics shall never set their foot upon our necks. It is like going into Indian captivity — or like the middle passage in a Portuguese slaver.' And so. Sir, I suppose the crew of the Kent Indianman thought. 'We live in a free country and if we can't carry a little cask of spirit to sea with us, let the ship and passengers all go to the bottom together.' And so the little cask of rum was taken, and from that cask a fire was kindled, which burned that noble ship of 1,100 tons, and eighty human beings were sent down into a coffinless grave, and nothing but the providence of God interfered to save five hundred others. Who is not satisfied that the law of force, if gentlemen please to call it so, ought to have been applied when moral suasion failed? I would leave this ab- stract question with a jury of drinking men; I know they would decide it right. Sir, — we apply the law of force in every case when a mighty evil is in progress. We should break in- to any man's house, at the cry of murder, though it is his 34 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT under discussion interfered with the existing commer- cial treaties with France. The contention of the liquor dealers was not sustained. The principle was thus es- tablished that the states had a right to regulate or prohibit the traffic in intoxicating liquors. In this de- cision the foundation was laid for future prohibitory legislation, and a starting point established for sub- castle — you would knock any man down if you saw him kill- ing his wife and child. You would not coolly stand by and see a man cut his own throat — you would interfere, because in all of these cases you would know certainly there must be something like begun or confirmed insanity. Sir, I insist that we need a law that prohibits men from drinking rum. Let me refer you here to facts. Mr. Senator Grundy, after thirty- years' extensive practice in the law, gives it as his opinion that the use of ardent spirit has occasioned nine-tenths of all pauperism, and three-quarters of all the crimes in our coun- try. And from the statistical tables, I learn that ninety-nine in a hundred, of all who commit suicide in the world, are the immediate or remote victims of intemperance; seven-tenths of all who have died of cholera, both in this country, and in Europe, were spirit drinkers, and one-half were decidedly in- temperate. "In a single year 40,000 persons in our own country go down to a drunkard's grave. "Away with the idea that moral suasion would prevent all this. How much moral suasion do you believe would have been necessary to have prevailed with the lamented physician of a town near by, whose appetite for spirit was so strong, that when he saw rum for sale, in defiance of the temperance law, upon the observance of which law he hung all his hopes, he exclaimed, 'My God, there is no help for me!' and taking his pistol, blew his brains out in his study. How much moral suasion do you believe would have been necessary to have prevailed with that liquor seller, who, when urged by the physician referred to, never to sell him any more, replied, 'Damn you, T will sell to who I have a mind to. and as much as I have a mind to!'" On January 13, 1832, then in the zenith of his glory. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 35 sequent United States Supreme Court decisions on the subject of the prohibition of the liquor traffic. In rendering the decision of the Court, Chief Jus- tice Taney said : "Every state, therefore, may regulate its own internal traffic, according to its own judgment, and upon its own views of the interest and well-being of its citizens. I am not aware that these principles have ever been questioned. . . . Although a state is bound to receive and permit the sale by the importer of any article of merchandise which Congress authorizes to be imported, it is not to furnish a market for it, nor to abstain from the passage of any law which it may deem necessary or advisable to guard the health and morals Daniel Webster attended a meeting of the Congressional Temperance Society in Washington. Lewis Cass presided. Speeches were made by Senator Felix Grundy, Senator Theo- dore Frelinghuysen, Senator Isaac C. Bates and President John Quincy Adams. Mr. Webster said: '"One main benefit, perhaps the principal one, which may be expected from this meeting, is the united expression of opinion, by gentlemen from all parts of the country, of the effect which has been produced by the Societies for the pro- motion of Temperance. I rise, therefore, Sir, not for the pur- pose of making an argument, but of expressing clearly and strongly rtiy own opinion on this point. "I shall not follow those who have already spoken, by remarking at any length, on the general subject of intemper- ance, as a personal, domestic, social and political evil. Noth- ing less, certainly, can be said of it, than that it is a great vice; and, in an extraordinary degree, the parent and con- comitant of other great vices. In taking the mensuration of the mischiefs which it brings to men, it seems to me that we ought to regard, after all, not so much its consequences to their comforts, their reasonable enjoyment, their health, or their life, as its effects on their moral and intellectual char- acter; because all vice is essentially dreadful as it affects the character and morals of an immortal being, and this sinks 36 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT of its citizens, although such law may discourage importation, or diminish the profits of the importer or lessen the revenue to the general government. "If any state deems the retail and internal traffic in ardent spirits injurious to its citizens, and calculated to produce idle- ness, vice and debauchery, I see nothing in the Constitution of the United States to prevent it from regulating and re- straining the traffic, or from prohibiting it altogether, if it thinks proper." Six of the seven justices wrote opinions concur- ring, and the seventh. Justice Nelson, concurred .with- out comment. Said Justice Grier: "It is not necessary for the purpose of justifying the state legislation now under consideration, to array the appalling statistics of misery, pauperism and crime which have their origin in the use or abuse of ardent spirits. The police power, its victim in the sight of God and man below the grade of moral, to that of brutal beings. Doubtless more than other vices, this unfits the mind for the cultivation or growth of any plant of virtue. It strikes a blow, a deadly blow, at once, on all us capacities, and all its sensibilities. It renders it alike incapable of pious feelings, of social regard, and of domestic aflFections. One of its earliest visible consequences, is lessen- ing of self-respect, a consciousness of personal degradation, a humbling conviction, felt by its victim, that he has sunk, or is sinking, from his proper rank, as an intellectual and moral being. The mind becomes at last reconciled to its own degradation and prostration; and the influence of just motives is no longer felt by him. Every high principle, every noble purpose, every pure affection, becomes extinguished, in the insane surrender of reason and character to low* appe- tite. Just so far as human virtues have to do with the mind, and the heart of man, just so far intemperance, by hardening the one, and blinding the other, shows itself a foe to them all. Habitual intemperance is, indeed, a deliberate and contemp- tuous rejection of that gift of REASON, with which the Creator has endowed man; a voluntary and mad surrender of human rank, and eager plunging fron^ human intellect, human AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 37 which is exclusively in the states, is alone competent to the correction of these great evils, and all measures of restraint or prohibition necessary to effect the purpose are within the scope of that authority. There is no conflict of power, or of legislation as between the states and the United States, each acting within its sphere, and for the public good; and if loss of revenue should accrue to the United States from a dimin- ished consumption of ardent spirits, she will be a gainer a thousand fold in the health and happiness of the people." Justice Woodbury said : "The power to forbid things is surely as extensive, and rests upon as broad principles of public security and sound morals, as that to exclude persons. And yet who does not know that slaves have been prohibited admittance by many of our states, whether coming from our neighbors or abroad. And which of them cannot forbid their soil from being pol- luted by incendiaries and felons from any quarter?" The customs tariff system grew out of the finan- happiness and human hopes, to an equality with the lower orders of created things. "But I shall not detain the meeting further with these general remarks. I came to it, not as the advocate of any particular society or form of pledge, but for the single object of giving my own testimony, founded on my own observa- tion, to the beneficial effects of these societies. I now pro- pose to express that opinion, in the form of a resolution, in which I hope for the concurrence of the meeting: "Resolved, That the efforts of the Temperance Societies in the United States and those who have co-operated with them, have had the manifest effect of diminishing crime; of lessening the number of cases of imprisonment for small debts; of benefitting the condition of numerous classes of peo- ple, by improving their health, and increasing, not only their industry and means of living, but also their self-respect and love of character; of giving new impulse to the domestic virtues belonging to husbands, fathers and children; of awakening fresh attention to the subject of education, and the moral instruction of the young; and of advancing, by visible and large degrees, the general cause of religion and morality in the community." 38 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT cial entanglements in which the Colonies became in- volved toward the close of the Revolutionary War. In 1783 the United States found itself owing about $42,000,000, about $8,000,000 of which arose from loans obtained in France and Holland. Congress was prac- tically without resources, as it had no authority to enact a customs tariff without the consent of each of the thirteen states. This authority the states were loath to give, as each depended largely upon a customs tariff for its own support. On February 12 of that year Congress declared that "the establishment of permanent and adequate funds on taxes or duties, which shall operate generally, and on the whole, in just proportion, throughout the United States, is in- dispensably necessary toward doing complete justice to the public creditors, for restoring public credit, and for providing for the future exigencies of the War.* But it was much easier to pass resolutions than to carry them out. Two months later, Congress definitely recommended to the states as ''being abso- lutely necessary, to the restoration of public credit, and to the punctual discharge of public debts" to vest Congress with power to levy certain specified duties on spirits, wines, teas, pepper, sugar, cocoa and coffee and an ad valorem duty of five per cent on all other imported goods. To urge the states to adopt this recommendation, a committee composed of Alexander * Pitkin, in his Civil and Political History of the United States, Vol. II, gives an excellent resume of the troubles of this period. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 39 Hamilton, James Madison and Oliver Ellsworth was appointed to draft an address and appeal to the states urging their endorsement. This was followed by an urgent address advocating the measure prepared by- General Washington himself, written on June 8, in which he said that *'no real friend to the honor and independency of America can hesitate a single moment respecting the propriety of complying with the just and reasonable measure proposed." In spite of all this pressure, it was found impos- sible for the states to agree upon all the features of the proposal. The interest on the foreign loans was be- ing paid out of the loans themselves. The domestic debts were wholly unprovided for and depreciated in value to ten cents on the dollar. This gloomy situa- tion provoked the agitation which led to the adoption of the Constitution in 1789. This discussion for the constitution, led by a coterie of writers, chiefly Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, was conducted by means of a series of essays first published in the newspapers, addressed **To the People of New York," and finally in pamphlet and book form under the title, *'The Federalist."* In these essays, the pressing need of a customs duty for Federal purposes was kept well to the front, par- ticularly a duty on ardent spirits, with occasional references to the good effect that such a law would * This collection of essays, with frequent revisions, passed through twenty-four known editions, the last being published by J. B. Lippincott & Co. in 1864. 40 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT have in reducing the consumption of liquor. In one of these letters,* Mr. Hamilton declared : "The single article of ardent spirits, under Federal regu- lation, might be made to furnish a considerable revenue. Upon a ratio to the importation into this state (New York), the whole quantity imported into the United States, Which at a shilling a gallon, would produce two hundred thousand pounds. That article would well bear this duty; and it would tend to diminish the consumption of it. Such an effect would be equally favorable to agriculture, to the economy, to the morals, and to the health of the society. There is, perhaps, nothing so much the subject of national extravagance as these spirits." Inasmuch as it was the clamor for a uniform customs duty and an adequate financial plan that led the way to the adoption of the constitution, the pro- posed customs duty was the first thing considered. Immediately after the oath of office had been adminis- tered to the members of the House of Representatives on April 8, I789,t James Madison oflfered a resolution declaring for a duty on rum, other spirituous liquors, wines, molasses, tea, pepper, sugar, cocoa, and coffee and an ad valorem duty on other imports. In the debates which followed, the hope was fre- quently expressed that the law would have the eflfect * Letter to The New York Packet, Nov. 27, 1787. t Congress was called to meet on March 4, but a quorum was not obtained until April i, and the first week was used up in effecting an organization, adopting rules, etc. The record of the discussions relating to the adoption of this first cus- toms tariff may be found in Gales' Debates in Congress, Vol. I, pp. 107 et seq. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 41 of reducing the consumption of spirits and encourag- ing the consumption of beer as a substitute, the latter being a milder beverage. Mr. Madison, the author of the resolution, voiced the general sentiment in saying, "I would tax this article [spirits] with as high a duty as can be collected, and I am sure if we judge from what we have heard and seen in the several parts of the Union, that it is the sense of the people of America that this article should have a duty imposed upon it weighty indeed."* Thomas Fitzsimmons, member from Pennsyl- vania, observed :t "It will be readily granted me, that there is no object from which we can collect revenue, more proper to be sub- jected to a high duty, than ardent spirits of every kind; if we could lay the duty so high as to lessen the consumption in any great degree, the better. As the gentleman has just ob- served, it is not an article of necessity, but of luxury, and a luxury of the most pernicious kind. It may be observed, that lessening the consumption is not the object which the com- mittee has in view; but surely, from the considerations I have mentioned, it is an article for us to draw all possible reve- nue from." *T wish to lay as large a sum on this article as good policy may deem expedient ; it is an article of great consumption, and though it cannot be reckoned a necessity of life, yet it is in such general use that it may be expected to pay a very considerable sum into your treasury, when others may not with so much ♦ Debates in Congress, Vol. I, p. 129. t Ibid. 42 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT certainty be relied upon," urged John Lawrence, of New York. Fisher Ames, of Massachusetts, opposed a very heavy tax on rum because it would inflict upon naviga- tion and fishery a "deadly wound." "If the manufac- turers of the country's rum are to be devoted to certain ruin, to mend the morals of others, let them be ad- monished that they prepare themselves for the event ; but in the way we are about to take, destruction comes on a sudden, they have not time to seek refuge in any other employment whatsoever," he declared. Still Mr. Ames had no good word in defense of the use of spirits. On the contrary, he said : "I would concur in any measure calculated to extermi- nate the poison covered under the form of ardent spirits, from our country; but it should be without violence. I ap- prove as much as any gentleman the introduction of malt liquors, believing them not so pernicious as the one in com- mon use; but before we restrain ourselves to the use of them, we ought to be certain that we have malt and hops, as well as brew-houses for the manufacture."* Later in the debate, April 28, Mr. Ames further emphasized his position, saying: "The custom and fashion of the times countenance the consumption of West India rum. I consider it good policy to avail ourselves of this means to procure a revenue; but I treat as idle the visionary notion of reforming the morals of the people by a duty on molasses. We are not to consider ourselves, while here, as at church or school, to listen to the harangues of speculative piety; we are to talk of the political interests committed to our charge. When we take up the sub- Id. p. I3Q. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 43 ject of morality, let our system look toward that object and not confound itself with revenue and protection of manufac- tures." * Elbridge Gerry, also from Massachusetts, sav- agely attacked the proposals to tax the importation of molasses from which his constituents distilled their rum. **If we do not import molasses," he declared, "we cannot carry on our distilleries nor vend our fish." He urged that taxing molasses would operate "to encourage the importation of rum from the West Indies, and destroy our own distilleries." Like Mr. Ames, he had no good words for the use of ardent spirits as a beverage. He said : "It has been frequently observed, that rum is injurious to the morals of the people; if I could have my wish, it would not be to diminish, but to annihilate the use of it, both for- eign and domestic, within the United States." f The bill was duly passed and approved by Presi- dent Washington, July 4, 1789, being the second act to be placed upon the statute book of the United States under the Constitution. It provided the follow- ing duty upon imported liquors and malt: Ale, Porter and Beer: In bottles, per dozen, 20 cents; Other- wise per gallon, 5 cents. Spirits: Jamaica proof, per gallon, 10 cents; All other, per gallon, 8 cents. Wines: Madeira, per gallon, 18 cents; all others (bottles or cases), 10 cents; All others (otherwise), per gallon, 10 cents. Malt: per bushel, ten cents. * Id. p. 232. t Ibid. p. 223. 44 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Up to 1816, party lines were not closely drawn in tariff discussions. But in that year, James Monroe became President on a low tariff proposal, and, from that time, the Federalist party, with its successors, the Whig and Republican parties, have generally espoused the protective tariff idea, while the opposi- tion has usually championed low tariff or ''tariff for revenue only" ideas. Since 1816 the liquor question has been almost wholly lost sight of in tariff debates, and public policy has alternated between the contending theories. The protectionists came into power with a high tariff in 1824, which was raised still higher in 1828. The low tariff Democrats, under the leadership of John C. Calhoun, savagely attacked this law, and the "Com- promise Tariff" of 1833 resulted. The panic of 1837 occurred, and of course was attributed to the Act of 1833. This resulted in a Whig victory and another protective tariff in 1842. The new tariff did not seem to operate satisfactorily, and the "Free Trade Tariff"^ of 1846 followed. Two years later gold was dis- covered in California. Then France and England grappled Russia by the throat on the shore of the Black Sea, which again complicated the world's finances. The panic of 1857 followed the peace of 1856. This panic naturally caused another downfall of "free trade," and the election of Abraham Lincoln, which was followed by the enactment of the "Morrill Tariff Act." Since then have come "Horizontal Bill"" Morrison, John Sherman, William McKinley with AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 45 ultra protection ideas, James G. Blaine with his reci- procity schemes, and Nelson Dingley with his bill which so much resembled the one enacted by the Cleveland Democrats that they could scarcely be dis- tinguished; all these have crossed the tempestuous arena of tariff discussion. Jn all of these proposals, the liquor traffic has been universally recognized as a fit subject for high tariff duties. Even the champions of low tariff were generally willing to permit as heavy a duty on liquors as possible without scandalizing their political creed. The extent to which the Government depends on the customs revenue from the liquor traffic to maintain its finances is grossly exaggerated in the popular mind. The accompanying table shows the total cus- toms revenue of the United States since the year 1866, and the amount each year which accrued out of the customs duties on imported liquors. It appears that the average total annual customs receipts per capita for this period amount to $3.14, while the annual per capita receipts from the customs duty on liquors for the same period amount to but fourteen cents. 46 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TOTAL CUSTOMS RECEIPTS AND CUSTOMS FROM LIQUORS OF THE UNITED STATES. Fiscal Total Customs Receipts. Receipts. Per Capita. Customs Receipts from Liquors Year. Receipts. Per > Capita. 1867 $176,417,811 4.6s $ 7,211,242 .19 1868 164,464,600 4.34 6,548,042 .17 1869 180,048,427 4.68 7,459,087 .19 1870 194,538,374 4.96 8,338,871 .21 1871 206,270,408 5-12 8,666,400 .21 1872 216,370,287 S.23 9,225,323 • 24 1873 188,089,523 4.44 9,380,773 .22 1874 163,103,834 3.75 8,556,113 .21 1875 157,167,722 3-51 7,509,462 .21 1876 148,071,985 3-22 6,487,770 .16 1877 130,956,493 2.77 5,956,023 .12 1878 130,170,680 2.67 5,286,112 .11 1879 137,250,048 2.73 5,462,951 .1 1 1880 186,522,065 3.64 6,297,077 .09 1881 198,159,676 3.78 6,812,827 .12 1882 220,410,730 4.12 7,183,653 .13 - 1883 214,706,497 3.92 9,253,341 .14 1884 195,067,490 3-47 6,263,887 .12 'III 181,471,939 3-17 7,156,564 .12 1886 192,905,023 3-30 7,194,147 •IS 1887 217,286,893 3.65 7,402,243 .12 1888 219,091,174 3.60 7,663,244 .12 1889 223,832,742 3.60 7,786,400 .12 1890 229,668,585 3.62 8,518,081 .13 1891 219,522,205 3.40 9,421,258 •15 1892 177,452,964 2.68 8,840,501 • 13 1893 203,355,017 3.00 9,256,617 .13 1894 131,818,531 1.92 6,930,244 .10 1895 152,158,617 2.17 6,929,704 .10 1896 160,021,752 2.23 6,736,063 .10 1897 176,554.127 2.41 8,005,277 .11 1898 149,575,062 1.99 5,742,240 .08 1899 206,128,482 2,72 7,116,166 .10 1900 233,164,471 3.01 8,427,410 .1 1 1901 238,585,456 3.01 9,121,236 .12 1902 254,444,708 3.18 10,148,514 .12 1903 284,479,582 3.49 11,210,498 • 14 1904 261,274,565 3.16 11,647,375 •14 1905 261,798,857 3-11 12,097,799 •15 1906 300,251,878 3-49 13,528,213 • 15 1907 332,233,363 3.84 15,797,814 .18 1908 286,113,130 3-24 14,696,334 .16 1909 300,711,934 3.33 15,650,113 .17 1910 333,683,445 1 3.69 1 17,572,334 .19 From the above table it appears that the amount of revenue derived from the importation of liquors is AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 47 trivial, indeed, as compared with the total receipts from the customs. Should the importation of liquors be en- tirely discontinued, there would be little appreciable effect, so far as the income from the same is con- cerned, the amount involved being only fifteen or six- teen cents per capita, annually. The rate of customs duty has increased enor- mously from the beginning, the present rate on dis- tilled spirits being about thirty times the rate pro- vided in the Revenue Act of 1789. In the same period the customs revenue derived from liquors has grown to about thirty-five times the amount collected thereon the first year. In the same period, the population of the nation has increased to only about twenty times that of 1790. This means that the imports of intoxicating liquors have more than kept pace with the develop- ment of the country, in spite of the enormous duties exacted from it. It further appears that the levying of an internal revenue tax has had little or no eflfect upon the im- ports of strong drink. During the period from 1789 up to the Civil War, two internal revenue systems were established and abandoned. During the life of each system the importation of these same liquors thrived as though no such burden had been placed on the internal traflfic. The accompanying table shows the total duty collected on imported liquors, and the average rate of duty thereon for each year from 1789 to 1827. The years in which an excise was levied are marked with a star: 48 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CUSTOMS DUTY ON DISTILLED SPIRITS. « Average Duty. 1! Year. Average 1 Year. Per Cent Per Cent Duty. of Duty. of Duty. 1 1790 8.4 $ 346,234 1809 28.6 $1,327,059 1791 13.6 492,122 1810 28.3 1,272,063 1792* 21.4 979.547 1811 27.6 950,604 1793* 29.0 995,266 1812 37.0 1,520,482 1794 29.0 1,580,247 1813 60.1 611,914 1795* 28.5 1,433.276 1814* 57.3 327,780 1796* 28.6 1,605,882 i8i5» 58.4 3,281,799 1797* 27.6 1,881,330 1816* 47-3 2.340,014 1798* 29.1 1,354,271 1817* 43-8 1,775,548 1799* 28.1 2,053,758 1818 43.7 2,646,187 i8oo» 29.9 1,434.276 1819 43.8 1,959.125 i8oi» 2^.2 2,221,064 1820 44.0 1,728,566 1802 29.2 2,258,496 1821 43.7 1,679,319 1803 29.0 2,594,259 1822 40.5 2,040,413 1804 29.2 3,061,207 1823 44.7 1,655,326 180S 29.2 2,232,902 ' 1824 44-4 2,348,075 1806 29.3 3,074,398 1825 48.8 1,802,766 1807 29.4 2,656,047 i 1826 43-6 1,532,268 1808 28.8 1,333,474 i a. State Papers, 20th Congress, ist Session, Doc. No. 168. * Excise years. The above record irresistibly leads to the con- clusion that the levying of these two excise systems upon the traffic in intoxicating liquors had no appreci- able effect upon the importation of the same. It may have held in check somewhat the importation, and thus stimulated the internal traffic. In theory, this is usually held to be the result of such a course, but it is impossible to verify this theory from the statistical record of the period under observation. Whatever the result ought to have been from the reasoning of the economist, the facts remain that during the periods in which the war excise on liquors was collected under the Acts of 1794 and 1813, the rate of customs duty on liquors was not materially changed, and in each case the importations continued to grow at substantially the same rate as during the few years prior to each AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 49 excise tariff and also during the few years subsequent thereto. According to rules of the economist, the statistics should have shown that the importation of these liquors suffered during the excise periods, but it did not. It is only another item of evidence, that has been duplicated so repeatedly since that it has become almost an axiom, that a burden of taxation levied upon vice does not have the same effect as when a similar burden is levied upon a legitimate article of commerce. In our record of a century and a quarter as a nation, it would be a most difficult matter to point to any burden of taxation of any kind, impost, excise or state or local license that affected, in any considerable degree, the consumption of intoxicating drinks. The restriction of hours of sale, accompany- ing high license measures, has undoubtedly influenced the consumption of these intoxicants, but it has never •been shown that taxation itself of any variety has had such result in any marked degree. From the establishment of the Constitution in 1789, there have been passed 141 different Tariff Acts, besides numerous joint resolutions and proclamations relating to reciprocity and treaty arrangements. The specific duties on liquor have changed from time to time, and sometimes an ad valorem duty was collected, in addition to the specific charges. The following tabulation gives all the specific charges on liquor im- ports under each of these various acts. In a few cases, where there was no specific duty charged, the ad valorem duty is indicated in its place : 50 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT < H X o Q Q H I w . s^ OQ 2^ ^^ ^£ oo H S H O 2 ? O X CO •J n < 3 to CO 511 m 1^3 000 oo« «o «o toeeeetooto «e«o 00000000 oooo 00 00 3000 00 00 00 • • 000000000000000000000000000000 +J4J+J4J-t-»+-'+J+J-U+J-l-i+J+J-t->-lJ+J-l->4->+J4J+->+-'-|J4J+J-l->+J-t->+J-»-> 000000000 0000 OOQCOOOOOOOOOOOO 0000 oooooooo«o«o ^N(^^e^(^^e<^(^^<^^<^^(^^<^^<^^l^^(^^<^^(^^(^^<^l(^^<^^(^^<^^(^^<^^l^^(^^l^^<^^•»^^■»^^ «»«* ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooi >ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo< Isssassssssgassssssssg^gssss^s ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggSsi 5t>-C0C<»t*>O«Ot~O»ea50 00 000000 00 «oc<>eOU5kOiO»0'OlO>C>«»C»OlC»0»Oi«W5i«OOOOOCCCOC<5eCe«5C<9e<5C»3eCe«3eCeO >cioicioift«5us»«»cu3»cm«iicic>o«500000000ooooooooooo oqoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooocoooQ OOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooocooooaooocccoecececcceoMccoocococccoeoeocceceo U3«OU5lOlrtCOC«5CCf<5C«JCOeCe<9COC»5C«5COCCCOCOC<5C«5»OlOiO»OiO'OiC"OU5iOU5»ClC>0«i5iO'n«3«0 ^ .-< »-l rt ^ ^ »H ^ ,-1 ^ ^ ^ ,-1 C>1 » (M A>4U3iO>0>OUaiO>0>C>a>0>OiCtOtOlO>CU»lOU»tO>0 eoQO»fttecot~c<«^ooso>Tf<>*oos0505T«<'^e^c) e^eoc^e»(M(Me5e<5cce<3cocoeocoececccci5< 00 00 09 000000 00 ao 00 oc 0000 00 ao 0000 000000 00 00 00 00 00 0000 00 00 00 00 00 QOoo 00 00 0000 00 00 < 52 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 2SS2S2 •^ ^^^^^^ooooooooooooooooooo ci o3 ctf c3 qS • . 4* »»«©_( ^ ^ ^ ,-. r-< r-l r-l •»»>»»• *»e<» *•«««»«« «• OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO+J-w+J+jS-m oooooooo-«i<-* coece»seceoeoeoe<3C<>c^ ^1 6~^t^Y^»^t^v^v^v^v^v^v^j^v^tPv^jsS>^tPt5>t»KPb^ in lA to U3 miA (M e<» ie5e»wooooc>ooO'^^e<»Me*c^c>»c^eoeoeoeoc<5coe<5eceoeo 13 eo CO CO eo eo e<9 CO ec e^ N ! 1^ C4 CM 04 94 94 94 is o&ooocooooooooooooooooocooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooe AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 53 $S^^J CO ^ O to to CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO C t^ t^ t^- ^^ op 00 00 COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOn O O O O 0+^-»J-<^+J-t->-tJ+J-t-J-l->-t->-t->4J-4-i*J-(-i+J+JCOCOCO5O«D5D«)-lJ+J+J+J+J*J-tj5 +J+>*J+J+J^ . . • . • • -^ «»«««««•««•»«»•»<««•«&«&«»«»«»«»«« cfl eq es iM (N < ■(Mc SuduStO «0 OOUSQ «5oon55 e<^c>^e^(^^c^c<^e^^(^^(^ll^^c<>c<^(^^csc^<^^<^^c^<^lc^<^^<^ll^^(^^<^^(^^<^^<^^eql--le<^e>^ P^^^P^P^P^P^P^^^P^P^9^^l^P^^^P^P^P^^^5>^P^P^P^9>.S>^^^P^?>^P^P ^ c* c0rH (M ^ IM ,-t (M CO — ^ , i-l C>» _ (M '-I »H »-« c^ CJ cocDt3coeot^t^t^t^t^r^t^t--t^t^t^t^t'.t>.t^t^i>-t^t>.t^«^t^ooooQr)oooso»o»aJO OOOOoBoOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOiJCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoS 1 g la 54 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Internal Revenue. CHAPTER HI. The Internal Revenue of the United States, or "excise," as the system is usually termed in England, is an inheritance from European countries. In England the system is about 250 years old, the first British excise law* having been enacted by the Long Parliament in 1643. I" France the system originated in the fifteenth century, during the reconstruction of the monarchy after the English wars. The excise has since become the settled policy of most European na- tions as a prominent part of their fiscal system. While the excise has become, in general, the settled policy of the European nations, it has been resorted to in Amer- ica only in times of unusual financial need, and, ex- cepting the War Revenue tax of 1862, such a tax has always been promptly repealed as soon as the pres- sure which called it into existence had abated. Violent hatred of anything like internal or direct taxation was a marked characteristic of the American Colonies. This feeling was accentuated by the at- tempts of King George's government to force the policy upon the colonists in a most oflfensive manner. * Sinclair: History of the Revenue, Vol. I, pp. 46, 278. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 55 "I will never burn my fingers with an American stamp tax," said William Pitt. The famous Stamp Act of March 2"], 1765, which first aroused the revolutionary sentiment among the Colonists, contained provisions requiring stamps on liquor licenses.* This same hos- tility came to the surface in the controversy over the tax levied by Parliament on tea imported into the Colonies of America. While this item was strictly an import tax, it was looked upon by the Colonists as a part of an excise system, and especially onerous be- cause levied without their consent. The widespread resentment of the people against this tax found ex- pression in the agreement entered into by the Virginia Delegates, assembled at Williamsburg, August i, 1774, which contained the following item : "Art. 3d. Considering the article of tea as the detestable * The following is the text of these sections: "18. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed any license for retailing spirituous liquors, to be granted to any person who shall take out the same within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of twenty shillings. "19. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written or printed any license for retailing of wine, to be granted to any person who shall not take out a license for retailing of spirituous liquors, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pounds. "20. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed any license for retailing spirituous liquors within 56 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT instrument which laid the foundation of the present suflfer- ings of our distressed friends in the town of Boston, we view it with horror: — and therefore, Resolved, That we will not, from this day, import tea, of any kind whatever; nor will we use it, nor suffer such of it as may now be on hand to be used, in any of our families." This agreement spread like wild fire throughout the colonies, and a period of abstinence from tea was generally observed. This same hostility to an internal tax was felt, even when the colonies enacted such legislation in their own behalf. On September 26, 1756, the colony of Pennsylvania enacted an excise law, levying a tax on retailers of foreign spirits. Great difficulty was experienced in collecting the excise, which was increased in 1772 (Act of March 2), when the excise was extended to rum, brandy and domestic spirits. The Act was amended in 1779, but still it proved to be unsatisfactory, and was soon repealed.* About the same time, New Jersey attempted to collect an excise, but failed. This political feeling against an internal revenue tax was intensified by the impoverished condition in which the young nation found itself at the close of the Revolution. War had scattered and destroyed the in- dustries of the country to such an extent that little was left available for taxation. In his letters (later pamphlet editions known as The Federalist) to the newspapers, Alexander Hamil- ton had incidentally defended the policy of an internal * Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Series. Vol. IV. p. 30. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 57 tax, but astutely refrained from then pressing the proposal against the prejudices of the people. But after the establishment of the Constitution and the passage of the Customs Tariff Act of 1789, the gov- ernment still felt pressing need of further revenues. As the depreciated debt of the government was held largely at home, the people became ready to listen to new proposals of taxation. The initial proposal, how- ever, met with a hostile reception. On December 29, 1790, Robert Morris introduced into the Senate a memorial from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Philadelphia praying that ''such heavy duties may be imposed upon all distilled spirits as shall be more effectual to restrain their intemperate use." On the following day, George Clymer introduced into the House the same memorial.* Notwithstanding that the proposal was made solely for moral purposes, the memorial excited the wrath of the ultra opponents of excise. The fiery General James Jackson referred to the memorialists, on the floor of the House, as "those gentlemen of the squirt," who "attempted to squirt morality and instruction into the minds of members."f The time quickly came, however, for Alexander Hamil- ton, Secretary of the Treasury, to throw the weight of his powerful influence directly upon an excise pro- posal. On March 5, 1792, Hamilton sent to the House an elaborate argument in favor of an excise tax upon * Annals of Congress, Vol, II, p% 1740, 1838. t Ibid, p. 179T. 58 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ardent spirits* **There can surely be nothing in the nature of an internal duty on a consumable commodity more incompatible with liberty than that of an ex- ternal duty on a like commodity," he argued. Hamil- ton's report was followed, on April 27. by the passage of a resolution by the House of Representatives look- ing to an internal tax on distilled spirits. A commit- tee was appointed, headed by Thomas Fitzsimmons, to draft a bill. Such a bill, "to discourage the exces- sive use of those [ardent] spirits, and promote agri- culture, to provide for the support of the public credit, and for the common defense and general welfare," was reported on May 5, but suffered defeat on June 14, by a vote of 26 to 13. Another attempt, in the follow- ing year, was successful, and the first internal revenue act of the United Statesf was approved March 3, 1791. It levied the following excise duties on all spirits dis- tilled after June 30, from molasses, sugar, or other foreign materials : J * American State Papers, Vol. I, p. 151. This communi- cation is one of the most scholarly and masterful defenses of internal excise ever written. t This law was probably drafted by Alexander Hamil- ton himself. Vide Fifth Special Report, United States Rev- enue Commission, Feb., 1886. t Seybert, Statistical Annals of the United States, p. 455. All computations from the beginning were made by Dycas' Hydrometer. , AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 59 Class. Per gallon. More than 10 per cent below proof 11 cents From 5 to 10 per cent below proof 12 cents Proof and not more than 5 below proof 13 cents Above proof and not over 20 15 cents From 20 to 40 above proof 20 cents More than 40 above 30 cents The duty on spirits distilled from domestic ma- terials was : Class. Per gallon. More than 10 per cent below proof 9 cents From 5 to 10 per cent below proof 10 cents Proof and not more than 5 below proof 11 cents Above proof and not more than 20 13 cents From 20 to 40 above proof 17 cents More than 40 above 25 cents This act was temporary, and gave way to the permanent law approved May 8, 1792, which reduced somewhat the rates given above, but also levied a capacity tax on stills, and provided a drawback on spirits imported. Two more years of agitation prepared the people for a license tax on retailers of wines and spirits, the Act of June 5, 1794, "laying a duty on licenses for selling wines and foreign distilled spirituous liquors by retail." Under this Act, every person who sold wines, to be sent out of the house, in less quantities than 30 gallons, except in the original cask, case, box or package, was declared to be a retail dealer ; and every person who sold foreign distilled spirits in the manner aforesaid, in less quantities than 20 gallons, was also a retail dealer. A license fee of $5 was re- 6o THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT quiried for each class of license, even though both were held b}^ the same person. The law was to continue in force from September 30, 1794, to March 5, 1801, ex- piring by its own limitation. The passage of this legislation was followed by acute problems of enforcement. In many remote sec- tions of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia, the farmers found it more convenient, owing to lack of transportation faciHties, to distill their grain and market the whisky, than to transport the grain itself. These people were loath to pay the hated excise tax, and a spirit of insurrection became rife in several states. In western Pennsylvania the opposition took the form of general and open rebellion against pay- ment. This spirit was somewhat fomented and en- couraged by the hostile action of the state legislature itself. On June 22, 1791, while the original tax pro- posal was being agitated, the Pennsylvania legislature passed the following: "Resolved, That any proceeding on the part of the United States, tending to the collection of revenue by means of excise, established on principles subversive of peace, liberty and the rights of the citizens, ought to attract the attention of this House. "Resolved, That no public urgency within the knowledge or contemplation of this House, can, in their opinion, warrant the adoption of any species of taxation which shall violate those rights which are the basis of our government, and which would exhibit the singular spectacle of a nation reso- lutely oppressing the oppressed in order to enslave itself. "Resolved, That these sentiments be communicated to the Senators representing the state of Pennsylvania in the Senate AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 6i of the United States, with a hope that they will oppose every part of the excise bill now before Congress, which' shall miti- gate against the rights and liberties of the people." The storm center of the insurrection was in the four counties west of the Alleghany mountains, a section settled largely by Scotch Presbyterians. Col- lector after collector was appointed by the Treasury Department, but they couldn't collect. Finally, in 1793, an adventuresome ex-saloonkeeper from Phila- delphia, William Graham,* was appointed "collector general" of the troubled district. The angry people cut off the tail of Graham's horse, set fire to his wig. put coals in his boots, and finally besieged him in a saloon, where' they captured him and shaved his hea'd, afterward chasing him out of the country and posting notices offering rewards for his scalp. A justice of the peace next tried and failed to make collections. A man named. Hunter then made several seizures, and instituted seventy suits against distillers, which were promptly set aside by the court, whereupon Hunter gave up. Numerous outrages were committed. Mails were robbed, buildings burned, and finally one government officer was tarred and feathered, the local militia aiding in the proceedings. Governor Miffin refused to call out the State Militia, and finally President Washing- ton called on the Governors of the states of New * Graham was former proprietor of the "Black Horse Tavern" and also of the "King of Prussia," another Philadel- phia saloon, but failed in business. 62 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania for 15,000 men. Command of the forces was given to General Henry Lee, of Virginia, but before the troops arrived on the scene the 'insurgents" submitted, and agreed to behave themselves and pay the excise taxes.* What might have been a serious complication was thus peacefully settled, but not until the Government had expended about $1,500,000 in war preparations. Upon the submission of the "insurgents," President * Many of the actors in this ''Whisky Rebellion" found it necessary to write a book to defend themselves and attack somebody else. William Findley, an Irishman and opponent of Washington, was charged with instigating the trouble. He wrote a book, the "History of the Insurrection in the Western Counties/' (1796) in order to clear himself and at- tack Hamilton. Hugh H. Brackenridge, who was arrested for complicity in the troubles, but was never prosecuted, wrote his "Incidents of the Insurrection in the Western part of Pennsylvania," (1795) ^s he said, "with a view to explain my own conduct which has not been understood." Fifty years later, descendants of these actors took up the con- troversy. Nelville B. Craig, whose father was implicated as a revenue inspector, wrote his "History of Pittsburg" (1851), in which he scandalized H. H. Brackenridge. This drew out another "History of the Western Insurrection," (1859), this time by H. M. Brackenridge, to defend his father and roast Craig. Craig responded with another volume, an "Exposure of a Few Statements by H. M. Brackenridge." To this day, disputes, charges, and counter-charges, growing out of the refusal of the distillers of Western Pennsylvania to pay their taxes, crop out regularly in the newspapers and debates of that state. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 63 Washington promptly issued a proclamation,* dated July 10, 1795, granting a general amnesty to all per- sons implicated in the insurrection ; and the difficulty subsided. The trouble, however, had its political result. Those who had opposed the excise became popular with the former insurgents. *'The excise law is an infernal one," declared Thomas Jefferson.f The Whisky Rebellion was a symptom, rather than the cause, of the rising political tide which swept the Federalist party from power, and placed Thomas Jef- ferson in the President's chair. With the incoming of Jefferson, the liquor license tax expired by limita- tion. In his first message to Congress (Dec. 8, 1801), President Jefferson felicitated that body upon the satisfactory financial condition of the Treasury, and suggested that "there is now reasonable ground of confidence that we may now safely dispense with all internal taxes, comprehending excise, stamps, auctions, licenses, carriages and refined sugars, to which postage may be added to facilitate the progress of information, and that the remaining sources of revenue will be suf- ficient to provide for the support of the government, to pay the interest on the public debts, and to dis- charge the principals within shorter periods than the * For the text of this proclamation, see Sparks: Wash- ington, Vol. XII, p. 134, or Richardson: Messages and Pa- pers of the Presidents, Vol. I, p. 181. t Letter to James Madison, Dec. 28, 1794: Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Washington edition, Vol IV. p. 112. 64 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT laws or the general expectation had contemplated."* A greater tribute could hardly have been paid to the administrative genius of Hamilton, though the mes- sage was far from being intended as such. Twelve years before, he had taken charge of the nation's finances, at a time when chaos was rampant, a con- suming war in progress, with Tories undermining and plotting trouble, and the value of the government's obligations standing at ten cents on the dollar. In a little more than a decade Hamilton had brought order out of the wreckage, and created a condition in which, according to his most powerful opponents, it was pos- sible to abolish entirely the system of internal taxa- tion. It is true that Mr. Jefferson was bitterly op- posed to internal tax,f but he did not mention this as a reason for abolishing that system of taxation. A couple * Richardson: Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. I, p. 328. T In his later years, Jefferson somewhat modified his hostility to an internal revenue. In a letter to General Sam- uel Smith, dated May 2, 1823, he explained: "Viewing that tax as a system of excise, I was once glad to see it fall with the rest of the system Considering it only as a fiscal measure, that was right. But the prostration of body and mind which the cheapness of this liquor is spreading through the mass of our citizens, now calls the attention of the legislator on a very different principle A tax on whisky is to discourage its consumption; a tax on foreign spirits encourages whisky by removing its rival from competition. The price and present duty throw foreign spirits already out of competition with whisky, and accord- ingly they are used to but a salutary extent. You see no persons besotting themselves with imported spirits, wines, liquors, cordials, etc. Whisky claims itself alone the ex elusive office of sot-making." — Works of Thomas Jefferson. Washington edition, Vol. VII, p. 285. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 65 of years later, Congress acted upon Jefferson's recom- mendation, and the internal revenue system established by Alexander Hamilton came to an end. The following tabulation shows the number of retail liquor license issues of each class, and the amount of the receipts therefrom, for each year during the life of the Act : Year Ending Number Licenses. Revenue Sept. 30. Wine. Spirit. Therefrom. 1796 *i8oi 4,177 4,333 4,005 3,541 3,450 3,556 8,592 8,446 8,959 9,747 9,591 10,282 $63,764 63,862 64,823 66,434 65,159 69,174 •Year ending Dec. 31. The above licenses for the first year (Oct. i, 1795, to Sept. 30, 1796) were divided among the states as follows :* State. Wine. I Spirit. Duties. New Hampshire Massachusetts . , Rhode Island . . Connecticut . . . . Vermont , New York New Jersey . . . , Pennsylvania . . . Delaware Maryland Virginia Ohio Tennessee North Carolina . South Carolina . Georgia 152 558 43 460 78 833 235 555 77 364 556. No returns. 512 1,955 263 1,010 237 J, 444 367 644 137 580 928 7 3 73 132 142 310 44 97 $ 3,320 12,565 1.395 7,346 1,575 11,362 2,995 5,990 1,058 4,712 7,420 40 1,02s 2,260 700 Total 4,177 I 8,592 I 63,764 ♦ Report of Tench Coxe, Commissioner of Revenue, Nov. 29, 1797, in American State Papers, Vol. I, p. 566. 66 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT The second war with England, that of 1812, made necessary another rearrangement of the nation's finances. As a part of the fiscal scheme adopted for carrying on the war, duties on imports were doubled, and a system of excise was inaugurated. The latter included licenses on retailers of "wines, spirituous liquors and foreign merchandise." The Act of August 2, 1813, laid duties on such licenses, to commence January i, 1814, as follows: Retailers in towns and villages of 100 families and up- wards, living within one square mile, to pay $25 for a full license; wines alone paid $20; domestic and distilled spirits alone, $15; foreign merchandise other than wines and liquors, $15. Retailers in other places paid: merchandise, wines, spirits, $15; wines and spirits, $12; domestic distilled spirits alone, $10. All duties to continue for one year after the termination of the war. These taxes, enacted to cease one year after the termination of the war, proved to be wholly insuffi- cient for the public needs. The embarrassment of the Treasury became so great that a special session of Congress had to be called, further loans authorized, and the excise tax revised. The Act of Dec. 23, 1814, levied an additional tax upon retail liquor dealers of fifty per cent to begin Feb. i, 181 5. This additional tax was repealed (Act April 29, 1816), after December 31, 1816, except on salt and those dealers whose stock AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 67 was valued at more than $100. All duties were re- moved (Act Dec. 23, 1817) from December 31, 1817.* The collections from internal revenue were trivial as compared with those made today, yet they were collected amid many wry faces, and only tolerated by the people as war measures, which were promptly re- pealed as soon as the finances of the nation would permit. The accompanying tablef shows the receipts from customs duties and from internal revenue from the be- ginning up to 1838. The receipts for internal revenue up to i8i4were wholly from the liquor traffic. Afterthat year other items were included in the tax — silverware, jewelry, household furniture, etc. The collections for internal revenue for the years in which there was no internal revenue is accounted for by the fact that these revenues which were assessed were not wholly col- lected until some years after the laws authorizing them * In recommending the removal of this tax, President Monroe, in his first message to Congress (Dec. 2, 1817), ex- plained: "It appearing that the revenue arising from the im- posts and tonnage, and from the sale of public lands, will be fully adequate to the support of the Civil Government, of the present Military and Naval Establishments, including the annual augmentation of the latter to the extent provided for, to the payment of the interest on the public debt, and to the extinguishment of it at the times authorized, without the aid of internal taxes,' I consider my duty to recommend to Con- gress their repeal." — Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. II, p. 19. t Register of the Treasury, Account of Receipts and Expenditures of the United States, 1837, p. 242. 68 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT had been repealed. As a matter of fact, a considerable amount was never collected at all. RECEIPTS FROM DUTIES ON CUSTOMS AND INTERNAL REVENUE. Receipts. i Year. Receipts. Year. 1 Internal Internal 1 Customs. Revenue. 1 Customs. Revenue. 1791 $ 4,399.473 ^ 1 1815 $ 7,282,942 $4,678,059 1792 4,443»07i 208,943 ! 1816 36,306,875 5,124,708 1793 4,255,307 ^7,706 ! 1817 26,283,348 2,678,101 1794 4,801,065 274,090 1818 17,176,385 955,279 1795 5,588,461 337,755 1819 20,283,609 229,594 1796 6,567,988 475,290 1820 15,005,612 106,261 1797 7,549,650 575,491 1821 13,004,447 69,028 i, 1 06,062 644,358 1822 17,589,762 67,666 1800 6,^610,449 779,136 1823 19,088,433 34,242 9,080,933 809,397 1824 17,878,326 34,663 1 80 1 10,750,779 1,048,033 -T2i\S^99 1825 20,098,713 25,771 1802 12,438,235 1826 23,341,332 21,590 1803 10,479,418 215,180 1827 19,712,283 19,886 ,804 11,098,565 50,941 i 1828 23,205,524 17,452 1805 12,936,487 21,747 i 1829 22,681,966 14,503 1806 • 14,667,698 20,I0I i 1830 21,922,391 12, 161 1807 15,845,522 13,051 1831 24,224,442 6,934 1808 ^,363,551 8,211 1832 28,465,237 11,631 "T5o9 7,296,021 4,044 1833 29,032,509 2,759 1810 8,583,039 7,431 1834 16,214,957 4,196 1811 13,313,223 2,296 1835 19,391,311 10,459 1812 8,958,778 4,903 1836 23,409,941 370 1813 13,224,623 4,755 1837 11,169,290 5,494 1814 5,998,772 1,662,985 About ten years ^fter the special taxes levied to pay the expenses of the Second War with England had been repealed, another attempt was made to resurrect the internal revenue system. The proposal made, however, was only to levy such a tax upon spirits, they being always and everywhere an at- tractive object of taxation in all forms. In 1826 reso- lutions were considered in the House of Representa- tives, reciting that "it is expedient to increase the duty AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 69 onfall imported spirit, and to levy an excise on do- mestic liquors." The matter was referred to a select committee which reported favorably, saying in part: "The committee, however, have no hesitation in express- ing their opinion that no fairer subject of taxation and reve- nue can be presented to the government than ardent spirit, whether foreign or domestic; and they would desire to see a larger portion of our revenues derived from this source, and that some of the more immediate articles of prime necessity to the comfort of the poor, and the middle classes of society, might be free from duty."* The excise recommendation of the committee failed of adoption by Congress. From the year 1818, up to the outbreak of the Civil War, the internal traffic in and manufacture of intoxicating liquors was wholly unrestricted and un- taxed by the Federal government. During the same period, a changing customs duty was levied on im- ported liquors, sometimes small, and sometimes a heavy one, but always sufficient to protect the internal liquor traffic from serious foreign competition. In this period of more than forty years, while the traffic in intoxicating liquors suffered no restraint from and carried no burdens imposed upon it by the Federal government, it was exposed to savage assaults from the states. These attacks came thick and fast. In this period was waged the war against the traffic by the American Temperance Society, the American Tem- perance Union, the Washingtonian movement, the * Report House Select Committee, May 19, 1826, Nine- teenth Congress, First Session. 70 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Father Mathew and other crusades, and the fraternal temperance organizations led by the Sons of Tem- perance. By the close of 1855, fourteen states were wholly under prohibitory law. It was in this epoch that the prerogatives of the states were more jealously guarded than at present, and many functions of gov- ernment were left to them that have since been taken over by the Federal government. The development of central authority has chiefly taken place since the Civil War. To meet the expenses of this appalling struggle, taxation of the most drastic character was resorted to. The customs duties were raised to an extraordinary point, and an internal revenue tax of the most far reaching character was resorted to in 1862. In the Act of July I, of that year, Congress deliberately taxed everything that would yield a revenue, and fine questions of ethics were almost wholly overshadowed in the one pressing need of revenue. Yet when it came to the proposal to license the retail dealers in intoxicating liquors there was a most vigorous pro- test in both houses of Congress. In the House, the measure was introduced by Anson P. Morrill* of Maine. In introducing the measure, Mr. Morrill paid his respects to the traffic in whisky as follows : "The consumption will not be seriously checked; and if it could be, suchi a result would bring us no national disgrace. ♦ In 1853, when the Democratic party of Maine decided to oppose Prohibition, Mr. Morrill bolted his party, and ran for Governor on a Free Soil and Prohibition platforin. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 71 Whisky and rum with the duty added, will still leave it pos- sible for any man or brute to get drunk in our land on cheap- er terms than in any other that I know of."* Again referring to the proposed tax on whole- salers, Mr. Morrill said : "If you make this tax so high as to prohibit the traffic, which it does not propose to do, you can do no more valuable service to your country. I would make the tax so high that no wholesaler or retail dealer could be found in the land, if it were practicable. If you would do that, if you could entire- ly stop the use of intoxicating drinks and the war rage on, your country would suffer less by the war than it has and does from the use of intoxicating liquors. "f The contest in the House over the licensing of the liquor traffic took the form of opposition to the proposal to license retail dram sellers in Prohibition states. Representative Sargent, Harrison and Wood- ruff proposed various amendments to limit the licens- ing of the traffic to territory where the state and local authorities recognized the traffic as a lawful one.f The debate over this proposal continued through- * Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2d Session, Part II, p. 1 195. t Id., p. 1327. t These proposals were directly in line with the policy adopted in the two previous internal revenue laws. The Act approved June 5, 1794 contained the following proviso (Sec. 3): "Provided always that no license shall be granted to any person to sell wines or foreign distilled spirituous liq- uors, who is prohibited to sell the same by the laws of any state." The Act of Aug. 2, 1813, contained the following: "Sec. 3 Provided always, that no license shall be granted to any person to sell wines, distilled spirituous liq- uors, or merchandise, as aforesaid, who is prohibited to sell the same by any state." 72 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT out most of the day (March 21). In this debate, Congressman Morris made this most interesting pro- posal, which, however, was ruled out of order by the chair : "That the United States ought to co-operate with any- state which may adopt gradual abolishment of the evils re- sulting from the sale of intoxicating liquors, giving to such state pecuniary aid to be used by such state, in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, pro- duced by such a change of systems."* This debate delved into the borders of numerous unsettled questions involving the relationship be- tween the states and the general government — rela- tionships which were not provided for in the adoption of the constitution in 1789, because the delegates were unable to agree upon any policy. The failure of the Fathers to outline some policy in this respect left a legacy of endless troubles for the succeeding century, * Id., p. 1329. It was at this time that the proposal was being agitated similarly to assist states that would abolish slavery. The proposal was for the Federal government to assist by compensating the slave owners through the states that would adopt such a policy. At the suggestion of Presi- dent Lincoln, Congress, on April 10, 1862, passed the follow- ing joint resolution: "Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the United States ought to co-operate with any state which may adopt the gradual abolishment of slavery, giving such state pecuniary aid, to be used by such state in its discre- tion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and pri- vate, produced by such a change of system." AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC yi and was the prime cause of the titanic struggle be- tween the states. But in this particular debate in the House fiscal questions so overshadowed all other in- terests that a compromise was adopted, in which the precedentset in the two preceding internal revenue acts, which prohibited the licensing of the traffic in Prohibi- tory territory, was overturned. The plan agreed upon was the following: "Retail dealers in liquors, including distilled spirits, fer- mented liquors, and wines of every description, shall pay- twenty dollars for each license. Each person who shall sell or offer for sale such liquors in quantities less than three gallons at one time, to the same purchaser, shall be regarded as a retail dealer in liquors under this Act. But this shall not authorize any spirits, liquors, wines or malt liquors to be drunk on the premises. In the Senate, the debate took a broader scope, the general principle of licensing the retail traffic be- ing itself savagely attacked. On May 27, Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts moved to strike out the offensive section, saying: "My reason for making this motion is that I do not think any man in this country should have a license from the Fed- eral government to sell intoxicating liquors. I look upon the liquor trade as grossly immoral, causing more evil than any- thing else in this country, and I think the Federal govern- ment ought not to derive a revenue from the retail of intoxi- cating drinks. I think if this section remains in the bill, it will have a most demoralizing influence upon the country, for it will lift into a kind of respectability the retail traffic in liquors. The man who has paid the Federal government twen- ty dollars for a license to retail ardent spirits will feel that he is acting under the authority of the Federal govern- 74 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ment, and that any regulations, state or municipal, interfering with him, are mere temporary and local arrangements, that should yield to the authority of the Federal government. Sir, I hope the Congress of the United States is not to put upon the statute book of the country a law by which tens of thous- ands of persons in this country who are dealing out ardent spirits to the destruction of the health and life of hundreds of thousands and the morals of the nation, are to be raised to a respectable position by paying the Federal government twenty dollars for a license to do so. "I tell you. Sir, there is not a rumseller, or a friend of the rumseller on this continent that will not welcome this tax. It will be hailed from one end of this country to the other by the whole rumselling interests of this country. If the rumsellers of the country had held a national convention they would have asked you to put precisely such a thing as a li- cense to sell liquors in your bill. There is no doubt of it at all. Why, sir, it has been the struggle of the retailers of rum all over this country for a quarter of a century to adopt the license system and get licensed. They have contended for it; they have fought for it; they have carried it to the polls; they have carried it to your legislative assemblies; they have carried it everywhere; and now the Congress of the United States proposes to establish the system rejected by many of the states as sanctioning crime, and do not grant them at all. Does it tend to the consumption of ardent spirits in this coun- try to tax its manufacture? Certainly not. But when we come to the retail trade of it, if this government will give every man who asks it a license to sell liquor, you will shingle this nation over with licenses to sell liquor. We are now told that if the government should license in those states where it is prohibited, the liquor dealer would run his risk. That is true; but suppose the government does come into any state and gives every applicant who desires it a license, and let him run his chance. I will tell you what the effect will be. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 75 It will give immense power and strength to the liquor selling interests. It will give them power and weight to contest and put down the state laws practically, if not repeal them alto- gether. Sir, for one, I shall not vote for this bill with this provision in it. I cannot record my name for an act to give ttie countenance and sanction of this nation to the retailing of intoxicating drinks to the people. I cannot, I will not, give a vote for a bill that shall put in any man's pocket the right to retail intoxicating liquors to the people of this country."* The assault of Senator Wilson on the license plan was ably supported by Senator Pomeroy from Kansas. The force of the attack, however, was dulled by the fact that the Chairman of the Ways and Means Com- mittee, who managed the measure in the Senate, was William Pitt Fessenden of Maine, who, by his stout championship of Prohibition measures in his own state, had caused him to be classed among the "Ram- rods," a term applied to the radical enemies of the saloon in Maine. Mr. Fessenden took the position that while nominally a license, it did not authorize the sale as against state law, and pointed to the fol- lowing clause of the bill to substantiate his claim : "That no license hereinbefore provided for, if granted, shall be construed to authorize the commencement or contin- uation of any trade, business, occupation, or employment therein mentioned, within any state or territory in which it s'hall be specially prohibited by the laws thereof, or in viola- tion of the laws of any state." t * Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2d Session, Part III, pp. 2376-2378. t Id., pp. 2379 et seq. 7^ THE FEDP:RAL GOVERNMENT This provision, and the fact that it was regarded as only a temporary measure to meet the require- ments of the war, won for the bill the support of some of the most influential opponents of the saloon of the day.* These men took the view that, while the bill nominally licensed the traffic, it gave no authority to sell as against state law, and was therefore, a burden so far as it went. In 1866 (Act of July 13) the In- ternal Revenue Act of 1862 was remodelled. Among the alterations made was to change the "license" of the retailer into a ''tax," and merely issue a receipt for the money. This Act fixed the tax on ''retail liquor dealers" at $25, and on ''retail dealers in malt liquor" at $20, which rates have since remained. This policy of "taxing" the retailer of vice has begotten a series of complications. Many of the states have declared, in their legislation, that the payment of this special * Major J. B. Merwin, a personal friend of President Lincoln, who had been associated with Lincoln in temperance work in Illinois, and who in the early stages of the war was engaged in visiting the camps of the Union Army conducting a temperance propaganda among the soldiers under creden- tials from General Winfield Scott, is authority for the state- ment that President Lincohi was hostile to the provision licen- sing the retail traffic in liquors, and only assented thereto When assured by such men as Salmon P. Chase and William H. Seward that the obnoxious feature would be eliminated when the pressing need therefor was over. Henry Wilson, who frequently voiced the President's views on the floor of the Senate, expressed Mr. Lincoln's dissatisfaction at the licensing proposal. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC ^y tax as a liquor dealer shall constitute prima facie evi- dence that the holder thereof is engaged in the busi- ness of a retail liquor dealer. A Federal statute also provides* that a list of such taxpayers, with the ad- dresses and class of each, shall be kept for public in- spection in the office of each collector of revenue. The making of these tax receipts prima facie evi- dence that the holders thereof were engaged in the business created a great demand for the presence of collectors to testify in local courts as witnesses in various proceedings against liquor dealers. Partly to avoid this annoyance, and partly to shield as far as possible delinquent liquor dealers who were regarded as "customers" or ''taxpayers" of the Internal Reve- nue Department, the Secretary of the Treasury es- tablished a regulation! forbidding collectors from giv- * Sec. 3240, R. S. (Act of Dec. 24, 1872, amended by the Act of June 21, 1906) reads: "Sec. 3240. Each collector of internal revenue shall, under regulations of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, place and keep conspicuously in his office, for public inspection, an alphabetical list of the names of all persons who shall have paid special taxes within his district, and shall state thereon the time, place, and business for which such special taxes have been paid, and upon application of any prosecuting officer of any state, county, or municipality he shall furnish a certified copy thereof, as of a public record, for which a fee of one dollar for each one hundred words or fraction thereof in the copy or copies so requested may be charged." t Regulations, Series 7, No. 12, Aug. 3, 1896; Regulations April 15, 1898, pp. 41, 42; Regulations April 18, 1904, p. 45. See also Sections 161, 251, 321 and 3167, Revised Statutes U. S. 78 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ing such testimony even when subpoenaed by a state court. Grave abuses grew up under this ruling in dis- tilling districts, where spirits of great value were stored in bonded warehouses for long periods of time while aging. Until these spirits were withdrawn for consumption, under the law, the Federal internal reve- nue duties were not paid. Inasmuch as the internal revenue officials refused all information as to the con- tents of these warehouses, the local tax authorities were compelled to accept, for purposes of taxation, whatever values the distillers placed upon their hold- ings. These distillers evaded taxation of their hold- ings by returning ridiculously small amounts of whisky as being in their possession. An attempt made in Kentucky in 1899, to compel the distillers to pay their taxes, met with failure. The auditor's agent insti- tuted civil proceedings in Carroll County, Kentucky, against Elias Block & Sons, distillers, under the pro- visions of Sec. 4241 (Ky. Statutes), to compel, for pur- poses of taxation, an assessment of spirits held by them in bonded warehouses. David N. Comingore, Collector of Internal Revenue, was subpoenaed before W. A. Price, notary public, and, upon his refusal to testify, was fined $5 and sentenced to jail for six hours, or, until he would consent to respond. This sentence was immediately confirmed by the county court at Covington, Ky. Thereupon Collector Comin- gore brought habeas corpus proceedings in the United States District Court, where he was discharged from AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 79 custody. In rendering his decision, (July 5, 1899) Judge Evans affirmed : "That the reports are executive documents which the United States, in its sovereign capacity, has acquired for the sole purpose of administering its own governmental affairs. 'That the officers of the National Government cannot be compelled by another sovereignty to put these documents at its disposal without some express law of the United States authorizing it. "That the reports are a part of Government Archives, accumulated through mere administrative and executive pro- cesses, and as such are privileged at least to the extent that no other sovereignty in its own interest can seize or control them for any purpose whatever, without the consent of the sovereign owner lawfully manifested, and "That the effort to make the collector testify to their con- tents is virtually an attempt to compel the United States to produce them."* This cause of vital importance to the local taxing authorities of distilling districts, naturally was ap- pealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, where the decision of Judge Evans was affirmed.f In handing down the decision of the Supreme Court, (April 9, 1900) Justice Harlan said : "In our opinion, the Secretary, under the regulations as to custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers and property, appertaining to the business of his department may take from a subordinate, such as a collector, all discretion as to permitting the records in his custody to be used for any * For a full record of this case, see Treasury Decisions, 1899, Vol. II, p. 388 et seq. t Boske vs. Comingore, 177 U. S., p. 459. 8o THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT other purpose than the collection of the revenue, and reserve for his own determination all matters of this character." Since the rendering of this decision, it has been practically impossible for state and local taxing au- thorities to compel distillers to pay taxes on spirits held in bonded warehouses during the years of aging process. The distillers habitually make returns of nominal holdings which the assessors are compelled to accept, having no other recourse. In the Indian Territory, prior to the organization of the state of Oklahoma, these Federal tax receipts of retail liquor dealers were frequently used, even in the Federal courts, as evidence against liquor sellers who sold liquor contrary to Federal law, the Territory then being under prohibition by Federal enactment (Act of March i, 1895). The spectacle of one branch of the government levying a tax upon a criminal business, and another branch of the same government bringing prosecutions, virtually for the payment of the same tax, naturally created much criticism and confusion. Various bills have been introduced into Congress to resurrect the provisions of the laws of 1794 and 1813, which limited the issuing of tax receipts or license to those who are authorized to sell by state law. Some opposition to this legislation, however, has emanated from the Prohibition camp. Many enemies of the saloon have found these tax receipts more or less useful in prosecutions. Others ignore the obliga- tions of the government to protect its taxpayers, and hold that the tax is a burden, and that the burdens on AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 8i the saloon should be increased rather than dimin- ished.* In the debate over the passage of the Act of 1862, Senator Charles Sumner suggested the follow- ing provision, but did not press it to a vote : "That no license hereinbefore provided shall be granted for any trade, business, occupation, or employment within any State or Territory, except to such persons as may be authorized by the laws thereof." t The heavy taxation upon the traffic at the out- break of the Civil War was followed by changes in the public status of the business. Prior to the war, * Senator Wilson, while vigorously opposing the license of 1862, was not opposed to a tax. In the debate over the bill, he declared: "I do not object to taxing liquor sellers; I am willing to tax anybody and everybody; but the dis- tinction between a tax and a license is obvious; you tax a man for importing liquors; that is a tax, and I think the higher th€ tax the better it is; and if it was so liigh as to prohibit the importation, so much the better. You tax a manufacturer of liquor, and the higher you tax him, the better. I would like to put a tax of a dollar a gallon on all liquor manu- factured, and I would like to put enough on it to prohibit the manufacture of a single gallon of liquor in the country if I could. If I had the power to do that, and could do it, I should think that I was a public benefactor. You do not license a man to manufacture liquor, but you give him a license to sell. If this was a question to "license men to manufacture liquor in this country, I would vote against it, and oppose it, because it would be giving them a privilege, a grant, a certificate from this government to do that thing." — Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2d Ses- sion, Part III, p. 2398. t Id., p. 2400. 82 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT when the- Federal government held aloof, and the idea of high taxation had not been considered, the traffic stood upon its merits and was subject to open attack on all sides. Having no merit, it was at the mercy of the people and their legislatures. The era of high taxation has revolutionized this situation. The first effect of the war tax of 1862 was to force a sudden elevation of wholesale prices of liquor. The following tabulation of the wholesale prices of whisky in the New York market for a series of years ending with 1864, illustrates this : WHOLESALE PRICE WHISKY IN N.Y. MARKETS.* Year. Average Pr ice. Highest. Lowest. 1858 $ .24^ $ .29 $ .21 1859 .27 .31 .25 i860 .22 .27 .17 1861 .isy2 .21 .14 1862 .29 •39 .20 1863 •53 .96 .39^/^ 1864 1.45 2.24 .80 In a report dated February, 1866, these changes in the prices of whisky were discussed in an official report to Congress, which said : "Previous to the imposition of this tax by the national government, raw whisky was retailed at almost every point in the country at from 7 to 15 cents per quart, or from 25 to 40 cents per gallon It was also a very general custom, in many parts of the country, for agriculturists to buy whisky * Internal Revenue Record, April 7, 1866. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 83 by the barrel for the use of their farming help, and to use it freely as a beverage during the season of harvesting."* The prices of drinks also increased, and the era of whisky at fifteen cents per glass, or "two for a quarter," was developed. The wholesaler shifted the burden of the taxes upon the retailer. The latter promptly laid it upon the drinkers at the bar. In the last analysis, the tax was largely paid by the women and children of the victims of drink, through the privations they endured by their means of support being squandered for drink by the bread-winner of the family. It came to pass that the retailer found that there was a larger profit in a sale of highly taxed whisky at 12^ or 15 cents per drink, than in tax free whisky at five cents. The liquor traffic thus de- veloped into a machine for collecting government revenues from the weak, the poverty laden and the defenseless. The liquor dealers eventually learned that the man who wanted a drink would take it anyhow, re- gardless of the price, provided he could get it. They also found in the high Federal taxes which they paid the government the most effective system ever de- vised for the intrenchment of the saloon system. While always ready to cut down somewhat the ex- cessive taxes of war periods, the liquor dealer has since stoutly advocated the high tax on his product- John M. Atherton, President of the National Pro- * Report U. S. Revenue Commission: Executive Docu- ment 62, Thirty-ninth Congress, First Session. 84 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT tective Association, made up of wholesalers and dis- tillers, explained some of the reasons for this in the following words : * "Under the Government supervision there are certain marks, stamps, gauges, etc., put on every barrel of whisky, which serve to identify it. These form an absolute guaranty from the Government, a disinterested party of the highest authority, to the genuineness of the goods. There is such a tendency to adulteration that this guaranty is of great value. Next, if the general Government laid no tax upon whisky the States almost certainly would. As they are under no compact to lay the same tax, the rate would almost certainly be unequal. For instance, with a tax of 25 cents a gallon on the whisky produced in Kentucky the State would have an abundant revenue for all her needs, without taxing anything else. But it might happen that Ohio and Indiana would lay no tax, or a very light one, upon whisky. In that case Ken- tucky distillers would be compelled to manufacture at a very great disadvantage, and would, in fact, be compelled to close altogether. A tax by the National Government bears on all States alike, and afifords a fair field for competition." A year later, when war taxes were being cut away, the United States Brewers' Convention, held in St. Paul, May 30, 31, 1888, expressed its opinion of the Internal Revenue tax on its members' products in these words : "The old objection urged against excises could not at present be revived, seeing that those who have to bear the tax and all the inconveniences that are said to grow out of its alleged obnoxious features, are perfectly satisfied with their present status, so that, as we have stated on other oc- casions, whatever commiseration may be felt for them by cer- * Interview in "The Voice," Dec. 29, 1887. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 85 tain theorists is just so much sympathy wasted. As far as the brewers of this country are concerned, it is well known that, so far from opposing an excise, they materially aided the Gov- ernment during the incipient stages of the system in making the tax collectable as cheaply and conveniently as possible. Their action at that time was not only prompted by the in- tention to prevent injustice being done them, but also, in a very large measure, by patriotic motives; while their present course (of non-interference with the Federal tax) is dictated not only by industrial considerations, but also by the con- viction, sustained by the experience of our own people and the people of many other civilized countries, that the present system, while perfectly justifiable when viewed from the standpoint of political economy, promotes temperance more effectually than any other measure yet proposed or executed for that purpose To judge from present indications, there is no danger of a reduction in Internal Revenue, other than that derived from articles which do not concern us industrially." The satisfaction of the liquor dealers with the operation of the high tax was so marked that it at- tracted official recognition. Referring to the internal revenue tax of two dollars per gallon, the Special Commissioner of Revenue reported to Congress, in February, 1866: "On the part of many and perhaps the majority of the leading distillers of the country, an opinion strongly adverse to any alteration of the present excise has been expressed."* After the passage of the war revenue act of 1862, it became apparent that an internal tax on distilled * Report U. S. Revenue Commission: Executive Docu- ment 62, Thirty-ninth Congress, First Session. 86 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT spirits would also be levied within a short time. The distillers accepted this situation with ill concealed glee, became very patriotic, and almost clamored for the tax. At the same time, they secretly laid their plans to prevent the tax being retroactive in any re- spect; that is, to prevent the tax being laid on the stock on hand, and to lay it only on future distillation. When it became apparent that the scheme would suc- ceed, every distillery in the country began running to its full capacity in order to accumulate as large a stock of tax free whisky as possible to be sold at high prices under the proposed duty. Senator John Sherman seemed to be about the only one in Congress to appreciate fully what this policy meant, and loudly lifted his voice in protest. He said: "It has been known ever since last July that a tax would be put on whisky, and all the distillers of the country have been running to their extremest capacity, and today they are running more than they have ever done before. Every old still in the country has been set at work, simply because it was supposed that a tax would be put on whisky, and that the stock on hand would not be taxed." The scheme worked out as the distillers desired. A tax of twenty cents per gallon was laid on whisky, but not to^be levied on the supply on hand. This, of course, was equivalent to adding twenty cents to the value of every gallon of whisky which the distillers had accumulated by working overtime at full capacity during the preceding months of strenuous activity. As soon as the new tax went into effect, distilling practically stopped, and distillers bent their efforts to AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 87 disposing of the stock accumulated when no tax was levied. When this stock became low, distillers sud- denly became afflicted with another dose of patriotism and clamored for a still higher tax on the same old plan ; not to be levied, of course, on the stock on hand. John Sherman, as before, lifted up his voice in protest, but of no avail. The distillers wanted the higher tax. They and the "Third House" plotted by night and sang patriotic airs by day. The result was that, in 1864, Congress three times raised the internal tax on whisky to 60 cents, $1.50 and $2.00 respectively. In no case was the tax to be levied on the stock on hand. Under this manipulation, speculation ran riot, and enormous fortunes were made, in all of which the United States Treasury came out distinctly second best. In the following year, 1865, the Special Reve- nue Commission was appointed. In one of its early reports it made this statement to Congress, regarding the operation of this species of legislation : "The immediate effect of the enactment of the first three and successive rates of duty was to cause an almost entire suspension of the business of distilling, which was resumed again with great activity as soon as an advance in the rate of tax in each instance became probable. The stock of whisky and high wines accumulated in the country under this course of procedure was without precedent, and Congress, by its refusal to make the advance in taxation in any instance re- troactive, virtually legislated for the benefit of the distillers and speculators rather than for the Treasury and the Govern- ment."* * House Executive Document No. 60, 39th Congress, p. 19. 88 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT This was a rather bald statement for a creature of Congress to make to its creator, but with the words of John Sherman ringing in its ears, and with the guilty dollars said to be jingling in the pockets of certain members, the blunder or fraud was so palpable that silence became the better part of valor. This bold manipulation of the law for the benefit of speculators and distillers, a speculation in which the Treasury was robbed of the bulk of the revenue intended for it, created much criticism and indignation throughout the country. To this were coupled additional troubles : Congress had provided no adequate system for collect- ing the revenues, and for guarding against frauds. The matter of inspecting distilleries was frequently left entirely to the "workmen or partners of the dis- tillery inspected." George Parnell, United States Revenue Agent, testified that distillers manufactured and fraudulently sold without the slightest pretense of concealment, spirits, in quantities ranging from 20,000 to 80,000 gallons, without suspicion on the part of local officers, and that the business was not con- ducted in all respects legally or honestly. He further stated :* "There has never been any officer appointed under the revenue act, whose special duty it was to look after the dis- tilleries. The inspectors are paid in the shape of fees, by the distillers. The fees are generally very small. In most cases * Quoted by Thomann: Liquor Laws of the United States, p. 223. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 89 all the inspectors ever thought of doing was, to go and in- spect the liquors when the distillers sent for them." In abject despair. Congress finally, in 1868. adopted the recommendation of the Revenue Commis- sion, and cut the tax on spirits from $2 to 50 cents per gallon, hoping thereby the distillers would accept this as an inducement to be honest. This attempt to construct a silk purse from a pig's ear also failed, and Congress then began to devise ways and means to compel the distillers to act as though they were honest. In the development of this purpose Congress has evolved what is probably the most thorough and drastic machine ever devised for compelling a business to pay its legal taxes. The system goes so far that the whole business of the distiller is practically taken possession of by revenue agents, who carry the keys, take charge of the books, inspect and account for every bushel of grain used, and do not even allow the distiller to go upon his own premises except during business hours, and under regulations prescribed by the Treasur}^ Department, which hold him in a per- petual strait-jacket. Like the disorderly boy in the country school who stands in a corner wearing a dunce cap, the distiller is good from mere force of circumstances. The following table, compiled from various reports of the Commissioner of Internal Reve- nue, gives a survey of the operations of the Internal Revenue Department under the various changes of law since the enactment of the famous War Tax of 1862, so far as distilled spirits are concerned: 90 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RETURNS OF DISTILLED SPIRITS AND TAXES THEREON BY FISCAL YEARS. Fiscal Average Rate Aggregate Aggregate Years Rate of Tax at Which of Tax Collections Quantities Ended Collections Were Made per Gallon For Each For Each June 30 Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Gallons 1863.... $0.20 $0.20 $3,229,990.79 16,149,954 1864... .20 to .60 .33 33-100 28.431.797.83 85,295,393 1865... .20 .25 .50 .60 $1.50 $2.00 .94 31-100 16.007,706.99 16,973,974 1866.... .W $1.50 $2.00 1.98 56-100 29.482.077.99 14.847,943 1867.... $1.00 $2.00 1.99 91-100 29.164.409.34 14.588.740 1868.... $1.00 $2.00 1.97 81-100 14.290,730.98 7.224,809 1869.... .50 •.60 $2.00 .54 33-100 33,735,323,68 62,092.417 1870... .50 .50 39,245,099.04 78.490.198 1871.... .50 .50 31,157,314.15 62.314,628 1872.... .50 .50 38,117,788.99 66,235.578 1873.... .50 .70 .65 44-100 43,131,064.78 65.911,141 1874.... .70 .70 43,807,093.70 62,581,562 1875.... .70 .90 .72 76-100 46,877,938.10 64,425.911 1876.... .70 .90 .88 58-100 51,390.490.43 58,012,693 1877. . . . .70 .90 .89 97-100 52.671.291.34 58.543,389 1878. . . . .70 .90 .89 99-100 45.626,533.06 50.704,189 1879.... .50 .70 .90 .89 98-100 47.709.464.24 53,025,175 1880.... .70 .90 .90 55.919.119.18 62.132,415 1881.... .70 .90 .90 62.214,127.56 69,127,206 1882.... .70 .90 .90 64.778,756.97 71.976.398 1883.... .90 .90 69,085,856.73 76,762,063 1884.... .90 .90 71,655,211.33 79,616.901 1885.... .70 .90 .90 62,242,221.97 69.158,025 1886.... .90 90 63,766,219.61 70.851,365 1887.... .90 .90 60,642,351.66 67.380.391 1888.... .90 .90 64,408,937.37 71.565.486 1889.... .90 .90 69,447.175.84 77,163,529 1890.... .90 .90 76.539.002.62 85.043,336 1891.... .90 .90 79.626.093.51 88,473,437 1892.... .90 .90 85,541.209.01 95,045,787 1893... .90 .90 89,231.300.05 99,145,889 1894... .90 .90 79.899,647.52 88,777,387 1895. . . . .90 $1.10 .99 5-100 74,837,396.01 75,555.742 1896... .90 $1.10 $1.09 99-100 75,327.897.62 68,480.720 1897.... .90 1.10 1.09 99-100 76,967,256.91 69,979,362 1898.... 1.10 1.10 87.741,223.85 79,764,749 1899.... 1.10 1.10 93,638.085.27 85,125,532 1900. . . . 1.10 1.10 104,375,921.46 94,887,201 1901 .... 1.10 1.10 110,854,703.40 100.777,003 1902.... 1.10 1.10 115,285.115.90 104,804,651 1903.... 1.10 1.10 125.862.518.08 114,420.471 1904.... 1.10 1.10 129,564,242.49 117,785,675 1905.... 1.10 1.10 129,512,628.19 117,738,753 1906.... 1.10 1.10 136,965,911.49 124,514,465 1907.... 1.10 1.10 149,749,338.63 136,135,762 1908.... 1.10 1.10 133,626,276.45 121,478,433 1909.... 1.10 1.10 128,315,181.45 116,650,165 1910... 1.10 1.10 141,523.554.06 128,657.776 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 91 The tax on fermented or malt liquors has not been subject to the fluctuations that have attended the busi- ness of distillation; hence the same opportunities for speculation have not appeared. In the year i860 the brewing industry was in its infancy, comparatively, and it has developed to its present enormous propor- tions in the face of the internal tax on its products. In an attempt to study this developmeni;, the significant fact appears that the number of breweries at present is not much in excess of the number in i860. The brew- eries have developed enormously in magnitude and capacity, but not in numbers. Place side by side the breweries of i860 and 1909, and we have the following record : Tax. No. of Barrels Year. per Bbl. Breweries. Produced. i860 No tax i,?69 3,812,346 1909 $1.00 1,622 56,364.360 The vast power that has grown up between the dates represented in these figures is a story that can- not be told in this connection. It is a story of the de- velopment of an organized force for evil that has wormed its way into state legislatures, dominated city councils, dictated to prosecuting attorneys, given orders to police departments, furnished sinews of war for political campaigns, conducted a system of saloons in the army for its own benefit. Its own arrogance has proven its undoing and led to popular revolt, for, as these lines are written (1910), the brewing power of the nation is engaged for the first time in its history in a 92 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT general and desperate contest for its very existence. The following tabulation shows the fiscal operations of the government in its relations to the breweries, under the War Measure of 1863 and its various successors, all providing a tax on the manufacture of malt liquors. RETURNS OF FERMENTED LIQUORS AND TAXES THEREON BY FISCAL YEARS. Fiscal year ended June 30. Rate of tax at which collections were made. Aggregate collec- tions for each fiscal year. Aggregate quantities in barrels for each fiscal year. 1863 1864 186s 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 »873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1 88s 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 $1.00 to $ .60 .60 to I. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1.00 1. 00 I. GO 1. 00 1. 00 1.00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1.00 1.00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1.00 ,558,083.41 ,223,719.73 ,657,181.06 ,115,140.49 .819,345.49 ,685,663.70 ,866,400.98 ,081,520.54 ,159,740.20 ,009,969.72 ,910,823.83 ,880,829.68 ,743,744.62 .159,675-95 074.305.93 473,360.70 ,270,352.83 ,346,077.26 237,700.63 680,678.54 ,426,050.11 573,722.88 747,006.11 ,157,612.87 387,411.79 829,202.90 235,863.94 494,798.50 ,192,327.69 431,498.06 962,743.15 ,834,674.01 044,304.84 139,141.10 2,006,625 3,141,381 3,657,181 5,115,140 6,207,402 6,146,663 6,342,055 6,574,617 7,740,260 8,659,427 9,633,323 9,600,897 9,452,697 9,902,352 9,810,060 10,241,471 11,103,084 13,347,111 14,311,028 16,952,085 17,757,892 18,998,619 19,185,953 20,710,933 23,121,526 24,680,219 25,119,8?! 27,561,944 30,478,192 31,817,836 34,554,317 33,334,783 33,561,411 35,826,098 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 93 Fiscal year ended June 30. 1897 1898 1899 1900 1 90 1 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 Rate of tax at which collections were made. 1. 00 1. 00) 2.00) 1. 00) 2.00) 2.00 2.00 2.00) 1.60) 1. 00 I. GO 1.00 I. GO 1.00 LOG Aggregate collec- tions for each fiscal year. 31,841,362.40 38,885,151.63 67,673,301.31 72,762,070.56 74,956,593-87 71,166,711.65 46,652,577.14 48,208,132.56 49,459,539-93 54,651,636.63 58,546,110.69 58,747,680.14 56,303,496.68 59,485,116.82 Aggregate quantities in barrels for each fiscal year. 34,423,094 37,493,306 36,581,114 39,330,849 40,517,078 44,478,832 46,650,730 48,208,133 49,459,540 54,651,637 58,546,111 58,747,680 56.303,497 59,485,117 Note. — Prior to September i, 1866, the tax on fermented liquors was paid in currency, and the full amount of tax was returned by collectors. From and after that date the tax was paid by stamps, on which a reduction oi 71/2 per cent was allowed to brewers using them. The act of July 24, 1897, repealed the 7^/2 per cent discount. The act of June 13, 1898, in- creased the tax to $2.00 per barrel and restored the 7l4 per cent discount. The act of March 2, 1901, in force July 1, 1901, provided for a flat rate of $1.60 per barrel. The act of April 12, 1902, in effect July i, 1902, reduced the tax to $1.00 per barrel. The collection of a heavy tax, especially a tax from a class of people not suffering from an over production of conscientious scruples, is accompanied by difficulties, and generally by extensive fraud — at least, until the provisions for such collection have been rigidly systematized. Shortly after the War, frauds in the collection of the internal revenue on whisky were developed. These abuses Avere of the most extensive character. Whisky was sold in the open market at fifty cents per gallon less than the tax itself, and charges against high officials were publicly made. These frauds attracted the attention of the Fortieth 94 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Congress, to which Chairman C. H. Van Wyck, of the Committee on Retrenchment, on March 12, 1868, made a report* on the subject. The report, in part, stated: "Persons engaged in other branches of business, and all departments of industry, paying honestly their taxes, have been bewildered in the contemplation of these frauds. The whole people know that great crimes were committed, with the con- nivance, if not assistance, of government officials. An honest payment of the tax on whisky would realize $200,000,000, whereas but little over $25,000,000 is received. "When whisky is sold at $1.50 in the market, does not every man know that no person is engaged in the manufac- ture intending to pay honestly the tax of $2 on every gallon." The report savagely attacked President Johnson, "and recommended reducing the tax on distillation to fifty cents per gallon. *'If all the various means re- sorted to by many modern distillers for the accomplish- ment of their designs upon the revenue could be truth- fully written," says the Report of the Collector of Internal Revenue for 1867, (p. 20.) "the very safety of our institutions might well be questioned." The frauds were not confined to the distillers. David A. Wells, in a public address,t while Commissioner of Internal Revenue, said, "By statistical reports it has been proven that 6,000,000 barrels of beer are brewed annually, while only 2,500,000 paid tax." The frauds continued to be public scandal for more than ten years, reaching their culmination in the pilferings of 1873-5, * Report No. 24, 40th Congress, 2d Session, t Official Report, United States Brewers' Convention, 1865. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 95 during which two years, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Daniel H. Pratt, stated, the government had been robbed of $4,000,000 through the connivance of high officials.* The repeated exposures of these frauds led to the prosecution of several officials of the Inter- nal Revenue Department. Gen. John McDonald.f Su- pervisor of Internal Revenue for Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Indian Territory and New Mexico, and two of his fellow conspirators, were convicted and sentenced to terms in the penitentiary. This had the effect of somewhat discouraging the fraudulent prac- tices. Since the passage of the War Revenue Act of 1862, the tax on the production of beer has remained at $1 per barrel, except during the fiscal year 1863-4, when it dropped for a time to 60 cents. The Revenue Act approved June 13, 1898, to meet the expenses of the war with Spain, doubled the tax on beer, making it $2 per barrel, but left undisturbed the tax on distilled spirits. The Act approved April 12, 1902, removed most of the special taxes levied to meet the expenses of the war with Spain, and reduced the tax on beer from $2 to $1 per barrel, the ante- bellum basis. * Vide "Annual Encyclopaedia" for 1875; also The Voice Dec. 25, 1890, and Jan. 8, 19, 1891. t McDonald served seventeen months in the penitenti- ary before he was pardoned. On his release he wrote a sen- sational exposure of the "Secrets of the Great Whisky Ring," in which he implicated many prominent officials in the steal- ing. 96 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT During the eighties the temperance people began to oppose the internal revenue system, for about the same reason that the liquor dealers favored it. It had proved to be a bulwark of defense for the traffic, a shelter in time of need. The trade being unable to defend itself on its own merits, found that it could do very well by discussing the needs of the school fund, the police fund, or the road fund, instead. The Convention of the National W. C. T. U., in 1887, sounded the first important note of opposition to the tax on liquors in these words : "We advocate the ab- olition of the Internal Revenue on alcoholic liquors and tobacco, for the reason that it operates to render more difficult the securing and enforcement of Prohibitory laws, and so postpones the day of national deliver- ance." Since this time, dissatisfaction at the policy of the government in levying a tax on vice has gradually increased among the friends of law and order. This dissatisfaction is based, not so much on the ethics in- volved in such a transaction, as on the fact that such a policy has proved to be a most successful bar to progress of the prohibition movement, and the exten- sion of "dry" territory. "Easy money" has similar allurements to a nation that it has for an individual. The citizen who rents his properties at exorbitant rates for saloons or dives is both skillful and diligent in devising excuses for continuing the policy; he is "not responsible for what is done by someone else;" if he did not let the place AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 97 "some one else would do so, and likely rent quarters where more damage would be done;" the "law per- mits it, and it would be presumptuous to pretend to be better than the law ;" then the extortionate rents which he extracts are a "burden on the traffic" and he believes in "adding burdens to evils," and besides, he "applies these rents to philanthropic and godly purposes," which some other landlord might not do. The for- mulae are very similar to those which appeal to the community, or to the nation hunting excuses for shar- ing in the plunder easily to be derived from dabbling in the profits of vice. It is discovered that it cannot be suppressed ; that it can only be regulated or held in check; that the tax is a burden and should be increased rather than abated ; that the school fund needs money and roads are out of repair; at least, vice should aid in paying the expenses which it foists upon the tax- payers. Just as the individual is prone to postpone the day of his regeneration in order that he may add a few dollars to his ill-scented accumulation, so the state hugs the tainted revenue to her bosom, frantically hunting excuses and explanations for continuing the partnership with vice and crime under the cloak of "regulation," "vested interests" and "police require- ments." Mr. Bastable, the distinguished authority on matters of taxation and revenue, reaches a similar con- clusion : "The whole system," he says, "is a highly artificial one. By it the state draws very large resour- ces from the taxation of what is an instrument of lux- ury, in many cases one of vice. The aim of reducing 98 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT the national consumption of these drinks is naturally- postponed to that of maintaining so material a support of the public revenue, and the problem of adjusting the duties between the different classes is very im- perfectly dealt with." * Whatever theoretical or practical advantages may be urged as to a tax on vice being a burden, or means of regulation, or an assessment to aid in paying the expenses incurred thereby, the fact still looms up cold and clear against the horizon of the situation that such a tax inherently carries with it an element for its own protection. As the average man revolts against being the recipient of a favor, and then kick- ing the one who gave it, so "the average community is not inclined to receive money from a traffic for public purposes one day, and destroy the same business on the morrow. Just as a man who takes a bribe dislikes to ''squeal," so the community which sells the right to defile and pollute a neighborhood is more in- clined to endure things and explain away transactions, than it is to abate the nuisance. It is readily admitted that the tax on vice is a "burden," but so is the bribe money given to a policeman a "burden." As the one burden involves the officer in a sort of thieves' moral- ity obligation to tolerate the law-breaking of the donor of the bribe money, just so the other burden fastens upon the community a sort of moral or immoral obliga- tion to tolerate the licensed nuisance. * Bastable: Public Finance, p. 485. The Revenue Aftermath. CHAPTER IV. Just as indulgence in alcoholic beverages creates a headache for the individual, so any system of tax- ation, license or regulation of a vice begets complex questions, situations and problems. These are arti- ficial questions grov^ing out of such a system, and for this very reason they have not had the serious atten- tion of those specially interested in solving the drink problem. The relation of the state toward vice and crime is now entering upon an era of scientific treat- ment. The almost superhuman appeals of Father Mathew, the bewildering portrayals of John B. Gough, the biting sarcasms of John Adams, the persistent teachings of Dr. Benjamin Rush and Lyman Beecher, the organizing power of John Marsh, the eloquence of Tom Marshal, the physiological charts of Dr. Thomas Sewell, have all had their day and their uses. Each has had its achievements, and fulfilled its mission. These are now of the past, and the state is face to face with the problem of its own course. In its at- tempts to grapple with, to evade, to compromise, to harness the powers of vice for revenue purposes, the state has groped, stumbled, multiplied blunders, while loo THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT accumulating special situations and complications. Some of these, while properly and directly offshoots of our revenue system, are of such a character that it seems best to consider them in a separate chap- ter. Such questions as bonded warehouses, fortifica- tion, adulteration, denatured alcohol, and the relation of retail druggists to the traffic, will be discussed in the order named. Every lawful distiller must provide a warehouse at his own expense, constructed as the government requires, and then place it in charge of representatives of the Collector of Internal Revenue for the district. The owner cannot even go into his own warehouse except the government representative be present; he cannot take anything out, or put anything into it with- out the written consent of the government. The gov- ernment carries a key to the establishment, and its representatives can go in by night or day without asking. If the distiller objects, the revenue officer is authorized to break in, and then fine the distiller up to $i,ooo for interfering. The distiller must even fur- nish the inspectors with ladders to climb up into vari- ous parts of the building, and tools to open casks or anything else deemed necessary. If the inspector sus- pects secret pipes to or from the warehouse, he is authorized to dig up the premises till satisfied. All these provisions and more were provided in the reve- nue act of July 20, 1868, and have since been sustained by the courts, amplified and perfected by Congress. Personal liberty has never had any standing whatever AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC loi when a matter of securing the collection of a few dolv lars for public purposes was concerned. It is only when the privilege of debauching a weak individual, or when the license to cheat a helpless child out of its bread-winner's wages is concerned, that the cry of "personal liberty" is echoed from Hell Gate in New York to Chinatown in San Francisco. The purpose of the bonded warehouses is to facilitate the transaction of the business, both from the standpoint of the dis- tiller and of the government. It has also the purpose of providing a place of deposit for the distilled spirits during the period of aging, and until the distiller wishes to market the spirits. The distiller pays the revenue tax when he withdraws his product from the warehouse, and from the custody of the government. In the beginning, the bonded period was but one year. At the end of this time the distiller was com- pelled to pay the tax. On March 28, 1879, Congress, at the urgent request of the distillers, extended the bonding period to three years. The extending of the bonded period, which was equivalent to the extension of the time for payment of taxes to three years, led to a serious overproduction of spirits, and the distill- ers found themselves face to face with a grave situa- tion. They saw the bonding period drawing to a close with enormous quantities of surplus spirits on hand on which the tax must be paid. Bankruptcy stared many of the weaker firms in the face, and strong pressure was brought to bear on Congress to ? ? '^ *^ *• « « I02 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT remit hundreds of thousands of dollars of those taxes. Congress, always sensitive about matters of revenue, refused. In 1881, Secretary Windom also refused to stretch his authority to help the distillers out of their trouble. Windom was execrated in every distillery in the nation for his stand. The Internal Revenue Bu- reau, however, did what it could to assist the stricken manufacturers. On February 13, 1882, John G. Car- lisle introduced into the House of Representatives a bill to extend the bonding period of spirits, and to this measure the Internal Revenue Bureau lent the whole weight of its influence. In a report to Congress, * dated April 3, 1882, Green B. Raum, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, recommending the passage of Car- lisle's bill, said : "If the manufacturers and owners are required to pay the taxes within three years, I would expect to see such a decline in prices as would serious- ly embarrass many strong firms, probably cause many failures and unavoidably affect other branches of busi- ness without any beneficial results to the govern- ment." Congress, however, having in mind the whole- sale frauds and stealings of the distillers under the law as it stood, was in no mood to listen to the plead- ing of the culprits already swelled with the loot of twenty years of manipulation. What Congress refused, however, was later prac- tically accomplished by a ruling of Hugh McCullough, * House Report No. 1277, Forty-seventh Congress, First Session. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 103 Secretary of the Treasury. This ruling, dated Janu- ary 6, 1885, extended the bonding period for seven months. At the same time he requested Congress to extend the bonding period indefinitely, saying: 'The manufacture of whisky is one of the largest and most important branches of domestic industry in the United States, and is at the present time, like other manufacturing interests, greatly suffering from over-production. A legiti- mate business, from which large revenues are derived, it is not only depressed by over-production, but by being burdened by heavy taxes, the payment of which, as is the case with no other article, is required within a fixed period whatever may be the condition of the market Under existing laws the manufacturers or holders of whisky are compelled to pay a tax amounting to nearly five times its cost on the article before it is withdrawn from the warehouse for consumption, or to export at great expense, to be held in foreign countries until there is a home demand for it, or to be sold in such countries to the prejudice of our public revenues." Congress finally relented, and extended various privileges to distillers, including the right to ''bottle in bond" (Act of March 3, 1897.) The Act of August 2'j, 1894, extended the bonding period to eight years, and the business of manufacturing spirits was finally established upon a basis entirely satisfactory to the distilling interests. The process known as "fortifying" wine is the add- ing of alcohol in some form for the purpose of increas- ing its intoxicating qualities. Alcohol was formerly added to apple cider to "prevent acidification." Nom- inally, this process was to prepare wines and cider for export to tropical countries. But the people devel- 104 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT oped a taste for ''strong wine," so that now practically all of the wines consumed in the United States, save a few varieties like claret, are heavily "fortified." A glimpse of the situation as to "imitation" wines and fortified goods is to be found in a report of the "Uni- ted States Revenue Commission on Spirits as a source of Revenue." This report, * prepared by Da- vid A. Wells, said : "For 'the manufacture of imitation wines' the demand for distilled spirits has also, heretofore, been very large; four firms in the city of New York having reported to the Commission a consumption of 225,000 gallons of pure spirits for this purpose during the year 1863, Large quantities of , neutral, or pure spirits have also heretofore been used in the . United States for the fortifying of cider to prevent or retard acidification, especially for cider intended for export to trop- ' ical countries, to the Southern states, or to the Pacific coast. One distiller in Western New York reports to the Commis- sion a regular sale, during the year 1862, of eight thousand gallons of proof spirits per month for this purpose." This report indicated the tendency of this sort of business at the time that the war tax on spirits was enacted in 1862. This tax was levied indiscriminately on all spirits, and it came to pass that the purchasing of alcohol at about $2.50 to $2.90 per gallon, for the purpose of adulterating or fortifying wine that cost but a few cents per gallon, was an expensive, money- losing proposition. During the era of frauds, late in the sixties and early in the seventies, the wine makers • * Executive Document No. 62, Thirty-ninth Congress, First Session. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 105 got along very well by corrupting Federal Revenue officers, and thus getting alcohol or brandy without paying the whole duty. But the gradual purification of the Revenue service made this more and more diffi- cult. Foreign countries shipped large quantities of fortified wine into the American market, to the detri- ment of the American wine business. At length Con- gress was frantically appealed to by California wine makers to come to the rescue of their "infant indus- try." This appeal was so successful that, in 1890, a law was passed by Congress * allowing wine spirits, or grape brandy, tax free, for the purpose of fortifying sweet wines, in amounts necessary for the preserva- tion of the saccharine matter contained therein. This fortification was to be done under the direct supervis- ion of the Internal Revenue Department, and accord- ing to regulations issued by that office. The Act of 1890 limited the proportion of alcohol to be injected into the sweet wines to 14 per cent and in no event was the fortified wine to exceed 24 per cent in alcohol- ic strength. Prior to the passage of this act, it cost the wine maker about 53 cents in tax alone on the al- cohol necessary to fortify one gallon of wine. The business of fortifying wines at once began to grow by leaps and bounds under the stimulus, and for- tified wines began to crowd "light" wines out of the market. The development of this industry can best * Act of October i. Some minor amendments were added August 28, 1894. io6 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT be told by a tabulation, compiled from the annual re- ports of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, show- ing the brandy used for fortification and the amount of wine manufactured by this process. Brandy Fortified Brandy Fortified Fiscal Used Wines pro- Fiscal Used Wines pro- Year. (Taxable duced. (Wine Year. (Taxable duced. (Wine Gallons). Gallons). Gallons). Gallons). 1891 193,557 1,083,274 1901 2,236,672 9,725,047 1892 695,844 2,746,65s 1902 2,408,310 9,880,053 1893 619,811 2,651,187 1903 4,170,365 16,927,860 1894 1,114,515 4,731,050 1904 3,473,446 14,264,718 1895 1,047,001 4,377,230 1905 3,430,819 13,990,05s 1896 1,527,692 6,230,562 1906 3,123,748 12,077,573 1897 1,216,480 5,162,392 1907 4,090,774 16,241,900 1898 1,754,509 7,319,329 1908 4,380,016 17,119,261 1899 1,912,339 8,045,052 1909 3,814,129 14,945,871 1900 2,137,067 8,815,441 1910 4,888,445 19,012,397 It soon developed that it cost the government from $25,000 to $30,000 per year in expense for super- vision, in order to extend this tax free fortification privilege to the California wine makers. Attention was called to this in the Annual Report of the Com- missioner of Internal Revenue for the year 1904, and a recommendation was made that a tax of 25 cents per gallon be levied on brandy used for fortifying pur- poses, to cover the cost of administration. Commis- sioner John W. Yerkes repeated this recommendation in his report for 1905, and stated that this cost of ad- ministration would reach $50,000 during the coming year. No attention was paid to the recommendation until a new factor appeared. The agitation for free alcohol, denatured for manufacturing purposes, had begun to assume formidable proportions, and legiti- mate manufacturers, who promoted the measure, were AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 107 loudly calling attention to the free grape brandy for fortifying purposes as a precedent. They urged that free alcohol for legitimate manufacturing purposes was a more commendable proposition than was free grape brandy for saloon purposes. This clamor of the manufacturers alarmed the wine men, representatives of whose organization hurried to Washington, where they asked the privilege of paying a tax of three cents per gallon on brandy used in fortifying wines, which three cents was designed to cover the cost of admin- istration. Such an act was passed by Congress, and approved June 7, 1906.* But in securing this privilege of paying their three cents per gallon tax, and thus escaping the probable infliction of much heavier excise, the wine men se- cured another item of legislation which they really coveted. The injection of so large a percentage of spirits into wine for fortifying purposes gave the pro- duct a strong alcoholic flavor, somewhat at variance with the soft aroma of genuine wines. It was neces- sary to counteract this by the addition of another adul- terant. The Act of June 7, 1906, in addition to provid- ing the tax for administrative purposes, amended the * The collections from this source since the passage of the law have been as follows: Fiscal Year. Collections. 1907 $121,596.00 1908 _ .-. . 130,880.00 1909 1 15,876.00 1910 145,697.25 io8 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT previous legislation so as to allow the use of sugar and water up to ten per cent. The effect of this was to re- move the sharp edge of the added alcohol used in for- tifying. This ten per cent of water and sugar, togeth- er with the 14 per cent of brandy for fortifying pur- poses, makes a total of 24 per cent of adulteration spe- cifically provided by law for American wines. * * ' European wine countries generally have laws regard- ing fortification of wine, chiefly allowing fortification for the foreign markets. Swiss wines contain from seven to twelve per cent of alcohol, and are rarely fortified to bring the per- centage higher than fifteen per cent. Fortification of wines is allowed, but they must not be sold under false pretenses. Wines are inspected by the regular food inspectors. Italy has no legislation regarding fortification of wines, and fortification is allowed so long as the product is whole- some. There are penal laws regulating the adulteration of food products. In France, the law of 1864 allowed fortification of wine in certain exporting ports on the Mediterranean coast. The law of July 24, 1894, repealed the Act of 1864, and absolutely forbids fortification, or "vinage." Exception, however, is made so far as concerns wines intended for exportation, liq- uor wines and vermouth. These are provided for under spe- cial regulations. Alcohol intended for "vinage" of wines meant for exportation is subject to the same duties as any other alcohols. Moreover, fortified wines which show an alcoholic strength higher than fifteen per cent are subject to a double duty on the quantity of alcohol contained up to 21 degrees. Beyond 21 degrees they are liable to pay the duty on pure alcohol for their total volume. (Article 3, Law of September I, 1871). Exception, however, is made for wine known to con- tain alcoholic strength of between fifteen and eighteen de- AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 109 The adulteration injected into the same wines without specific authorization of law is another, and more intricate, topic — one which has been a subject of concern and legislation since the days of the Roman Empire. * For two thousand years moral suasion, law, grees, provided the grower and shipper mention this fact. In Spain the laws forbid the sale of wine containing more than twelve per cent of alcohol. Alcohol and all liquors are subject to tax. The wines which these countries ship into the American market are practically all heavily fortified for the American taste, while the wines used for home consumption are almost wholly, under the operation of their laws, unforti- fied. Consequently they contain only about half the percent- age of the alcohol in their wines intended for export. This fact, in part, accounts for the lesser amount of drunkenness arising from the use of wine by these people as compared with the United States and other countries, where heavily fortified wines are drunk. The laws of Russia forbid the fortification of wines im- ported from foreign countries (Excise law, May 23, 1900) but permits the fortification of wines of Russian production. For this purpose the excise department allows brandy tax free for the purpose of fortifying wines up to an alcoholic strength of 16 per cent. * Columella, the Roman writer on agriculture, relates the practice of mixing in a specific quantity of must (unfermented wine) ten Sextari of liquid Nemeturican pitch, which had been boiled in sea water, to which was added a pound and a half of turpentine resin. This liquid was allowed to evaporate to two-thirds its bulk, when there was added six pounds of crude pitch, with such aromatic herbs as spikenard, myrrh, saffron, cassia, etc. This treatment was supposed to help in the "fining" of wines, for the same purpose as sulphur is used today. This use of sulphur was also known to the ancients. Pliny (De Re Rustica, c. 113) specifies sulphur as one of the substances used by Cato to "fine" his wines. no THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT religion and regulation have failed to eradicate the pol- icy of liquor makers of adulterating their wares. Eith- er the Romans or Normans introduced the art into England. As early as the reign of Edward III (1327- 1377) officers were appointed to inspect wines. All imported wines were inspected twice a year, and those which had been tampered with were de- stroyed. People having adulterated wines on their premises were sent to the pillory. In 1428 John Ran- well, Mayor of London, ordered adulterated wines seized and poured into the streets. In 1432 Henry VI was presented with a petition praying for relief from these wine doctors. The Sixth Parliament, during the reign of Mary I (i 553-1 558), was invoked to legislate in the following terms : "And besyde the samin, sic wynis as are sould in com- mon tavernis ar commonnlie be all tavernaris mixt with auld corrupt winnis and with water, to the greit appeirant danger and seikness of the byaris, and great perrill of the saulis of the sellaris." Legislation was passed, but the evil continued. During the reign of Charles II (1660-1685), when al- most every form of corruption that brought revenue was licensed, Parliament passed a stringent law * against adulterated liquors. The early German laws proscribed adulteration with lime, gypsum,f sulphur or milk, but failed to outlaw adulteration with lead. * I2th Car. 11. c. 25, Section 11. t Gypsum is much used today in the manufacture of sherry. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC iii In 1696 France prohibited certain adulterations of wine.* As a matter of courtesy, adulteration of modern wines is usually referred to as "blending," in which process different wines are manipulated, fortified, col- ored and otherwise treated. Lord Lytton, when Sec- retary of the British Legation at L'isbon, reported that *'all port wines intended for the English market are composed almost quite as much of elderberries as grapes." The Agricultural Council of the Pyrenees Orientales drew the attention of the French Minister of Commerce to the fact that wines imported from Spain were colored with extract of elderberries. A distinguished authorityf says that the color of certain port wines is due to the addition of a compound made of one-third spirits, plus two-thirds unfermented grape juice, in which are steeped the skins of dried elder- berries. Another standard authority^ states that this high coloring of port wine is brought about by the use of such coloring matters as elderberry, whortleberry, privet, beet-root, tournesol, log-wood, Brazil-wood, etc. Henderson w^as doubtless in error as to the use of log- wood, as it has since been proven that log-wood yields this rich color only in alkaline solution. The use of the elderberry skins for the adulteration of port wine * Henderson; History of Ancient and Modern Wines, p. 339. t Vizetelly; Facts about Port and Madeira, p. 142. t Henderson; History of Ancient and Modern Wines, p. 341- 112 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is now practically extinct, for the reason that the elder tree has been extirpated from the Alto Douro districts, whence comes port wine. Poke weed (Phytolacca de- candra) is now largely used, as a substitute for elder- berry skins, for coloring port wine. Alcohol has been used for fortifying port wine since early in the eigh- teenth century. A standard Portuguese work on wines* states that the addition of a half a canada of brandy to every pipe of wine greatly improves it. Mulhall, in his table of percentages of alcohol in vari- ous liquors (1886), gives the proportion of spirits in port wine at 23.2 per cent, which is 10 per cent greater than it is possible to produce through any process of fermentation. Among the substances used in adulter- ating wines are : aloes, alum, ambergris, acetic acid, acetic ether, benzine, brimstone, bitter almonds, bi- carbonate of potassium, bisulphate of potassium, Bra- zil wood, creosote, charcoal, chalk, copperas, catechu, cudbear, cochineal, caustic potash, cognac oil, cocculus indicus, elderberry, essence of absinthe, foxglove, fu- sel oil, glue, glycerine, gypsum, henbane, harthorn shav- ings, indigo, juniper berries, lime, logwood, litharge, marble dust, muriatic acid, mountain ash berries, nut- galls, opium, oak bark, plaster of Paris, prussic acid, quassia, red saunders-wood, red beet-root, strychnine, sloe leaves, spermaceti, star anise, sulphuric acid, sug- ar of lead, tansy, turmeric, tannic acid and wormwood. The district in which port wine can be produced com- * Agricultura das Vinhas, p. 146. u AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 113 prises only about one hundred and fifty square miles, and during a long series of years the "port wine" im- ported into England alone has been enormously in ex- cess of all the port wine that is, or can be, produced. * As early as the seventeenth century the scandal re- garding adulterated port wine became so great that the Portuguese government gave a monopoly of the traffic in these wines to the Chartered Wine Company of Oporto, a company of philanthropists who under- took to produce and sell only "pure port wines," and conduct the traffic on a "high moral basis." The phil- anthropists, however, in order to meet the demand for "pure port wine," soon began launching upon the market bogus wines themselves, and eventually the corporation went to pieces. The adulteration of beer has been the subject of various inquiries by the British Parliament, but until recent years the adulteration of liquors has had but little attention in the United States. In 1890 the House of Representatives considered the Turner Bill, a proposal to prevent adulteration of beer. This v\ as defeated by the brewing interests, which wished to "avail itself of the discoveries of science." In 1899 * Owing to the richness of taste and color, port wine has been very popular for ecclesiastical purposes among the few religious bodies which still use fermented wine for commun- ion purposes. A little investigation of the character of the port wine of commerce would doubtless lead such bodies to adopt for communion purposes a wine that was at least made out of grapes. 114 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT the Senate authorized the Committee on Manufactures "to conduct a recess investigation on the subject of food adulteration in the United States." The investi- gations led the committee, chiefly, into the adultera- tion of v^hisky, in which it was developed that most of the whisky on the American market was either "doctored," or absolutely bogus. The most common method of manufacturing whisky was by the use of Cologne spirits, or neutral spirits as a base, and the addition of burnt sugar, ethers of the organic acids, and an essential oil to give it the proper bead. The investigation by this committee, and the correspond- ing labors in the House, led to the introduction of bills on the subject, but Congress was so bewildered with the problem that it only passed a law regulating the adulteration of butter. The Fifty-Seventh Congress did better, and considered "An act for preventing the adulteration, misbranding and imitation of food, bever- ages," etc. The Senate Committee in its report ac- companying the bill stated that "almost any brand of wine can be drawn from the same tank, and priced in the market according to the value of the wine it is colored to imitate." This agitation for a pure food law was initiated by the National Pure Food and Drug Congress which met in Washington in 1899 and 1900. Representatives of this organization kept up the agi- tation, which finally resulted in the passage by Con- gress of the law approved June 30, 1906, "An act for preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 115 foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors." Regulations (Circular No. 21.) were promulgated October 17, 1906, to carry out the provisions of this act. * The use of alcohol for industrial purposes is an- other problem which was developed by the artificial system of an internal revenue tax. Manifestly, a le- gitimate industry is unable to pay a tax of $2 upon an article the original cost of which ranges from ten to twenty cents. The tax of $1.10 on proof spirits 'amounts to a tax of about $2.09 on commercial alcohol, that product consisting of about 95 per cent of pure alcohol, and five per cent water. At the time of the breaking out of the Civil War the industrial use of alcohol was in its infancy, and the levying of this tax upon the spirits while not interfering, apparently, with the beverage traffic, practically wiped out the use of alcohol in the industries. The infliction of this tariff created an urgent demand for a substitute for alcohol for manufacturing purposes. Mineral naphtha was used, chiefly, for a time. Finally, a method was dis- covered by which wood naphtha could be cheaply rec- tified, the product being methyl alcohol, commercially known as wood alcohol. Wood naphtha had been for- merly a mere by-product of the manufacture of char- coal. Having no commercial value, it had escaped tax- ation under the war tax of 1862. Subsequently, for * These regulations were approved by Leslie M. Shaw, Secretary of the Treasury; James Wilson, Secretary of Agri- culture; and Victor H. Metcalf, Secretary of Commerce and Labor. ii6 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT special purposes, the chemists devised methods for the more perfect rectification of wood naphtha, these pro- ducts being known as ''Columbian Spirits," "Eagle Spirits," and **Lion D'Or," the latter being the highest product of that class. By taste or smell it could not be distinguished from ethyl, or grain alcohol. But to produce even commercial wood alcohol cost two or three times as much as the cost of manufacturing grain alcohol. Late in the eighties certain manufacturing inter- ests conducted an agitation for the removal of the tax upon alcohol for commercial purposes. This agitation was conducted chiefly by large manufacturers of pat- ent medicines, many of which were spirituous prepara- tions, used for beverage purposes. The proposal to remove the tax on alcohol for commercial purposes was so drafted as to turn loose upon the market tax- irte alcohol for these medicines. Such a proposal nat- urally created much opposition, and the attempt failed. Prior to the Spanish War legitimate manufacturers banded themselves together to secure tax-free alcohol for useful and necessary manufacturing purposes. The breaking out of the war with Spain, however, caused the temporary abandonment of this agitation. It was renewed with great vigor in 1895. This time the pro- posal was placed upon the same basis as that on which tax-free alcohol rests in Germany, France and Eng- land. The release from taxation was asked only on al- cohol which had been denatured, or so chemically treated as to unfit it for beverage purposes. This agi- AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 117 tation resulted in the Act of Congress approved June 7, 1906, which provides for the withdrawal from bond, tax-free, of domestic alcohol, when rendered unfit for beverage, or internal medicinal uses, by the admixture of suitable denaturing material.* Regulations of an elaborate character were pub- lished and approved September 29, 1906. Two classes of denatured alcohol were provided for; the first styled '^completely denatured," intended for general use, and without limiting regulations as against the private con- sumer. The second class, or "specially denatured" al- cohol, was provided for the needs of certain manufac- turing interests, for whose uses the completely dena- tured alcohol was unfitted. Such alcohol could be used only with such limitations as were prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. A supplemental Act, ap- proved March 2, 1907, which went into effect Septem- ber I, 1907, elaborated and perfected the original law. * The law provides: "From and after January i, 1907, domestic alcohol of such degree of proof as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, may be withdrawn from bond without the payment of internal revenue tax, for use in the arts and industries, and for fuel, light, and power, provided said alcohol shall have been mixed in the presence and under the direction of an authorized government officer, after with- drawal from the distillery warehouse, with methyl alcohol or other denaturing material or materials, or admixture of the same, suitable to the use for which the alcohol is withdrawn, but which destroys its character as a beverage, and renders it unfit for liquid medicinal purposes." ii8 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT The extent to which denatured alcohol is used is some- thing of a disappointment to some of the most enthu- siastic advocates of the removal of the tax. It has not yet reached the proportions officially predicted in 1882.* Yet the growth in the use of this article in the arts has been rapid. During the fiscal year 1909, 1,137 manufacturers were making use of it and 17,176 deal- ers were selling it. The following tabulation shows the activities of the traffic since the enactment of the law: DENATURED ALCOHOL PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES. Year Ending June 30. Completely Specially Denatured. Denatured. Total. 1,397,861 382,415 1,812,122 1,509,329 2,370,839 2,185,579 3,076,924 2,185,579 1,780,276 3,321,451 4,556,418 5,262,503 1000 1910 *Six months. The use of denatured alcohol was somewhat checked, when the law went into effect, in January, 1907, by the action of the wood alcohol trust in drop- ping the price of its product from seventy to forty cents per gallon, the then selling price of denatured alcohol. This change in the policy of the government drew a sharp line between alcohol intended for a legitimate manufacturing purpose and alcohol designed for saloon pr beverage purposes. The relations of drug stores to the Federal government are confined to operations under the Pure * Report of Commissioner of Internal Revenue for 1882, pp. CXXVII-VIII. This estimate was 7,367,594 gallons. \ AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 119 Food and Drug Act, as mentioned above, and also to liability to the payment of the special tax as ^'retail liquor dealers" under certain circumstances. By the provisions of Section 3246, Revised Statutes of the United States, a druggist is permitted to keep spirits and wines and use them in combination with other drugs, in the preparation of medicines that are not bev- erages, and to sell such medicines without paying the special tax as a liquor dealer. But under the uniform ruling of the Internal Revenue Department and the decisions of the United States courts a druggist can- not, without subjecting himself to this special tax, sell such spirits or wines as are not combined with drugs or materials which take them out of the class of bever- ages, even when he sells such liquors on physicians* prescriptions and for medicinal use only. In a circular dated January 20, 1890 (Circular No. 340), ruling* upon this point, the Internal Revenue Bureau made the following observation : "As to the compounds called "bitters," "tonics," and the like, the rule is, that, if they are composed of spirits in com- bination with drugs, herbs, roots, etc., and are held out as remedies for diseases stated in labels on the bottles, they are to be regarded as medicines until the facts ascertained as to the purposes for which they are usually sold or used show them to be beverages; and, until such facts are obtained, druggists and merchants who sell these compounds in good faith as medicines only are not to be called on to pay special tax as liquor dealers on account of such sales. Every person * See also Circular No. 608, Treasury Decisions, Vol. IV, p. 210. 120 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT who sells them as beverages, either by the bottle or by the drink, or sells them knowingly to those who buy them for use as beverages, involves himself in liability to criminal prosecution under the internal-revenue laws of the United States, unless he holds a special tax as a liquor dealer cover- ing such sales." The essence of this is that any druggist can sell or compound any legitimate prescription or medicine containing alcohol, without paying this special tax as a retail liquor dealer. He cannot, however, fill a pre- scription for a bottle of whisky or a case of beer with- out paying this tax. The latter variety of business is the province of a saloon. So far as the legitimate druggist is concerned, there was no difficulty over the application of the spirit of this ruling. But all druggists are not of immaculate probity, and various decoctions were prepared nomi- nally medicines, but actually beverages, which were sold in both prohibition and license territory, under the protection, or rather in spite, of Section 3246,* (Revised Statutes), which, in effect, declares it to be unnecessary to pay the special tax for the conduct of any legitimate drug business. This abuse became so flagrant that in 1905, the Internal Revenue Department began dealing with the subject in a series of Circular * The exempting clause of this section reads: "Nor shall any special tax be imposed upon apothecaries as to wines and spirituous liquors which they use exclusively in the prep- aration or making up of medicines." AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 121 instructions to Collectors. In the first of these (Circu- lar No. 673) the Department held : "It is held that the statute requires the exaction of this special tax from the manufacturer of every compound com- posed of distilled spirits, even though drugs are declared to have been added thereto, when their presence is not discover- able by chemical analysis or it is found that the quantity of drugs in the preparation is so small as to have no appreciable effect on the alcoholic liquor of which the compound is main- ly or largely composed. "The same ruling applies to every alcoholic compound labeled as a remedy for diseases and containing, in addition to distilled spirits, only substances or ingredients which, how- ever large their quantity, are not of a character to impart any medicinal quality to the compound; but where substances undoubtedly medicinal in their character are combined with whisky or other alcoholic liquor and are used in sufficient quantity to give a medicinal quality to the liquor other than that which it may inherently possess, such compound is, of course, not to be included in this ruling. "The question, in each case, arising under the terms of this circular will be determined by this office, not merely up- on examination of the formula submitted by the manufacturer of the compound, but upon results of the analysis made in the chemical laboratory here of samples obtained in the open market and sent in by the local internal revenue officers and agents." Druggists were given until December i, 1905, to adjust affairs to this ruling. Under the practice of the Departments each concoction was required to stand on its own merits. Later, circulars (Nos. 676, 713) and numerous bulletins were issued, placing various com- pounds which had been analyzed upon the list of those for the sale of which the special tax was required. The 122 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT holding of the Department in reference to those spu- rious medicines was further elaborated by the Depart- ment in 1907.* Describing these beverages, Commis- sioner Capers said : "First, there is a class of preparations held out as medi- cines by the manufacturers, but which are in fact intended to be sold and consumed as beverages, and which are really nothing but alcoholic beverages. Such preparations are usu- ally manufactured for sale in localities where for some rea- son spirituous liquors cannot be legally sold. "Second, there is a class of preparations which are really medicines and which are often used as such, but which con- tain alcohol considerably in excess of what is necessary to hold in solution or preserve the medicinal ingredients. Such preparations fall within the category of beverages as known to the internal revenue laws, no matter how they may be sold or used. "Third, there is a class of preparations containing no more alcohol than is necessary to hold the medicinal agents in solution. These are usually sold as medicines, but they are sometimes sold and consumed as beverages. They properly fall within the classification of medicines." His holding regarding these classes of compounds described was: "Manufacturers of the first two classes are liable as rec- tifiers (or brewers, in the case of malt liquors) and persons selling the preparations are liable as liquor or malt-liquor dealers. The question of good faith on the part of the dealer is not an element to be considered. "There are several tests whereby the character of the first class of preparations can be fixed. For instance, if the * Circular No. 707; Treasury Decision 1251, Oct. 12, 1907. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 123 compound contains alcohol considerably in excess of what is necessary to preserve any medicinal agents claimed to be used, if the drugs used are in such small quantities as to give the preparation little therapeutic value, if in the manufacture of the preparation ingredients whose special office is to render it potable are employed, if the preparation is largely sold in localities where prohibition laws operate, if it is sold at places where beverages are usually dispensed, or if the preparation is generally purchased by persons under such circumstances and in such quantities as to indicate that it is consumed as a beverage, then in either event it is held by this office that the preparation is a beverage and special tax liability accrues without any reference as to the character of particular sales. Investigating officers will in such cases sim- ply secure legal evidence that the party being investigated has sold a preparation known to be, or shown to come, within this class. This applies likewise to preparations of the second class. "In the case of the third class of preparations it is held that the seller is not subject to special-tax liability un- less legal evidence that the goods purchased were consumed as a beverage is obtained, and that the sales were made under such circumstances as to put the dealer on notice of the pur- pose for which they were purchased. Under the unbroken line of departmental rulings and decisions of the courts since 1890, it is absolutely unnecessary for any druggist to pay the special tax as a retail liquor dealer, in order to conduct a legiti- mate drug business. Only a very few standard patent medicines have been ruled as being of such a charac- ter as to require the payment of this special tax for their sale, and the manufacturers thereof have so mod- 124 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ified their formulae as to come within the law. * There are, however, a large number of quack preparations designed wholly for beverage purposes which have been placed under the ban by the Department. A circular dated June i, 1909 (T. D. 1505) gives a list of 163 such compounds. * The so-called two per cent beers, which are sold so extensively in Prohibition territory, are not exempt from the excise. The holding of the Department is that any fermented beverage made from malt or a substitute for malt, and con- taining as much as one-half of one per cent of alcohol, meas- ured by volume, is subject to the payment of the excise tax by the brewers, and retailers thereof are compelled to pay the tax as "retail malt liquor dealers." The payment of the beer tax on these two per cent beers accounts, in part, for the statistical increase in the consumption of liquors, as all bev- erages which pay this tax are classed as "malt liquors." The Army and Navy. CHAPTER V. In the history of the military and naval affairs of the country, drink has ever been a factor to be reckoned with. Drunkenness when on duty has always been severely punished. As to the attitude of the Govern- ment toward the supply of intoxicants, three policies have been thoroughly tested in decades of experience, and all have been thrown upon the scrap heap of the past with the flint-lock firearms and wooden men-of- war. The first of these policies was the furnishing of a spirit ration by the Government itself on the theory that a limited amount of alcohol was beneficial to the soldier and that it was best for it to be supplied di- rectly by the Government as a component part of the ration. After a half century of experience with this policy, it was abandoned for the reason that it was a failure. Then followed a half century or so of the sutler system, in which a semi-official contractor sup- plied liquor, with other goods, under strict Govern- ment supervision. This policy failed, and was also discarded. The next plan was the co-operative saloon, conducted by the soldiers themselves, but under strict military regulations which limited sales to ''light wine 126 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and beer," the profits going to the company mess fund to supply articles of diet not furnished by the com- missary. This plan was put to the test of fifteen years' actual experience, and was also discarded as a failure. The Continental army was on a spirit ration basis, but the ration was varied because it was fixed partly by the various colonies themselves.* The Pennsyl- vania Assembly, April 4, 1776, fixed the ration for Pennsylvania troops at one quart of small beer, per * The troubles that beset the revolutionists, through the whisky peddlers, is evidenced from an order taken from the Orderly Book of Captain William Cort's company, camped at Cambridge, Mass., under date of June 14, 1775: "See that all tumults & Differences In Camp be Suppressed, that all sold- iers repaire to there Barracks and Tents after the Beating of the Tato on penalty of being Confined, that there Be no Noise in camp after nine o'clock at Night, that the Field officers of the day take Especial Care to prevent all grogge shops and if the owners of them Continue to sell Liquors to the Sold- iers he be ordered to Stave all there Licquers." — Conn. Hist. Soc. Collections, Vol. VII, p. 20. On July II of the same year, Lieut. CoL Ward, President of the Court Martial, issued the following: "Notwithstanding the orders of the Provential Congress, some persons are so Dairing as to supply the Soldiers with Immoderate quantitys of Rum & other Speiratus Licquers, any Seller, tavern keeper or Lisanced Inholder who Shall Presume, after the date of this order to Sell to Any Non Commissioned officer or Soldir, Any Speritus Licquers whatever without an order in Writing from the Capt of the Company to Which Such Noncommissioned officer or Soldier Belongs, he or they So offending May Expect to be Severely punished." — Ibid, p. 44^ AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 127 man, per day. On February i, 1776, the Maryland Council of Safety fixed the ration for Maryland troops at one-half pint of rum per man per day and discre- tionary allowances for particular occasions. On No- vember 4, 1775, the Continental Congress fixed the army ration at "one quart of spruce beer or cyder" per day* and, on Novemer 28, fixed the rations for the Navy at a half pint of rum per man and discre- tionary allowances when on extra duty or in time of engagement. f But the liquor ration was supplemented by the army sutler, who sold to all who had the price. The rule governing such sales was continued in Sec- tion VIII, Article i of the rules and regulations for the government of the army adopted by Congress Sep- tember 20, 1776. The rule was : "No sutler shall be permitted to sell any kind of liquors or victuals or keep their houses or shops open, for the entertain- ment of soldiers, after nine at night, or before the beating of the reveilles, or upon Sundays, during divine service, or ser- mon, on the penalty of being dismissed from all future sutt- ling." t The spirit ration and the sutler combined did not appear to "keep the soldier out of the outside resorts," for we find General Washington issuing orders at Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 25, 1776, which read, in part, "All officers of the Continental Army are enjoined to assist the civil magistrates in the execu- * Journal Continental Congress, Vol. Ill, p. 322. t Ibid, p. 383. t Journal of the Continental Congress, Vol. V, p. 794; Cross, Military Laws of the U. S., p. 18. 128 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT tion of their duty, and to promote peace and good order. They are to prevent, as much as possible, the soldiers from frequenting tippling houses." The Con- tinental hospital regulations, promulgated in July, 1776, provided a corporal's guard "to prevent the sick from leaving the hospital without permission from the surgeon, and to keep persons from going in, without orders, to disturb the sick, or carry liquor to them."* So far from the spirit ration and the sutler system, under strict military regulations, solving the troubles due to drink, it was necessary to place a corporal's guard to keep the whisky peddlers out of the military hospitals.f The Act of Congress, approved April 30, 1790, one year after the War Department was established, provided the following ration for the army: "And be it further enacted: That every non-commissioned officer, private and musician, aforesaid, shall receive daily the following rations of provisions, or the value thereof: One pound of beef, or three-quarters of a pound of pork, one pound of bread or flour, half a gill of rum, brandy or whisky, or the value thereof, at the contract price where the same becomes due. and at the rate of one quart of salt, two quarts * American Archives, Fifth Series, Vol. I, p. 109. t Alibigence Waldo, Surgeon in the Continental Army, kept a diary during that winter at Valley Forge, 1777-78. The entry for Dec. 8 read: "All at our Several Posts. Provisions and Whisky very scarce. Were Soldiers to have plenty of Food and Rum, I believe they would storm Tophet." — Hist. Mag. Vol. V, p. 130. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 129 of vinegar, two pounds of soap, and one pound of candles, to every hundred rations."* The Act of May 30, 1796, made no change in the spirit ration save to take away from the soldier the right to commute the same. He had to take the rum ration or nothing in its place.t The army organiza- tion Act of March 3, 1799, eliminated the spirit ration except as to those soldiers who were allowed this by the terms of their enlistments, but the same Act authorized commanding officers to issue a ration not exceeding one-half gill of spirit per day and more in case of fatigue, service or on "other extraordinary occasions. "J Three years later, however, (Act of March 16, 1802) Congress not only restored spirits as a com- ponent part of the ration, but doubled the amount, making it a gill instead of half a gill as heretofore.§ About this period, a new factor appeared in the situation. Thomas Jefferson had been elected presi- dent and one of his favorite ideas was to encourage the use of light wines and beer in place of spirituous * Cross, Military Laws of the U. S., p. 43; Callan, Mili- tary Laws of the U. S., p. 89. t Cross; p. 64. t Cross; p. 94. § Cross, p. loi; Callan, p. 144. 130 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT liquors.* John Adams had also acquired considerable reputation for "fanaticism" on account of his strenuous opposition to ''taverns'' and spirit drinking at his home at Braintree (Quincy), Massachusetts. While opposed to spirits, Adams was friendly to cider. Re- flecting these ideas, Congress, in 1804 (Act of March 26), authorized ''That an equivalent in malt liquor, or low wines, may be supplied the troops of the United States, instead of rum, whisky or brandy, which by the said Act is made a component part of the ration, at such posts and garrisons, and at such seasons of the year, as, in the opinion of the President of the United States, may be necessary for the preservation of their health."t The Second War with England (1812-14) passed into history with no further changes in the spirit ration. But in this period the evidences multiplied as * Mr. Jefferson well expressed his attitude in this matter in a letter written to Thomas Yancy, in 1815, in which he said: "There is before the Assembly (Virginia) a petition of Captain Miller, which I have at heart, because I have great esteem for the petitioner as an honest and useful man. He is about to settle in our country, and to establish a brewery, in which art I think he is as skillful a man as ever came to America. I wish to see this beverage become common in- stead of the whisky which kills one-third of our citizens, and ruins their families. He is staying with me until he can fix himself, and I shall be thankful for information from time to time of fhe progress of his petition." — Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Ford Ed., Vol. X, p. 2. t Cross, p. 107; Callan, p. 170. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 131 to its unsatisfactory character, John C. Calhoun, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, had much to do with in- stigating this conflict, and, two years after its close, he was called into the Cabinet as President Monroe's Secretary of War. It was in this capacity that Cal- houn made a record that first brought him lasting fame. He re-organized the War Department from the bottom up, eliminated a multitude of abuses and re- duced the expenses of the Department from $481 to $287 per man. One of the first things that came under his observation was the policy of the spirit ration, a policy that he was led to oppose after investigating its results. In the year 1818, Congress authorized (Act approved April 14) the President to "make such altera- tions in the component parts of the ration as due re- gard to the health and comfort of the army and econ- omy may require."* Calhoun lost no time in calling for a report from the Surgeon General as to the pro- priety of furnishing a substitute for the spirit ration. The report was finally forthcoming,t but its purport was averse to any change in the spirit ration. So the ration of a gill a day per man remained for the time being. * Cross, p. 202. This Act was for a period of five years only. It was renewed for a like period in 1823 and again in 1829, and made permanent March 3, 1835. t Report Surgeon General Joseph Lovell to the Sec. of War, Jan. 26, 1829. Ex. Papers, 20th Congress, 2d Session, Doc. No. 103. 132 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Eighteen months later, Mr. Calhoun made another attempt to carry his anti-spirit ration ideas into effect. On August lo, 1820, George Gibson, Commissary General of Subsistence, sent out to all assistant com- missary generals a circular letter in which he stated that it was his own wish and also that of Mr. Cal- houn, the Secretary of War, to dispense with the spirit ration, and offered troops the contract price thereof in money.* The proposal was accepted by a few posts, but the plan shortly fell into disuse. Mr. Calhoun's attention became absorbed in other contests over public matters, and a temperance career was nipped in the bud. The spirit ration continued to thrive and make soldiers drunk. The next assault made on the spirit ration was that of John H. Eaton, Secretary of War and personal friend of President Jackson. Eaton was a strong friend of the temperance movement, then assuming considerable proportions, and when he entered Mr. Jackson'sf Cabinet, in 1829, the spirit ration was scheduled for trouble. In a report made to Congress in February, 1830, Secretary Eaton made a savage * State Papers, 21st Congress, ist Session, Doc. 22, t While in his youth, General Jackson had sowed a con- siderable quantity of wild oats, yet in his mature years he was a strong friend of the temperance cause. He was conspic- uous in his efforts to abolish the spirit ration, and banished all intoxicating liquors from the White House levees. — See Journal American Temperance Union, July, 1845; Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson; Rumple, Hist. Rowan Co., N. C, p. 294. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 133 attack upon the spirit ration of the army, recommend- ing its abolition. He presented the following statis- tics of desertion during the previous seven years, and stated that nearly all of those v^ho deserted in 1829 did so through drink. He also presented a formidable array of reports from army chiefs advocating the dis- continuance of the spirit ration.* * See, State Papers, 21st Congress, ist session. Doc. No. 22, Alexander Macomb, Major General, commanding the army said: "It is certain that nothing has tended so much to degrade the rank and file of the army as the ex- cessive use of ardent spirit; nor has it been less destructive to their health and discipline. Any plan, therefore, that can be devised that will be likely to eradicate the evil, is worthy of the trial. In accordance with the tenor of the resolution (of Congress), I would suggest that the rations of liquor now furnished to the troops be discontinued, and, in lieu thereof, a portion of rice and molasses be issued; and, further, that a bounty of one dollar a month, to each non-commissioned offi- cer, musician, artificer and private soldier, be paid at the ex- piration of his term of service, on producing a certificate, from his commanding officer, of total abstinence from the use of ardent spirits, declaring at the same time, that he has con- ducted himself in an orderly manner during the term of his enlistment." Adjutant-General Jones said: "Ardent spirits should be discontinued in the army, as a part of the daily rations. I know from observation and experience, when in command of troops, the pernicious effects arising from the practice of reg- ular daily issues of whisky. If the recruit joins the service with an unvitiated taste, which is not infrequently the case, the daily privilege and the uniform example soon induce him to taste, and then to drink his allowance. The habit being YEARS. Number. Tried by Court-Martial. 668 1,093 8ii 1,175 803 1,208 636 1,115 848 991 820 1,476 1,083 134 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DESERTIONS FROM THE ARMY IN SEVEN Year. 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 Total 5,669 7,058 A total of 1,083 arrests out of an army of only about 6,000 was, indeed, an alarming showing. Con- gress, however, was slow. Both the President and his war secretary were men of action. Mr. Eaton, under authority of President Jackson, on November 30, 1830, acquired, he, too, soon becomes an habitual toper." Major-General Gaines said: "The proceedings of court martial are alone sufficient to prove that the crime of intoxi- cation almost always precedes, and is often the immediate cause of desertion. And I am, moreover, convinced that most of the soldiers, who enter the army as sober men, acquire habits of intemperance principally by falling into the practice of drinking their gill, or half a gill, of whisky every morning. I have known sober recruits who would often throw away their morning allowance, but whose constant intercourse with tipplers would soon induce them to taste a little, and in time, a little more, until they became habitual drunkards. I am therefore decidedly of the opinion that the whisky part of the ration does, slowly but surely, lead men into these in- temperate and vicious habits, out of which grow desertions and most other crimes." AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 135 issued a department order discontinuing the regular spirit ration and making rules for the government of sutlers in selling spirits to the troops. The following is the text of this order: "i. Upon official statements of Generals, Inspector Gen- erals and commanders of regiments and companies, confirm- ed by the reports of the medical staff, representing that the habitual use of ardent spirits by the troops has a pernicious effect upon their health, morals and discipline, it is hereby directed that after the promulgation of this order at the sev- eral military posts and stations, the Commissaries will cease to issue ardent spirits as a part of the daily ration of the soldier. An allowance of money in lieu thereof will be made by the Subsistence Department, computing the value of the ration of whisky at the contract price at the place of deliv- ery. This regulation is not to be construed so as to inter- fere with the act of Congress of the 26. of March, 1819, reg- ulating the pay of the army when employed on fatigue duty, but all issues on such occasions may be commuted for money at the contract price, at the option of the soldier. "2. Sutlers are prohibited from selling to any soldier a greater quantity than two gills of ardent spirits a day, and that or any less quantity is to be issued only on the written permission of his commanding officer, who will exercise a sound discretion in reference thereto. "3. No liquor shall be sold or issued before noon, and when procured of the sutler the soldier shall pay in cash therefor at the time of delivery. "4. The practice of advancing and of issuing due bills representing money, by sutlers or others connected with the army, to soldiers, having been found detrimental to the interests of the service, is hereby prohibited. "5. Any sutler who shall offend in any of the above particulars, or who shall receive due bills for any article 136 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT sold by him to the soldiers, shall forfeit his appointment on satisfactory proof thereof being furnished." In 1831, General Lewis Cass succeeded Mr. Eaton as Secretary of War. Mr. Cass was prominent in the temperance agitation of his time and carried out the policy of his predecessor in regard to the spirit ration. He strengthened Secretary Eaton's order by absolute- ly forbidding the sale of spirits by sutlers and substi- tuting coffee in lieu of spirits in the regular ration.* * The following is an extract from this order (dated Nov. 2, 1832.): "i. Hereafter no ardent spirits will be issued to troops of the United States, as a component part of the ration, nor shall any commutation therefor be paid to them. "2. No ardent spirits will be introduced into any fort, camp, or garrison of the United States, nor sold by any sutler to the troops. Nor will any permit be granted for the pur- chase of ardent spirits. "Under the authority vested in the President by the 8th section of the act of Congress of April 14th, 1818, the follow- ing changes will be made in the ration issued to the Army: "3. As a substitute for the ardent spirits issued pre- viously to the adoption of the general regulation of Novem- ber 30th, 1830, and for the comfnutation in money prescribed thereby, eight pounds of sugar and four pounds of coffee will be. allowed to every one hundred rations. And at those posts where the troops may prefer it, ten pounds of rice may be issued to every hundred rations, in lieu of the eight quarts of beans allowed by the existing regulations. "4. These regulations will not extend to the cases pro- vided for by the act of Congress of March 2d, 1819, entitled "An Act to regulate the pay of the Army when employed on fatigue duty," in which no discretionary authority is vested in the President, nor to the necessary supplies for the Hos- pital Department of the Army." AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 137 The matter of the fatigue ration and the ration for "extraordinary occasions" was not within executive discretion. The next attack made was on the fatigue ration, and this attack came from within the ranks of the army. Many officers and soldiers petitioned Congress to abolish the fatigue ration. * The result of this agi- tation was that Congress, in the Act of July 5, 1838, substituted coffee "in lieu of spirit or whisky"t and the army spirit ration in the United States Army closed its career. Its abolition was brought about chiefly through the agitation within the army itself. It was abolished simply because, after a half century of exper- ience, it was found that temperance and good order in the army could not be maintained by furnishing free drinks to the soldiers at government expense. The * Daniel Webster, the Senator from Massachusetts, in presenting and asking leave to print one of these petitions, said, that he had "particular pleasure in presenting the me- morial of certain officers of the army, praying Congress to repeal a part of the law which allows whisky to soldiers on fatigue duty. These persons, most competent certainly 'to judge, are of opinion that this allowance should be discon- tinued. They think the substitute provided for other cases, would be most usefully applied to this also. So decisive a testimonial in favor of the great cause of Temperance, ought to have much weight. If ardent spirits may be beneficially and usefully dispensed with by soldiers on fatigue duty, it would be difficult to maintain the necessity of their use by persons in any occupation or employment." — Report American Temperance Union, 1838. t Callan, p. 346. "" 138 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT spirit ration had been the plague of the War of the Revolution. It had balked and defeated the efforts of the soldiers in the second War with England, and Gen- eral Winfield Scott himself* is authority for the state- ment that fifty per cent of all his losses in the Mexican War came from this source. The lack of vigilance of officers in dealing with sutlers called forth an order from Secretary of War George W. Crawford, dated September 21, 1849, ^^^' bidding sutlers from selling ''ardent spirits or other intoxicating drinks, under penalty of losing their sit- uations." This order was issued at a time when the temperance propaganda was at high tide and when the demand for absolute prohibition of the beverage liq- uor traffic began assuming extensive proportions. But iat the breaking out of the Civil W^ar both temperance and prohibition affairs were swallowed up in the strug- gle. While the public attention was taken up in these great national issues the whisky peddler lurked at home, poisoning the laws of his state, and in the envi- rons of army camps, defeating his country's arms. In this confusion of the hour the ''fatigue" ration crept back into army practice. The Revised Army Regula- tions, issued by Secretary of War Simon Cameron, August 10, 1861. provided a ration of **one gill [whis- ky] per man daily, in case of excessive fatigue, or se- vere exposure." But the same influences and causes which brought about this concession of a "fatigue ra- * Marsh, Temperance Recollections, pp. 337-8. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 139 tion" operated to make the same ''fatigue ration" mean whatever any regimental commander wished to have it mean. To many it meant the issuing of a drink to a soldier every time that he felt tired, and the bibulous soldier would suddenly become stricken with "excessive fatigue" every time he wanted a drink. In much of the army the "excessive fatigue" ration became like any other ration. The law was also stretched to allow the sutler to peddle liquor and a period of de- moralization set in. Such a period of confusion is always attendant upon the rapid mobilization of large forces of undisciplined volunteers, but the injection of w^hisky, especially through regu- lar army channels of supply, vastly augments the natural troubles. In the opening days of the war the troubles growing out of drink in the army attracted wide interest. The first disaster to the Union army, that of Bull Run, was credited largely to the account of drunkenness on the part of an army officer high in command on the Northern side. The scandal was aired on the floor of Congress. Senator Pomeroy, of Kansas, voiced the popular sentiment on the floor of the Senate, when he declared: "In ordinary years, it was calculated that 30,000 went down to the grave, the home of the drunkard, but it would not be too much to double that number each year since the war began. For the vice of intemperance has followed the army, has visited the quarters of both officer and private, has taken down some of the bravest and truest of the land, who, before, had always stood erect in their manhood and their pride. It has made disorderly and riotous the loyal camp of 140 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT the soldier, has made disgraceful the tent of the officer, and, on more than one occasion, defeated and demoralized an army on the field of battle. Of the thirty thousand victims of disease and death attending on the Peninsular campaign, the last year, at least ten thousand may be set down as chargeable to the daily ration of whisky and quinine."* Major General McClellan himself, Commander in Chief of the Union Army, in reviewing a court-martial of an officer who had been convicted of drunkenness, declared, ''Would all the officers unite in setting the soldiers an example of total abstinence from intoxica- ting drinks, it would be equal to an addition of 50,000 to the armies of the United States." f Congress took quick action. A joint resolution was hurried through both houses that any officer found guilty of habitual drunkenness should be immediately dismissed from the service. J * Marsh: Recollections, pp. 337-8. t Marsh: Recollections, p. 335. t The following, General Orders No. 11, issued from the Headquarters of the Middle Department, indicates the acuteness of the situation: "Baltimore, Md., Apr. 16, 1862. '* The Commanding General cannot pass by this court without a few words of admonition to the officers under his command. Two commissioned officers have been found guilty of drunkenness by this court, and dismissed the service, and not a court-martial is held without having such cases before it; every sentence in these cases, however severe, will be carried out with the utmost rigor. "Drunkenness is the bane of the military profession; it has gained a strong foothold in the commissioned grades. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 141 The Act of March 19, 1862, "An Act to provide for the appointment of sutlers in the volunteer service," made the inspectors general a board of officers to pre- pare a list of articles to be sold by sutlers, and con- tained the following clause — "Provided always, that no intoxicating liquors shall at any time be contained therein, or the sale of such liquors be in any way auth- orized by said board." * General McClellan, on June 19, of the same year, issued an order for the immediate discontinuance of the spirit ration, and that hot coffee be served immediately and the Commanding General is constrained to believe that it is to be traced in some instances to the bad example which the older officers set to the younger by drinking in their presence, and inviting them to drink in their tents and quart- ers at all hours of the day. Moreover, the influence of these examples upon the non-commissioned officers and privates is pernicious in the extreme. Nine-tenths of all the crimes and offences for which officers and soldiers are brought to trial, are the fruits of this degrading and ungentlemanly vice; and the Commanding General earnestly appeals to the offi- cers under his command in the name of the honorable pro- fession at arms, which it is their duty to preserve from all taint, and in the name of the distracted country in whose service they are imperiling their lives to banish from their encampments and quarters all intoxicating liquors, which add no vigor either to their mental or physical powers, ar.d which are a certain source of demoralization, and often of indelible disgrace. "By command of Major General Dix. [Official.] D. T. Van Buren, Asst. Adjt. General. * Callan, p. 496. 142 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT after reveille. To General Benjamin F. Butler, how- ever, belonged the honor of first interdicting the pres- ence in camp of any intoxicating liquor whatever, and renouncing all use of it in his own quarters. In his general order on the subject he declared that, as he desired never to ask either officers or men to undergo any privations which he would not share with them, he would not exempt himself from the operation of the order, but would not use liquor in his own quarters, as he would discourage its use in the quarters of any of- ficer.* General Banks, General Hooker, General Ew- ell and Colonel Ellsworth,f who was killed early in the struggle, made vigorous war on drink. During the first year of the conflict the War De- partment refused to allow temperance documents to be distributed through official channels. This attitude, however, was reversed in 1863, ^^^ ^ million copies of an address prepared by E. C. Delaven of New York, and endorsed by such men as General Winfield Scott and General Dix, were distributed among the troops through the army posts. The office of sutler was finally abolished by the Act approved July 28, 1866. In this same Act the sub- sistence department of the army was established, which has since been the channel through which supplies * Marsh, p. 335. t Ellsworth was exceedingly popular and, after his death, "The Ellsworth Pledge" was circulated among sol- diers and extensively signed by them. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 143 have been distributed to the troops. This Act was modified by the joint resolution of March 30, 1867, which authorized traders to remain at certain ^rmy posts. This resolution was re-enacted July 15, 1870, in a form by which the Secretary of War was "author- ized to permit one or more trading posts to be estab- lished and maintained at any military post on the frontier not in the vicinity of any city or town, when he believed such an establishment is needed for the accommodation of emigrants, freighters, or other citi- zens." It was never authoritatively determined wheth- er or not the Act of March 19, 1862, eliminating intoxi- cating liquors from the supplies of the sutlers, applied to the post-traders. But the War Department was very "liberal" in its treatment of the post-traders, who lost no time in acquiring a malodorous reputation. They sold all sorts of intoxicants at their posts, which degenerated into common saloons, frequently saloons of a low character. At this period, and for many years thereafter, the War Department construed the term "intoxicating liquors" to mean distilled spirits only, and not to include ale, beer or wine. In 1875 Congress placed in the hands of the Pres- ident, instead of the Secretary of War, the power "to make and publish regulations for the government of the army in accordance with existing laws." This feat- ure of the law is still in force. It was under the au- thority of this Act that President Hayes, on the recom- mendation of General Nelson A. Miles, issued his fa- 144 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT mous order, * "to prevent the sale of intoxicating liq- uors as a beverage at the camps, forts and other posts of the army." This order produced a healthy eflfect during the administration of President Hayes, but af-. terward, under the War Department holding that beer and wine were not ''intoxicating liquors," old condi- tions were somewhat revived. The trading posts re- lapsed into the old time saloons, chiefly for the sale of beer. The term "light wines" is a military fiction. Wines always have been practically unknown in the army, except in the officers' clubs. The soldiers drank rum, whisky or beer.f Under previous legislation and orders, the ardent spirits had been pretty well driven out of the army, but * The following is the text of this order: "Executive Mansion, "Washington, Feb. 22, 1881. "In view of the well-known fact that the sale of intox- icating liquors in the army of the United States is the cause of much demoralization among both officers and men, and that it gives rise to a large proportion of the cases before the general and garrison courts-martial, involving great ex- pense and serious injury to the service "It is therefore directed that the Secretary of War take suitable steps, as far as practically consistent with vested rights, to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors as a bever- age at the camps, forts and other posts of the army. "R. B. HAYES." t The writer has personally inspected more than one hundred army canteens, situated all the way from Portland, Maine, to the Philippine Islands, and has never been able to see or learn of any wine in these concerns. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 145 under the rulings of the War Department the same old snake re-entered in the form of beer. The serpent crept into the camp in a very subtile and attractive form — in what became known as the "army canteen/' The "outside resort," the dive adjacent to or near the army camp, was a pest from the beginning. This is true in a greater or less degree of every considerable army camp that has ever existed in civilized armies, in every country. Savage and heathen armies only ap- pear to have done entirely without these accessories of war. The beginning of the canteen had its germ at Vancouver Barracks, at what was then Washington Territory, about 1882. The establishment was merely a room fitted up with things necessary for amusement, a lunch counter, etc., and was provided by the ladies of the garrison. Two years later, December 15, 1884, a similar institution was established at Ft. Sidney, Ne- braska, by Colonel Henry A. Morrow. In both of these concerns neither beer nor any other form of intoxicants was allowed. Both were acknowledged successes from the beginning. After they had been in operation for a year or so, beer was introduced, at first on a small scale. Other army posts took up with the idea, the W^ar Department offering no objection, as, under its own policy, beer and wine were officially rec- ognized as non-intoxicating beverages. On October 25, 1888, an order was issued from the War Depart- ment for canteens to discontinue the sale of beer at posts where there was a post-trader. The order was issued on the ground that they conflicted with rights of 146 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT the post-trader. The beer canteen, as an institution, was officially recognized and established by an order* * The following is the text of this order: "i. Canteens may be established at military posts where there are no post-traders, for supplying the troops, at moder- ate prices with such articles as may be deemed necessary for their use, entertainment and comfort; also for affording them the requisite facilities for gymnastic exercises, billiards and other proper games. The commanding officer may set apart for the purpose of the canteen any suitable rooms that can be spared, such rooms, whenever practicable, to be in the same building with the library or reading rooms. "2. The sale or use of ardent spirits in canteens is strictly prohibited, but the commanding officer is authorized to permit wines and light beer to be sold therein by the drink on week days, and in a room used for no other purpose, whenever he is satisfied that the giving to the men the op- portunity of obtaining such beverages within the post limits has the effect of preventing them from resorting for strong intoxicants to places without such limits, and tends to pro- mote temperance and discipline among them. The practice of what is termed as treating should be discouraged under all circumstances. "3. Gambling, or playing any game for money or other things of value, is forbidden. "4. Civilians, other than those employed and resident on the military reservation, are not to be permitted to enter the rooms of the canteen without the authority of the com- manding officer. Commanders of canteen posts situated in states (or surrounded by communities) not tolerating the sale of intoxicants will not permit the residents or members thereof to visit the canteen for the purpose of obtaining beer or wine. "5. Each canteen is to be managed by a suitable officer, AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 147 (General Order No. 10), dated February i, 1889, issued by Secretaryof War William C. Endicott.* Mr. Endi- cott carried out his own logic by authorizing the estab- lishment of a beer "speakeasy" in the War Depart- ment building itself, in connection with the depart- ment restaurant. In the following year, 1890, Mr. Red- field Proctor, Secretary of War under President Har- rison, urged a clause in the army appropriation bill, setting apart the sum of $100,000 for fitting up and e(^iuipping these military beer canteens. This bold proposition was strenuously fought by Senators Blair, Hale, Frye and others. A part of the debate was an exposure of the War Department policy of establishing beer canteens in prohibition territory. The appropria- tion asked for was not adopted, but the bill which was approved June 13, 1890, contained a provision that "no alcoholic liquors, wine or beer shall be sold or supplied to enlisted men in any canteen or post-trader's store not a regimental staff officer, who shall be selected by the post commander and be designated as *in charge of the canteen.* The officer will be assisted by a canteen steward, who may be a retired non-commissioned officer, and by as many other enlisted men, having regard to the strength of the garrison and business of the canteen, as the commanding officer may deem necessary." * Eventually, the room set apart solely for the sale of beer became known as the "canteen," while the whole estab- lishment was called the "post-exchange." This distinction began to be made officially by the Department in 1892, but was more fully elaborated in General Orders No. 46, issued in 1895. 148 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT or in any room or building of any garrison or military post in any state or territory in which the sale of al- coholic liquors, wine or beer, is prohibited by law." This injunction of Congress, however, was ignored at most of such posts under one subterfuge or another. By the Act of January 28, 1893,* the post-trader- ship^ in connection with the military service were com- pletely abolished. This opened the way for the com- plete establishment of the army canteen. What the canteen and post-exchange should be, and rules for their conduct, were officially set forth in General Orders No. 46, of 1895. The "exchange fea- tures" were officially described as follows : "An exchange doing its full work should embrace the following sections: (a) A well-stocked general store in which such goods are kept as are usually required at mili- tary posts, and as extensive in number and variety as condi- tions will justify; (b) a well-kept lunch-counter supplied with as great a variety of viands as circumstances permit, such as tea, coffee, cocoa, non-alcoholic drinks, soup, fish, cooked and canned meats, sandwiches, pastries, etc.; (c) a canteen at which, under the conditions hereinafter set forth, beer and light wines by the drink, and tobacco may be sold; (d) read- ing and recreation rooms, supplied with books and periodicals and other reading matter, billiard and pool tables, bowling alley and facilities for other indoor games, as well as appara- tus for outdoor sports and exercises, such as cricket, football, baseball, tennis, etc.; a well-equipped gymnasium, possess- ing also the requisite paraphernalia for outdoor athletics. At small posts it may be impracticable to maintain all of these sections, but at every exchange there should be no less * 2^ Stat L., 426; 2 Supp. Rev. Stat. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 149 than two departments — the refreshment, embracing store, lunch counters and canteen, and the recreation, which in- cludes all the other branches." Section 10 dealt with the liquor, or "canteen" feature, and read: ''The sale or use of ardent spirits in any branch of the exchange is strictly prohibited; but on the recommendation of the exchange council the commanding officer may permit beer and light wines to be sold at the canteen by the drink whenever he is satisfied that giving to the troops the oppor- tunity of obtaining such beverage within the post limits will prevent them from resorting for strong intoxicants to places without such limits, and tends to promote temperance and discipline among them. Should the commanding officer not approve the recommendation of the exchange council, it will be submitted for final decision to the department command- er. The canteen must be in a room used for no other pur- pose, and when practicable in a building apart from that in which the recreation and reading rooms are located; the sale of beer must be limited to week days, and the beer consumed upon the premises. The practice known as 'treating' will not be permitted." The official status of the beer canteen feature of the post exchange was made complete in a decision of the United States Court of Claims * rendered June 5, 1899, i" which it was decided that post-exchanges, be- ing under complete control of the Secretary of War as governmental agencies, were not subject to special tax as "retail liquor dealers." Up to that time these taxes had been paid on these beer canteens. At first little attention was paid to the matter by * No. 20923; Thomas B. Dugan, vs. U. S.: Promulgated June 20, 1899, Treasury Decisions, Vol. I, No. 25, p. 1171. 150 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT temperance leaders, but the institution soon began to be subjected to severe criticism in army circles. The Army and Navy Journal, The United Service Maga- zine and other periodicals published various accounts of the evil tendencies of the army beer saloons. "Com- manding officers have generally agreed with me that it would be well to abolish the sale of beer entirely and to substitute for it other beverages Under the present system soldiers seem to be more generally led to drink and to offenses that go with drinking than under the old sutler and post-trader system," declared General O. O. Howard (1890), in one of his official reports. **The exchange with an open saloon would be a first rate thing to recommend for adoption in the army of the enemy," wrote Col. (now General) Henry C. Corbin in a report to General McCook. "It is for all intents and purposes, simply an authorized beer saloon kept open under the auspices and with the approval of the government," protested Surgeon General George M. Sternberg* in 1893. The criticisms of the army officers were taken up by the temperance organiza- tions, and a vigorous agitation followed. This agita- tion f was immensely augmented by the scandals at- tending the administration of the army beer canteen during the early part of the war with Spain in 1898. The widespread publication of the drunkenness in the * Report Secretary of War, 1893, p. 532. t It was in the midst of this agitation that General Miles, July 2, 1898, issued the- following as a general order: AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 151 camps of Alger, Chickamauga, Mobile and Tampa in connection with the canteens aroused the country, and led to Congress enacting the following in the early part of 1899: "That no officer or private soldier shall be detailed to sell intoxicating drinks, as a bartender or otherwise, in any post exchange or canteen, nor shall any person be required or al- lowed to sell liquors in any encampment or fort or on any premises used for military purposes by the United States; 'The army is engaged in active service under climatic conditions which it has not before experienced. "In order that it may perform its most difficult and la- borious duties with the least practical loss from sickness, the utmost care consistent with prompt and effective service must be exercised by all, especially by officers. 'The history of other armies has demonstrated that in a hot climate abstinence from the use of intoxicating drink is essential to continued health and efficiency. "Commanding officers of all grades and officers of the medical staff will carefully note the effect of the use of such light beverages — wine and beer — as are permitted to be sold at the post and camp exchanges, and the commanders of all independent commands are enjoined to restrict or to en- tirely prohibit, the sale of such beverages, if the welfare of the troops or the interest of the service requires such action. "In this most important hour of the nation's history it is due the government from all those in its service that they should not only render the most earnest efforts for its honor and welfare, but that their full physical and intellectual force should be given to their public duties, uncontaminated by any indulgence that shall dim, stultify, weaken or impair their faculties and strength in any particular. "Officers of every grade, by example as well as by au- thority will contribute to the enforcement of the order." i 152 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and the Secretary of War is hereby directed to issue such general orders as may be necessary to carry the provisions of this section into full force and effect." The administration in power, for some reason, was exceedingly friendly to the canteen and sought a plan to nullify the prohibition of Congress. The question of the intoxicating quality of wine and beer, a question that has been uniformly affirmed in all the court decis- ions for forty years, was submitted to Judge Advocate General Lieber for an opinion. The opinion was promptly given that both were intoxicating and were within the prohibition of the Act. The matter was next submitted to Attorney General Griggs, who pro- voked much censure and ridicule by rendering an elab- orate opinion in which he held that while the law for- bade soldiers from selling in the canteen, it did not forbid civilians from doing so. As to the words, "nor shall any person be required or allowed to sell such liquors in any encampment," etc., the Attorney Gen- eral ruled that the Act merely prohibited civilians from selling outside the canteen, but did not apply to civil- ians selling within the canteen. The War Department, accordingly, merely replaced their soldier bartenders with civilians and continued their regimental saloons. This rather bald subterfuge exasperated the people and stirred up Congress to pass a new law, which it did (Act approved February 2, 1901) in the following language : "The sale or dealing in beer, wine or any intoxicating liquors by any person in any post exchange or canteen or AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 153 army transport or upon any premises used for military pur- poses by the United States, is hereby prohibited. The Sec- retary of War is hereby directed to carry the provisions of this section into full force and effect." The brewers' organizations, aided by a section of the army establishment, made a desperate effort to re- store the army beer saloon at the subsequent session of Congress. So systematic had been the efforts to make the new law a failure and to advertise and mag- nify the occasional debauch of soldiers who had accu- mulated their appetites under the beer saloon system, that these efforts might have been successful had it not been for General Miles, the Commanding General, who threw the whole weight of his influence in behalf of the prohibition. At subsequent sessions of Con- gress, these attempts to restore the beer regime have been renewed, but the success of the new step has be- come .so apparent that the wishes of the beer dealers have been easily defeated. The prohibition forces met these attempts to null- ify the law prohibiting army saloons with constructive proposals designed to make the new legislation suc- cessful. These measures, chiefly promoted by the American Anti-Saloon League, consisted largely of appropriations for the construction, equipment and maintenance of suitable buildings at the various army posts to provide for the amusement and recreation of the enlisted men. These special appropriations began with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, and have been as follows: 154 'THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Fiscal Year. Appropriation. 1903 $500,000 1904 500,000 1905 500,000 1906 333.500 1907 350,000 1908 397.500 1909 400,000 1910 215,500 In addition to these special appropriations, the efforts of the Prohibitionists resulted in various improvements in the army ration, provision being made, at public expense, for various items of luxury or necessity to provide for which the profits of the army saloons had formerly been depended upon. There was no established rule in the matter of spirit rations in the Confederate armies. The subject was left to the discretion of the Department com- manders, who followed no uniform practice. General James Longstreet thus described the practices of the Confederate chiefs in this respect : "I don't remember now the Confederate laws in regard to the issue of whisky as a ration. Think there was no law on the subject but the regulations, I believe, were similar to those of the old army, where it was usual to issue a gill of whisky to each soldier after severe work and exposure, when the whisky was on hand. But it was never regarded as a necessary part of the ration, and when transportation was limited, as it is always in moving armies, this part of the ration was left, so that the regulation was little better than a dead letter: We adopted the old regulations, and this with AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 155 them, and whenever the stimulants were to be had after a se- vere day's march through wind and rain, the (spirit) ration was issued. Early in the war, on a few occasions on reaching a town, this part of the ration was occasionally found, and when found, after severe drenching and marching or expo- sure in the rain, working on the roads, or in the mud, our generals would order the issuance of this ration. I do not think it was ever considered by us as rations."* THE NAVY. — Rum was the traditional beverage of the sailor. The Continental Congress in 1775, which first fixed the army ration at one quart of spruce beer or cider, fixed the navy ration, on No- vember 28, 1775, at one-half pint of rum per man per day, with the alternative of a quart of beer. The Act of 1801 did not allow the alternative beer ration. This ration re- mained unchanged until the temperance propaganda had assumed formidable proportions. As early as 1831 the Secretary of the Navy expressed his convic- tionf that the use made of ardent spirits was one of the greatest curses, and declared his intention to recommend a change with regard to it in the navy. The Navy Department, on the year following, tried the experiment with a schooner manned by a crew without the usual supply of rum. The schooner itself was named Experiment.J During the few years fol- lowing, a widespread temperance propaganda took place in marine circles, especially in the merchant * Letter written to Prof. H. A. Scomp, Dec. 12, 1886; Scomp, King Alcohol in the Realm of King Cotton, p. 560. t Report American Temperance Union, 1838. • t Sixth Report American Temperance Society, p. 13. 156 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT service. The spirit ration was abandoned on merchant ships, coasters and whalers everywhere. Sailors' homes, Bethel churches and mariners' temperance societies sprang up in every port. At Charleston, South Carolina, four hundred sailors signed the pledge. In New York City fourteen hundred seamen did like- wise. The entire crew of the United States frigate Columbia signed the pledge in a body, with Captain Parker, the chaplain and the purser ia the lead. Practically the entire crew of the Ohio did the same.* This movement reached its height in 1842, and re- sulted in Congress reducing the rum ration of the navy to one gill per day, and forbidding even that be- ing issued to persons under twenty-one years of age. Besides this, the alternative of half a pint of wine, butter, meal, raisins, dried fruit, pickles, molasses, or the value in money was allowed. The agitation, how- ever, continued both in and out of Congress for the abolition of the spirit ration and also for the abolition of the flogging system. In presenting several peti- tions to Congress asking for these reforms, in 1847, Senator William H. Seward, of New York, afterward Secretary of State, said : "I take this occasion to express my concurrence in the sentiment expressed by the Senator from Massachusetts in relation to this subject, and to say that, in my judgment, whoever is allowed the privilege of administering intoxicating liquors to others daily, and of inflicting upon them corporal chastisement for offenses, has it in his power to exercise * Report American Temperance Union, 1842. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 157 over them the control that a master exercises over his slaves. I do not believe it necessary that such a relation should be es- tablished either in the army or navy; and since it has been sometimes said that the practice of flogging in the navy must be continued, because no substitute has been found for it, I beg leave to say, and your own recollections, Mr. President, will bear witness to the fact, that in the Penitentiary system in the State of New York, the practice of corporal punish- ment has been abolished, and that discipline has been main- tained with as much success with regard to labor and moral conduct, as when corporal punishment prevailed."* This agitation, while it led to the abolition of flogging, did not immediately result in the abolition of the spirit ration. The Act of 1861 re-enacted the one gill per day ration of 1842. In July, 1862, however, Congress abolished entirely the naval spirit ration.f It was largely due to the influence of Admiral Farragut and Admiral Alexander H. Foote that this was * Fourteenth Annual Report, American Temperance Union, p. 14. t The following is the text of the law: "That from and after the first day of September, 1862, the spirit ration in the navy of the United States shall for- ever cease, and thereafter no distilled spirituous liquors shall be admitted on board of vessels-of-war except as medical officers of such vessels direct, to be used only for medical pur- poses. "From and after the first day of September next there shall be allowed and paid to each person in the navy now en- titled to the spirit ration five cents per day in commutation and lieu thereof, which shall be in addition to the present pay." 158 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT brought about. Admiral Foote* was conspicuously active with voice and pen in bringing about this re- form. While this Act of Congress settled forever the question of the spirit ration in the United States Navy, beer crept in in its place. At naval stations beer can- teens existed after very much the same pattern as the beer canteens in the army. On ships it was the prac- tice to allow beer to be brought on board at certain fixed hours for sale under the supervision of the ship's police. Such sales were allowed only to those who were "deserving of a privilege." This continued until February 3, 1899, when John D. Long, then Secretary of the Navy, issued the following order (General Order No. 508) wholly abolishing this beer traffic both on shipboard and at naval stations : "After mature deliberation the Department has decided that it is for the best interest of the service that the sale or * When captain of the United States Brig Perry, Foote, under date of January 2, 1852, wrote the following to Rev. J. Spalding: "I do not claim that any one should be privileged by the Government more than the other. It is not a question wheth- er officer or sailor shall drink grog, but whether the Govern- ment shall furnish it to any in its employ. "Strike whisky from the ration, and I have no apprehen- sion but that the discipline of the service may be restored without the cats, as moral means may then be effectively used. But if the Government continues to send out grog, the cats should be restored as the most effectual corrective of its de- basing influence." — Journal of the American Temperance Union, April, 1852; Sailors' Magazine, March 1852. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 159 issue to enlisted men of malt or other alcoholic liquors on board ships of the navy or within the limits of naval stations, be prohibited, "Therefore, after the receipt of this order, commanding officers and commandants are forbidden to allow any malt or other alcoholic liquor to be sold or issued to enlisted men, either on board ship or within the limits of navy yards, naval stations or marine barracks, except in the medical depart- ment." After more than a hundred years of experience, all forms of intoxicating liquors have been forever abol- ished from the Navy of the United States. The dram drinking, boisterous, rollicking, drunken marine has become a thing of the past. Naval warfare has be- come a high science in which the carousing, tipsy brawler has given way to the educated, up-to-date mathematical gunner and engineer. In this modern naval warfare, the patron of the rum ration and the beer hall has no place save perhaps to scrub the decks, carry slops and shovel coal. The spirit ration was thoroughly tried and discarded with other antiquated, worn out failures. The navy and the army beer sa- loons were also thrown onto the scrap heap of the past for no other reason than that something better was found to take their place. The alcohol was put into smokeless powder to be used in blowing up the enemy rather than into our own soldiers to rot their bodies and befuddle their brains. The Aborigines. CHAPTER VI. "Whether serpents' teeth were sown here and sprung up men; whether men and women dropped from the clouds upon this Atlantic island; whether the Almighty created them here, or whether they emigrated from Europe, are questions of no moment to the present or future happiness of man." — Letter of John Adams to Thomas Jeflferson, June 28, 1812. Works of John Adams, Vol. X, p. 17. Bishop Whipple has estimated that the Indian wars have cost the United States five hundred mil- lions of dollars, besides the appalling cost in blood and suffering. According to the same authority, it has cost an average of one hundred thousand dollars to kill an Indian. Since the discovery of America and its coloniza- tion by Europeans, practically every Indian war, with its fearful record of human suffering the bare mention of which brings a chill of horror, has been caused, directly or indirectly, by the traffic in intoxicating liquors. A drunken Indian commits an outrage, upon which infuriated whites retaliate with a similar out- rage; Indians are robbed of their lands, ponies and blankets through being intoxicated with strong drink ; in some variety of one of these transactions is found AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC i6i the germ of nearly every Indian slaughter that has disgraced the history of American colonization. With the exception of the Indians of Mexico and Central America, and a few tribes in the far South- west of what is now the United States, the American Indians were almost wholly ignorant of intoxicating liquors at the time of the discovery of America by Columbus. The Indians of Northern Vermont had some knowledge of making a variety of beer from fermented corn (Williams, Hist. Vt. p. 190). Doctor Dorchester says (Liquor Problem p. 115) that some of these tribes made a mild fermented beverage from the sap of maple trees. These beverages, however, were but slightly used. The Hurons, among the Central Great Lakes, made a weak beer by throwing unripe corn into a pool of stagnant water, where it was left for two or three months. From this decayed product they made a thin fermented gruel which was used chiefly in important tribal feasts. The Indians of the Gulf states made a large use of an intoxicating bev- erage called 'The Black Drink" by the whites, but known to the Indian tribes as asse, assinola, assini, or yahola.* This beverage was a steeped and fer- * Osceola, the name of the famous Seminole chieftain, is an English corruption of "asseseholar" the Seminole dia- lect expression for "black drink." Osceola's wife, who had a trace of negro blood, was kidnapped by white men and taken away into slavery in the presence of the Indian Agent, General Thompson. i62 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT merited decoction of the cassia plant (ilex cassice or ilex vomitoria). Though this beverage was slightly intoxicating, it was a violent emetic, and used only in ceremonials, conspicuously in the Busk-e-tau of the Creeks. While all of these beverages were somewhat alcoholic, they were almost wholly unknown outside of religious ceremonials. It was not until the coming of the white man that drunkenness was known to the aborigines, save in the far Southwest. At the very first meeting of the French and Indians, which took place on the Island of Orleans, in the St. Lawrence River, in 1535, Jacques Cartier spread a feast of bread and wine for Chief Donnaconna and his Indians. At the first interview of Henry Hudson, the Dutch explorer, with the Indi- ans, in New York Harbor in 1609, a drunken carousal took place. The Indians became drunk on a bottle of spirits supplied by Hudson, and from that event the Island of Manhattan, on which New York stands, took its name. It became known in the Delaware language as Manahachtanienk, which is equivalent in English to "The-place-where-we-all-got-drunk."* The English corrupted this word into "Manhattan." Likewise spirits figured conspicuously in the first meeting of the English with the Indians of Massachusetts. Shortly after the landing, in 1620, the native king, Massasoit, visited the settlement at Plymouth, where the gov- * Heckwelder, Memoirs, Hist. Society of Pa. Vol. XII, pp. ^^, 262. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 163 ernor treated him to a military salute with music and a "pot of strong water."* From these early days to the present, intoxicating liquor has been a disturbing factor in most of the dealings of the white man with the Indian. Another contributing source of trouble between the red and white races has been the inability of either to comprehend the view point and ideals of the other. The Indian is, in a remarkable degree, a religious be- ing. Almost every act of his life is a religious one. Every Indian council, of war or peace, is a religious function, accompanied by religious ceremonials. Hunting and fishing are religious acts. Corn, the emblem of life, is planted and harvested with sacred rites. The planting of corn by machinery is about as confusing to the Indian as administering the com- munion through the nozzle of a steam fire engine would be to the white man. In the Indian mind, it was God who first made the Four Directions which hold together the Cosmos. The Spirit of the South Wind presided over the warm weather, assisted by Thunder, the crow and the plover. The Spirit of the North Wind came with his wolves, gave battle to and drove back the summer days. The Spirit of the West Wind brought the storms. His wings hid the sun. He had warred with and over- thrown the East Wind, the God of the Dawn, on the * Purchas, Pilgrims, Part IV, Book 5; Ames, the May- flower and Her Log, p. 305. i64 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT plains of the western skies. The Moon was the Wife of the Sun, from which union was born Fire, the Heart of Being, upon which depended all existence, spiritual and corporal. Through this union the Master of Breath, Ruler of the Winds, built the Fire of Life, in the Indian heart. The Circle was a symbol of life. The rain was the falling tears of Indians in Heaven. The stars had their quarrels. The comet was a mes- senger of awful things. The Milky Way was the pathway of the dead who went to the other world in a stone canoe. On the way they stopped to eat from a gigantic strawberry on a beautiful island. Thence they crossed a boiling chasm on a slippery log. Those who fell off were transformed into fishes. The firma- ment of the Heavens was domed with ice against which the Serpent God coiled his back, scraping off the ice dust, which fell as snow. The Eclipse was a horrid thing, which tried to eat up the Sun, to be driven away by the warriors with their bows and ar- rows. The rainbow was a great serpent whose shiny scales produced the colors. An eternal bird, mated to the Snake, had her nest upon the Sacred Pipestone, and was incapable of reproducing herself because the serpent, her mate, destroyed the young as the eggs were hatched. The noise of their destruction was the thunder of the storm. Another gigantic serpent crept up the Mississippi Valley on a visit to the Great Lakes. A great river was formed in its trail, which the white man calls the "Mississippi." The child of the forest reached out into the great beyond. *T shall soon be AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 165 dead as is the sun in the great waters, but I shall live again as he lives," said the Indian in his prayer. The Indian had no more conception of private ownership of land than the European has of private ownership of sunlight, air or water. Christopher Columbus' first glimpse at the Indian in his purity was thus reported by him to Ferdinand and Isabella: "I swear to your Majesties," he said, "that there is not a better people in the world than these — more affectionate, affable or mild. They love their neighbors as themselves. Their language is the sweetest, softest and most cheerful, for they always speak smiling."* Such a being, en- dowed with all the imagery of the old Hebrew prophets and living so akin to nature, could ill adapt himself to the cubes, squares, angles, certainties and machinery of civilization. And the attempt to sum- marily fit him into the environments of the Anglo- Saxon life was like putting a poet into a strait-jacket. A mere glance at early attempts at legislation re- garding the Indians shows, as nothing else can, the complete incapacity of the colonists to deal with the subject. Many of these laws took the form of offering rewards for Indian scalps, very much as legislatures of today offer premiums for the scalps and tails of wolves. In 1760, during the troubles with the Cher- okees. North Carolina enacted a law providing for the payment of bounties for Indian scalps and also pro- * Macgregor: Progress of America, Vol, I, p. 69. i66 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT viding that Indians captured should be sold as slaves.* In 1660, Virginia authorized the seizing and selling of Indians as slaves to pay for depredations. f On July 7, 1764, the Governor of Pennsylvania issued a procla- mation oflFering the following schedule of bounties for Indians captured or scalped 4 For every male above ten years captured $150 For every male above ten years, scalped, being killed.. .. 134 For every female, or male, under ten, captured 130 For every female above ten years, scalped, being killed 50 Pennsylvania did not hesitate to ofYer rewards for the scalps of women and the kidnapping of babies. By the Act of July 31, 1760, South Carolina voted an appropriation of 3,500 pounds ''to pay for the scalps of Cherokee Indians."§ Even General Washington seems to have countenanced the scalping of Indians, in at least one case.jf In 1758, New Jersey authorized her paymaster to procure "fifty good, large, strong and fierce dogs" to hunt Indians with.* In 1708, South Carolina offered a gun as a reward for capturing or killing an Indian.f Legislation for the training of the Indian in civi- lized v^ays was on about the same intellectual plane. * Martin: Laws of North Carolina, Vol. I, p. 135. t Henning's Statutes, Vol. II, pp. 15, 16. t Gordon: History of Penn., p. 438. § Statutes of South Carolina, Vol. IV, p. 128. ^ See Pennsylvania Archives (1779) p. 569. * Nevill: Code of New Jersey, Vol. II, p. 202. t Statutes of.S. C, Vol. II, p. 324. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 167 New Jersey, in 171 3, enacted that an Indian could not own land.* In 1796, the Province of Carolina passed a law declaring that Indians must bring in skins of wild beasts or be whipped.f Here is a sample of early Massachusetts Indian legislation: "And it is ordered that no Indian shall at any time powaw or perform outward worship to their false gods, or to the devil, in any part of our jurisdiction and if any transgress this law, the powawer shall paj' 5 pounds and every other countenancing by his presence or otherwise (being of age of discretion) twenty shillings." t As late as 181 5, an official recommendation to the Secretary of War advocated destroying the Indians by creating disease with a meat diet. The following is an extract: "It is much cheaper reducing them by meat and bread than by force of arms; and from the observations J have had the opportunity of making, that three or four months full of feeding on meat and bread, even without ardent spirits, will bring on disease, and, in 6 or 8 months great mortality. I would it be considered a proper mode of warfare. I believe more Indians might be killed with the expense of $100,000 in this way than with one million dollars expended in the support of armies to go against them."§ In 1639, Connecticut declared war against the Pequods — a trouble that grew out of the liquor traffic * Nevil: Code, Vol. I, p. 23. t Statutes, Vol. II, pp. 108-109. t Laws of Mass., Ed. of 1672, p. 77. § Letter from U. S. Indian Agent, Ft. Wayne, Ind., to the Secretary of War, dated Oct. i, 1815. American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. II, p. 34. i68 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT — and ordered among the supplies for the troops one hogshead of "beare," "three or four gallons of strong water" and two gallons of "sacke." The colonists surprised an Indian village and massacred about 600 men, women and children. "It was supposed that no less than six hundred Pequod souls went down to hell that day/' wrote the Rev. Cotton Mather. Then came King Philip's war — also caused chiefly by selling drink to Indians.* King PhiHp was slain. "The people prayed the bullet into King Philip's heart." His body was torn into bits. His head was sent to Plymouth where it was publicly exposed for twenty years. His hands were sent to Boston. "We have heard of two and twenty Indians slain, all of them, and brought to hell in one day. ... It was not long before the hand which now writes [1700], upon a certain occasion, took oflf the jaw from the exposed skull of that blasphemous Leviathan," wrote the Rev. Increase Mather regarding Philip, and the trouble. In striking contrast to this ghastly stupidity there * The Black Hawk War, according to Black Hawk him- self, had its inception in a drunken row in St. Louis, in 1804. A series of drunken escapades followed, particularly that of July 24, 1827, at Prairie Du Chien, when Red Bird and Black Hawk, under the inspiration of a keg of whisky, killed two persons, wounded another and then went to the mouth of the Bad Axe River where they waylaid two keel boats, killed two more persons and wounded others. A series of such affairs, caused by whisky peddlers, led to the general slaugh- ter known as the "Black Hawk War." AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 169 is an occasional glimpse of sanity. The General Court of Massachusetts, in 1633, decreed that "no man shall sell or give any strong water to an Indian."* This is probably the first authoritative prohibition of the sale of intoxicants to the American Indians. In 1679, New Jersey forbad selling to Indians on penalty of twenty lashes for the first, thirty for the second and imprison- ment for an indefinite period for the third offenscf Pennsylvania forbad selling to the Red Men in 1701.J: Here and there missionaries did what they could to stem the tide of debauchery of the Indian through strong drink. But the colonists, themselves a drink- ing people, were not prone to rigidly enforce their own laws against selling drink to aborigines, except for a time, after some appalling outrage had been com- mitted on account thereof. A particularly bright spot in the treatment of Indians by the colonists was the furious war that the Jesuit Fathers of Canada waged against selling drink to Indians both before and after the Iroquois War. About 1640 Major La Frediere became commandant of the garrison stationed at Montreal. He straightway turned his quarters into a dramshop for selling liquor to Indians. He not only made them drunk, but systematically swindled them besides. An investigation led to his being ordered home, but his successors followed the same policy, though not quite so openly. In the quarrels, brawls * Records of Mass., Vol. I, p. 106. t Learning and Spicer; Laws of N. J., p. 133. t Dallas: Laws of Pa., Vol. I, pp. 39-40. I70 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and public scandals growing out of this beastly traffic was born the bloody Iroquois War with its nightmare of horrors. From the beginning, the Jesuit Fathers bitterly fought this practice. In this opposi- tion many of the chiefs assisted. In the summer of 1648 there took place at Sillery what was probably the first distinctive temperance meeting on American soil. The meeting was inspired by Father Jerome Lalemant, but the speaker was an Algonquin chief. The drum beat after mass and the Indians assembled to listen to the speaker, who, in his own name and in the name of the other chiefs proclaimed the Gov- ernor's edict against drunkenness, and exhorted the braves to abstinence, declaring that all drunken Ind- dians would be handed over to the French for punish- ment. * After the Iroquois War, in 1658, Vicomte d' Argenson became governor of the Colony, and during his short rule the Jesuit Fathers prosecuted with re- newed vigor their war against selling drink to Indians. Bishop Laval launched excommunications by the wholesale against drink sellers, even making this offense a cas reserve, to be revoked only by himself. It was at the demiand of the Jesuits that d'Argenson decree'd the death penalty for those found guilty of this offense. Shortly after the arrival of Governor d'Argenson's successor, Avaugour, in 1661, one man was whipped and two were shot, having been convicted of selling * Parkman: Old Regime in Canada: Lalemant, Rela- tion, p. 43. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 171 liquor to Indians.* Soon a woman was convicted of this offense and sentenced to imprisonment. On ac- count of the offender being a woman, Father Lalemant interceded. Governor Ayaugour, eager for an excuse, flew into a passion and rescinded the whole law. Griev- ed and desperate, Bishop Laval attempted to stem the tide with fresh edicts of excommunication, but was forced to revoke them in the following year, i662.f The Fathers then appealed to the King for aid, who re- ferred the matter to the Sorbonne. This body, after considering the matter, pronounced selling brandy to Indians a "mortal sin. "J The King being an anti- prohibitionist, was not pleased with this and re-re- ferred the matter to an assembly of the ''chief mer- chants" of Canada. These men, being chiefly inter- ested in the brandy trafific, naturally reported adverse- ly to prohibition, and the King, in 1691, ordered that the brandy trade in Canada be no longer interfered with.§ An enthusiastic supporter of Bishop Laval in his efforts to prevent the selling of brandy to Indians was Father Le Mercier. This doughty priest carried his opposition so far that persons found selling were personally led by him to the door of the church, after sermon, and compelled to kneel there while he applied * Journal des Jesuits, Octobre, 1661. t The text of this sentence of excommunication may be found in the Appendix of Esquisse de la Vie de Laval. t Deliberation de la Sorbonne sur la Traite des Bois- sons, 8 Mars, 1675; Memoire sur la Traite des Boissons, 1678. § LeRoy a Saint-Vallier, 7 April, 1691. 172 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT the lash to the culprit's back * Another conspicuous- ly active priest, at a little later period, was the brilliant and caustic Father Etienne Carheil, in charge of the old Marquette Mission at Michilimackinac. One of his furious letters of protest to the Intendent was a classic of denunciation.f To these faithful followers of Loyola must be given the credit of making the first strenuous war against selling drink to Indians that was waged on the soil of the New World. For half a century these zealous priests fought this traffic, not only all over Canada, but all over France as well. Much of the time they were successful, but were fi- nally overwhelmed by the powers of greed. These North Atlantic tribes in whose behalf this heroic strug- gle was conducted by the Jesuit Fathers two hundred and fifty years ago, are now known only to history. They have been swallowed up in the passion for drink — exterminated — save a remnant that puts in an an- nual appearance at country fairs. The state and national legislation which has grown up, prohibiting the sale of liquors to Indians, or the introduction of it into the Indian country, is large- ly due to the efforts, the protests and the agitation of the Red Men themselves. As far back as 1741, we find the Indians of Pennsylvania complaining to the gover- nor of that colony about the rum being brought among * Memoire de Dumesnil, 1671. t Lettre du Fere Etienne Carheil de la Compagnie de Jesus a la Intendent Champigny, Michilimackinac, 30 Aout, 1702 (Archives Nationales) Appendix I. ^ AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 173 them by traders. * On March 15, 1783, this evil reach- ed such a state that the Indians of Western Pennsyl- vania, in Council at Pittsburg, resolved to take the matter into their ow^n hands and "spill all rum among them for the term of five years. "f Tv^o movements, led by Indians about the begin- ning of the century, were the principal factors in bring- ing about state and national legislation against the liq- uor traffic among Indians. The first of these move- ments was led by Mechecunnaqua, Chief of the Miami Indians, better known among whites as "Little Tur- tle." It was Mechecunnaqua who led the allied Ind- ians in many of the border wars of the Middle West. It was Mechecunnaqua who led the warriors at the de- feat of General Harmer and also of General St. Clair. He was one of the signers of the Treaty of Greenville. Shortly after his visit to General Washington in 1797, Mechecunnaqua began to agitate the evils of the liquor traffic among Indians, and entered into the subject with the same vigor and mental alertness that he dis- played in the border wars. Late in 1801, he went to Baltimore to attend the gathering of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends, which body had previously appointed a committee to investigate a proposal to es- tablish schools among Indians to be conducted under Quaker auspices. The Committee had reported that the selling of liquor to Indians created such a de- * Minutes, Provincial Council of Pa., Vol. IV, p. 502. t Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. I, p. 549. 174 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT plorable condition that it was doubtful if any good could be accomplished. The meeting, however, decid- ed to hear what the Red Visitor had to say about the matter, and invited Mechecunnaqua to express him- self, which he did through William Wells, * his in- terpreter.* The combination of simple directness, elo- quence and lofty spirit of the grizzled warrior can only be understood by the text of this remarkable ad- dress. He said: "Brothers and Friends: "My brother chiefs that are now present, with myself, are happy to find, that you have a good opinion of us. You say, that you apprehend that we have eyes in our heads, and can clearly see for ourselves, these things that are injurious to us — this, my friends and brothers is the case — we clearly see these things: My brother chiefs that are now present with me, as well as myself, have long seen them; we have long lamented these great evils that have raged in our coun- try, and they have done your red brethren so much harm: We have applied for redress, and endeavored to have them removed from amongst us. When our forefathers first met on this island, your red brethren were more numerous; but since the introduction amongst us, of what you call spirituous liquors, and what we think may justly be called poison, our numbers have greatly diminished. It has destroyed a great part of your red brethren. * Captain William Wells was a white man, a brother-in- law of Mechecunnaqua. In his boyhood he was captured near Louisville, Ky., and reared among the Indians. He afterward left the Indians and became an army scout. He was killed in the Fort Dearborn Massacre, Chicago, in 1812. This massacre was also caused by whisky. - AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 175 "My Brothers and Friends: , "I am glad to hear you observe, that freedom of speech ought always to be made use of amongst brothers — this, brothers, really ought to be the case. I will now, therefore, take J;he liberty to mention that most of the existing evils amongst your red brethren, have been caught from the white people; not only that liquor which destroys us daily, but many diseases which our forefathers were ignorant of before they saw you. "My Brothers and Friends: "I am glad, with my brother chiefs, that are now present, to find that you are now ready to assist us in everything that will add to our good — we hope that the Great Spirit may aid you in all your good undertakings with respect to us. We plainly perceive, brothers, that you see every evil that de- stroys your red brethren. It is not an evil, brothers, of our own making; we have not placed it amongst ourselves; it is an evil placed amon_gst us by the white people — we look up to them to remove it out of our country. If they have the friendship for us, which they tell us they have, they certainly will not let it continue amongst us any longer. Our repeated entreaties to those who brought this evil amongst us, we find, has not the desired effect. We tell them, brothers, to fetch us useful things — bring goods that will clothe us, our women and our children, but not this evil liquor which destroys our reason; that destroys our health; that destroys our lives. But all we can say on this subject is of no service, nor gives relief to your red brethren. "My Brothers and Friends: "I am glad that you have seen into this business as we do. I rejoice to find that you agree in opinion with us, and express an anxiety to be, if possible, of service to us, to remove this great evil out of our country, — an evil that has so much room in it — that has destroyed so many of our lives 176 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT — that causes our young men to say, 'we had better be at war with the white people. This liquor they introduce into our country is more to be feared than the gun and toma- hawk; there are more of us dead since the treaty of Green- ville than we lost by the six years war before. It is all ow- ing to the introduction of this liquor amongst us.' Brothers, how to remove this evil from our country we do not know. If we had known that it would have been a proper subject to mention to you in our council yesterday, we should surely have done it. This subject, brothers, composes a part of w'hat we intend to make known to the Great Council of our white brethren. On our arrival there, we shall endeavor to explain to our great Father, the President, a great many of the evils that have arisen in our country from the introduc- tion of this liquor by the white traders. "Brothers and Friends: "In addition to what I have before observed of this great evil in the country of your red brethren, I will say further, that it has made us poor. It is this liquor that causes our young men to go without clothes, and our women and children to go without anything to eat; and sorry am I to mention now to you, brothers, that the evil is increasing every day, as the white settlers come nearer to us and bring those kettles they boil that stuff in they call whisky, of which our young men are so extremely fond. Brothers, when our young men have been out hunting, and are returning home loaded with skins and furs, on their way if it happens that they come along where some of this whisky is deposited, the white man who sells it tells them to take a little and drink. Some of them say no. I do not want it. They go until they come to another house, where they find more of the same kind of drink. It is there again offered. They refuse, and, again the third time, but finally the fourth time, one accepts it and takes a drink, and getting one he wants another, and then a third and fourth till his senses have left him. After his rea- AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 177 son comes back to him, he gets up and finds where he is. He asks for his peltry. The answer is, you have drank them. Where is my gun? It is gone. Where is my blanket? It is gone. Where is my shirt? You have sold it for whisky. Now, brothers, figure to yourself what a condition this man must be in — he has a family at home, a wife and children that stand in need of the profits of his hunting. What must their wants be, when he is* even without a shirt? "This, brothers, I assure you, is a fact that often happens amongst us. As I have before observed, we have no means to prevent it. If you, brothers, have it in your power to render us any assistance, we hope the Great Spirit will aid you. We shall lay these evils before our great and good Father; we hope he will remove them from amongst us. If he does not, there will not be many of his red children living long in our country. The Great Spirit, brothers, has made you see as we see. We hope, brothers, and expect, that if you have any influence with the Great Council of the United States, that you will make use of it in behalf of your red brethren. "My Brothers and Friends: "The talks that you delivered to us when we were in council yesterday, were certainly highly pleasing to myself as well as to my brother chiefs. We rejoiced to hear you speak such words to us; but we all plainly saw that there was a great difficulty in the way that ought to be removed before your good intentions toward us could be of any effect. We agree with you, brothers, that this great evil amongst us, spirituous liquors, must first be removed. After this is done, we hope you will find an easy access to us, much easier than you can have at present. "My Brothers and Friends: "I hope that we all try to prevent the introduction of spirituous liquors in the country of your red brethren, the 1/8 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Great Spirit will aid us in it, and then we shall meet with no difficulty in doing it. After this is done, we hope that the great services you have designed to do for us, the great things mentioned by you in our council yesterday, may take place and have that success you so much desire. "I have nothing further to say." This remarkable address of the old warrior effect- ed a revolutionary change in the attitude of the meet- ing. The gathering, through its committee, promptly formulated an address to Congress embodying the speech of the Indian Chieftain. This committee was composed of Evan Thomas, Elias Endicott, John Brown, David Brown, John McKim, Joel Wright and George Elliott. The memorial prepared by the Com- mittee was, on January 7, 1802, referred to a Commit- tee of Congressmen consisting of Samuel Smith, Gris- wold, Davis, Hoge and Randolph, and was then print- ed as a government document. * From Baltimore, Mechecunnaqua went on a visit to Washington and begged President JeflFerson to aid in the movement to prevent the sale of liquor to Ab- origines. The President took a lively interest in the matter and wrote letters to the Ohio legislature ask- ing that body to enact legislation prohibiting the sell- ing of intoxicants to Indians. On January 2^, 1802, in a message to Congress, relating to Indian affairs, Pres- ident Jefferson said: * One of the original copies of this document, contain- ing the text of Mechecunnaqua's address, is still preserved in the Congressional Library at Washington. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 179 " These people [IndiansJ are becoming very sensible of the baneful effects produced on their morals, their health and existence by the abuse of ardent spirits and some of them earnestly desire a prohibition of that article from being carried among them. The Legislature will consider whether the effectuating of that desire would not be in the spirit of benevolence and liberality which they have hitherto practiced toward these our neighbors, and which has had so happy an effect toward conciliating their friendship. It has been found, too, in our experience that the same abuse gives fre- quent rise to incidents tending much to commit our peace with the Indians." * Congress responded quickly to the suggestion of the President. The Act of March 30, of that year, pro- vided "That the President of the United States be authorized to take such measures from time to time as may appear to him expedient to prevent or restrain the vending or distributing of spirituous liquors among all or any of the said Indian tribes, anything herein contained to the contrary thereof notwithstanding."f Mechecunnaqua and Wells next visited the legisla- tures of Kentucky and Ohio, where their efforts were continued to secure legislation against the sale of liq- uor to Indians. Mechecunnaqua, in this movement, inspired and promoted the first step ever taken by the government of the United States looking toward doing anything to the liquor traffic except to tax it. He was the "orig- * Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. I, p. 334; American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 653. t U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. II, p. 146. j8o the federal GOVERNMENT inal prohibitionist," the first "Christian lobbyist," the first prohibition law ever enacted by Congress being his handiwork. He was a man of great intellect, of lofty character, a patriot to the core, a friend of Wash- ington and Kosciusko and intensely devoted to the welfare of his fellow Indians. His education in a Jesuit school in Canada may have helped inoculate him with hatred for the liquor traffic. He died at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, July 14, 1812, and was buried with the honors of war. The fact that he wore feathers instead of a silk hat may, in part, account for his not having been given the place in the history of the temperance reform that his works justly entitle him to. Directly after the prohibition efforts of Mechec- unnaqua there followed a remarkable moral suasion campaign throughout the central west, led by Ells- kwatawa, son of the Shawnee chief Pukeesheno and brother of the great Tecumseh. When he entered upon his campaign, Ellskwatawa or Lawlewasaikaw changed his name to Tenskwautawa, but he is better known to white people as "The Prophet." Dur- ing the month of November, 1805, Ellskwatawa called around him the chiefs and principal men of the Shaw- nees, Wyandotts and Senecas, in their ancient capital of Wapakoneta, on the Auglaize River in Ohio. He there announced that he had been made the bearer of a new revelation from the Master of Life, who wished to save the red children from destruction. It was reveal- ed to him that he should denounce witchcraft, medicine jugglers and especially firewater. Drinkers of the lat- AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC i8i ter were especially accursed after death in the dwell- ing of the Devil. There they were compelled to stand in a corner, through all eternity, with flames of fire pouring out of their mouths. Ellskwatawa,* like Tecumseh, was addicted to drink in his early years, but the horrid scene in the House of the Devil re- formed him. Three years later, Ellskwatawa visited Governor Harrison to explain the nature and purpose of his crusade. In closing his speech to the Governor, the Chieftain said : "I told all the redskins that the way they were in was not good, and that they ought to abandon it. That we ought to consider ourselves as one man; but we ought to live agree- ably to our several customs, the red people to their mode, and the white people after theirs; particularly that they should not drink whisky; that it was not made for them, but for the white people, who, alone, knew how to use it; and that it was the cause of all the mishaps that the Indians suf- fer I have listened to what you have said to us. You have promised to assist us; now I request you, in behalf of all the red people, to use your exertions to prevent the sale of liquor to us." f Neither Tecumseh nor Ellskwatawa, though men of acknowledged power and influence, were be- loved by the white Americans of their day. Tecum- seh was conspicuous in the campaigns of Mechecun- * Meetheetrashe (Turtle Laying Egges in the Sand) was the mother of triplets, Ellskwatawa (Open Door), Te- cumseh (Tiger Crouching for his Prey) and Kumskaka (Tiger that Flies in the Air). t Drake: Tecumseh, pp. 107-9. i82 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT naqiia leading up to the Treaty of Greenville and, for twenty years before his death, he led or played a con- spicuous part in nearly every Indian battle with the whites. From 1804 to 1813, he kept the Indians of the South and Central West in a perpetual ferment over his Indian Confederacy* formed to drive the whites back from their country.f Ellskwatawa led the Indians at the battle of Tippecanoe and both he and Tecumseh fought with the British in the war of 1812. Tecumseh was made a Brigadier General in the British Army and Ellskwatawa received a pension from the British government till his death. While both were historic enemies of the whites, none has ventured to deny the beneficent effects of Ellskwatawa's weird harangues among the children of * For an account of this Confederacy, see Drake; Life of Tecumseh and Clarke; Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandotts and Tecumseh and His League. t Prior to the battle of Ft. Meigs, Tecumseh and General Harrison had formed a compact to prevent cruelty on each side. At this battle, Colonel Dudley and a detach- ment were cut off by the Indians and a slaughter was under way, when Tecumseh appeared and stopped it according to his agreement. One Chippewa chieftain refused to desist, whereupon Tecumseh buried his tomahawk in his head. When Tecumseh himself was killed at the battle of the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813, American soldiers skinned and horribly mutilated the corpse. In his younger days, Tecumseh was addicted to drink and many acts of cruelty were charged up to him. When he ceased to drink, he left off the practices of cruelty and bitterly opposed the same. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 183 the woods. His earnest, dramatic bearing, his fiery eloquence and his one eye ruined the business of the whisky peddler throughout the entire central west for a period of years. Not an Indian could be found who would run the risk of the eternal baptism of fire by drinking the stuff. Referring to his influence, James Mooney wrote, "Those who were addicted to drunkenness — the besetting sin of the Indians since their acquaintance with the whites — were so thorough- ly alarmed at the prospect of fiery punishment in the spirit-world that, for a long time, intoxication became practically unknown among the western tribes." * Echoes of the Indians war against drink in the central west found its way into the abodes of Indians in other sections of the country. In an Indian Council held at Batavia, N. Y., March 2, 1812, Chief Hauanossa (John Sky) said : "Brothers, we are happy to inform you that the resolu- tion we adopted some years ago to abolish the use of strong liquors has not been violated. Not a drop of these liquors has been drank in our village for many years. We wish we had it in our power to say the same of our red brethren of the Buffalo village; many of whom debase themselves and dis- tress their families by the pernicious practice. We are sorry to say that a barrel of whisky is the god they worship."t Geneodiyo, was the name of another Indian proph- et and reformer whose work among the Iroquois, or * Fourteenth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, Part II, p. 673. t Niles' Register, Vol. II. p. 32. i84 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Six Nations, extended over most of the first half of the nineteenth century. Geneodiyo followed somewhat the methods of Ellskwatawa. He received a revelation from the Great Spirit commissioning him as religious teacher, but the religion he taught was chiefly the doctrine of abstinence from intoxicants. Year after year Geneodiyo went from village to village, up and down the Iroquois nation, preaching total abstinence from the white man's liquor. Everywhere he went he organized temperance circles or societies, lectures being given by the head men of the nation. In 1830, these primitive circles organized after the white man's style into formal organizations with written constitu- tions. Branch societies were formed on the different reservations, and, for a number of years, annual con- ventions were held of these societies.* In 1842, the "Tuscarora Temperance Cornet Band" was organized, and for forty years this band not only was prominent in the Indian conventions, but also frequently ap- * Remnants of this movement still exist in the Six Nations Temperance League, or the Iroquois Temperance League as it is sometimes called. This organization is a federation of seven local lodges which still exist on New York reservations which hold weekly or semi-monthly meetings. Annual conventions of the lodges are held. The officers of the Federation elected in 1910 were: President, Charles Doxen. of Syracuse; Secretary, Horatio R. Printup, of Akron, N. Y. The convention for 1910 was held in Salamanca. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 185 peared at temperance conventions of the white people.* Kahgegagahbowh, an O jib way Chieftain, became prominent as a temperance reformer among New York Indians during this period. Accompanied by a quar- tette of Mohawk vocalists, he was a prominent figure at both Indian and white temperance conventions for a number of years. His style of address is indicated by a speech which he made in advocacy of the total abstinence pledge at the anniversary of the American Temperance Union in 1850. He said: "I read in your histories of the time when all this land was in the possession of my fathers; when the fires burned brightly in their wild homes, and the merry songs of their children were constantly heard. What is it that has come over the wigwam of the Indian? What has dampened his fireside, and hushed the songs of his children? It is the firewater. The white man who speaks by the lightning, gave firewater to the Indian, and when I think that he was so wise as to make ardent spirits, I am sorry he knew so much. But, perhaps, I might rather charge the devil with the in- vention, for I doubt not that the white man is shamed to own it is his. "I remember well the sixteen years of my life with my people in the woods — during all which time there was noth- ing but continual scenes of broiling and bloodshed. Year after year, before the missionary came, the poor Indian went rapidly down to the drunkard's grave. But the white man came and made a wall around to keep out intemperance. This wall was the teetotal pledge. The hand of the Great Spirit is * A good account of this movement may be found in Legends, Traditions and Laws of the Iroquois or Six Na- tions, written by Elias Johnson, a native Tuscarora Chief- tain. i86 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT under it — the eye of the Great Spirit is over it — the arms of the Great Spirit are around it, and it must stand. There was not a white trader in that nation but was deadly opposed to the temperance pledge. When the white man is harnessing the fires of the Great Spirit to his toil, when his fire cars are rolling over every valley on the continent, shall the Temper- ance cause keep the old market wagon pace of your forefath- ers a hundred years ago?"* Black Snake, of the Senecas, was another chieftain conspicuous in temperance work. On September 4, 1845, before a motley gathering of a thousand Indians and whites, the venerable chieftain, then ninety-seven years of age, made a most eloquent appeal to the whites to keep their liquor away. In a voice trembling with emotion, the old patriarch said: "But who is it that has made my people drunk? Indians cannot make whisky, Indians do not sell it. But white people make it and bring it among us. It is they that have brought the evil upon us, and we cannot remove it. The white people can remove it, and now we call upon them to do it. We ask them to take their whisky and run away, and leave us sober as they found us." f In 1829, the Senecas of Ohio began an agitation for their removal to the far west in the hope of getting beyond the reach of the white man's liquor. On Oc- tober 15, 1829, the chiefs joined in a petition to the President asking for such removal. In this, they said : "We the Seneca Chiefs, residing on Sandusky River and State of Ohio, wish you to open your ears to your red chil- * Fourteenth Annual Report, American Temperance Union. t Niles Register, Vol. 69, p. 38. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 187 dren in this place. Our agents have long since told us that there was a good country in the West and plenty of game, where the Indian could live well and be out of the way of bad white men, and from a strong drink which has destroyed so many of our people." This petition was signed by the following :* Corn- stock, George Curley Eye, Seneca Steel, Tall Chief, Wiping Stick, Capt. Good Hunt, Blue Jacket, Hard Hicky, Segow, Capt Smith, Small Cloud Spicer, Thom- as Brant. It was about this period that Estamaza, Chief of the Omahas, practically broke up drinking among his people by rather strenuous methods. Persons found bringing liquor into the Omaha country were prompt- ly turned over to the wanasha (Indian warriors) for punishment. These penalties consisted of severe cor- poral whippings and beatings. In extreme cases the tent and all the belongings of the offender were burned. Shortly after the War of 1812 a strong temper- ance movement developed among the Indians of Geor- gia and Alabama, now known as the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory. The Cherokees were the leaders in this movement, as well as the pioneers. The Cherokees had churches, schools, printing presses and a well organized community. Their temperance efforts quickly took the form of legislation, prohibiting the introduction of spirituous liquors into their coun- * State Papers, ist Sess. 21st Cong., House Doc. No. 2, p. 185. i88 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT try. On October 26, 1819, more than a quarter of a century before the state of Maine passed her first pro- hibitory law, the National Committee and Council of the Cherokee Nation, at Newton, Georgia, the Cher- okee capital, passed the first prohibition law against intoxicating liquors, the text reading: "No person or persons, not citizens of the Nation, shall bring into this Nation, or sell any spirituous liquors; and all such person or persons, so offending, shall forfeit the whole of the spirituous liquors that may be found in his or their possession, and the same shall be disposed of for the benefit of the Nation, and if any person or persons, shall receive and bring into the Nation spirituous liquors for disposal, and the same or any part thereof, be found to be the prop- erty of a person or persons not citizens of the Nation, and satisfactory proof be made of the fact, he or they shall forfeit and pay the sum of $100, and the whisky be subject to confiscation, as aforesaid. This decree to take effect from and after the first day of January, 1820, and to be strictly enforced,"* Two days later this Act was officially approved by Chiefs Path-Killer and Charles B. Hicks. Inas- much as the whisky peddlers were all white people this Act amounted to total prohibition of liquor selling within the jurisdiction of the Nation. On October 28, 1820, this legislation was supple- mented by an Act extending the prohibition against selling by negro slaves. Further prohibition was en- acted November 8, 1824, January 27, 1824 and Novem- * ReporJ: of Secretary of War on Indian Affairs, for 1822, appendix p. 175. ^ AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 189 ber II, 1824. This legislation was supplemented, in 1829, by a moral suasion propaganda in which a total abstinence pledge from distilled spirits was drawn up in the Cherokee language, and widely circulated by Indian societies. On September 19, 1831, the "Western Cherokees," those who had voluntarily emigrated west of the Mis- sissippi about twelve years before, passed a law pro- hibiting the selling of ardent spirits within five miles of the National Council. On September 6, 1839, after the main body of the Cherokees had been driven from their Georgia home, to Indian Territory, the remnants of the re-united nation met at Tahlequah to draft a constitution and enact a code of laws. The first law enacted was one for the protection of women. The sixteenth law, passed on September 26, read : "Be it enacted by the National Council, that the intro- duction or vending of ardent spirits in this Nation shall not be lawful; and any and all persons are prohibited from bringing or engaging in the traffic of ardent spirits within five miles of the National Council during its session, or one mile from any of the places designated for holding courts during their sessions, or one mile from any public gathering, or meeting in the Nation, under penalty of having same wasted or destroyed by any lawful officer or authorized per- son, by the sheriff, for such purpose." The formation of the National Cherokee Temper- ance Society in 1836, was followed by the organization of branches in numerous towns and villages. On July 3, 1843, at the Grand Council fire, held at Tahlequah, a solemn anti-liquor compact was formed between rep- I90 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT resentatives of the Cherokees, Creeks and the Osages. Section Eight of the compact read : "The use of ardent spirits, being a fruitful source of crime and misfortune, we recommend its suppression within our limits, and agree that no citizen of our Nation, shall in- troduce it into the territory of any other Nation party to this compact." This same clause was agreed to again in 1886, at Eufaula, in the compact entered into between the Cher- okees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles, Comanches, Wichitas and affiliated bands of Indians residing in the southwest part of the Territory. The compact of 1843 ^^^ followed by a renewed temperance agitation that flourished for seven years, under the leadership of the Cherokee Temperance So- ciety, which reached a membership of seventeen hun- dred and fifty-two. The prohibition laws mentioned above were elaborated and strengthened by the Acts of October 25. 1841, November 4, i860, again by the laws of 1875, and again by the Act of November 29, 1880. This legislation against drink by the Cherokees was followed by similar legislation by the others of the Five Civilized Tribes. Early in 1827 one of the Choc- taw districts prohibited the introduction and sale of ar- dent spirits. By January 28, 1829, all the other dis- tricts had adopted the same policy. Legislation against drink, and temperance societies were estab- lished immediately after the Choctaws were settled in AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 191 their Western home. The Chickasaws enacted their first Prohibition legislation in 1828. These efforts on the part of the Five Civilized Tribes to keep liquor away from their people have been continuous from those times to the present. They have not only legislated against and fought the traffic on their own account, but in their dealings with the United States Government have always insisted that proper efforts be made to eliminate this traffic. The Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, commonly known as the "Dawes Commission," was created by Congress on March 3, 1893, *'for the purpose of ex- tinguishment of the National or tribal titles to any lands within that Territory now held by any or all such Nations or tribes, either by cession of the same or some part thereof to the United States, or by the allotment and divisions of the same in severalty among the Indians of such Nations or tribes " The agreement made by this commission with the Creek Indians, approved June 8, 1898, under which said Ind- ians surrendered their tribal government and agreed to allotment of their lands, contained the following provision : "The United States agrees to maintain strict laws in the Territory of said Nation against the introduction, sale, barter or giving away of liquors and intoxicants of any kind or quantity." Substantially this same clause was included in the agreements made with the other tribes.* Scarcely * Kappler: Indian Laws and Treaties, Vol. I, pp. 651, 661, 664, 739, 798, (Sec. 7^) together with page 95, proviso. 192 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT had these agreements been completed when a project was set on foot by white men to admit the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory into the Union as a single state, and without any provision whatever for protecting the obligations of the agree- ment to keep intoxicating liquor out of the territory occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes. The Indians of these tribes were at once up in arms, the chief reason for their objections being the fear that the sale of liquor would be permitted under the new state. To give voice to their protest, an in- formal meeting of Indians of the Five Tribes was held at Eufaula, November 28, 1902. This meeting, to fur- ther voice their protest, called a convention at the same place for May 21, 1903. This convention laid plans for opposing any scheme of statehood that would endanger the Prohibition laws of the Territory. Among the recommendations made by the convention, and signed by the principal Chiefs of each of the Five Nations, was the following: "6. We further recommend that the general council of each nation address a memorial to the various religious and temperance organizations of the United States requesting them to assist the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes in their efforts to prevent the annexation of Indian Territory to Oklahoma and to secure an independent state government for Indian Territory under a constitution which will protect the Indian from the baneful influence of intoxicating liq- uors." A joint committee was also formed, consisting of AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 193 a representative of each Nation, to carry out the plan of the convention. What the liquor traffic meant to the Indian can never be understood by the white man. The red man was the first to protest, and the pages of American history, for two hundred and fifty years, are strewn with quaint, pathetic appeals from native chiefs for protection from the white man's liquor. When the persistent maltreatment by the whisky peddlers ex- hausted the patience of the Indian, when these miser- able white renegades had robbed their Indian men and debauched their women to a degree that even Indian patience could no longer endure, savage nature came into control, and savagery was met with savagery in its most horrible phases. An "Indian War," the mere mention of which always blanches the face and chills the heart, left its trail of innocent blood across forest and stream, while the whisky peddler, the cause of it all, skulked away until the trouble was over. It is the frontier missionary who better than any other of the white race knows the horror that the whisky peddler brings into the Indian home. And let no man imagine that the practical sympathy that comes from intimate knowledge finds no response in the Indian breast. There is no living Cherokee today who does not revere the memory of the missionaries of Northern Georgia who were thrown in jail, and who shared the Indians' fate when driven into the wil- derness at the point of the bayonet in 1838, an atrocity unsurpassed in wickedness by the deeds of any savages 194 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT in American history. What more honored name is there in the pioneer history of the far northwest than that of Father DeSmet, who spent his life in the homes of the red men? Father DeSmet kept a sort of a diary as best he could in his wild surroundings. A few en- tries in this diary, written in the Pottawatomie Na- tion, near Council Bluffs, in 1839 * throw a ray upon what whisky meant to Indian life in pioneer days : "[May] 25. Two Pottawatomies killed on the Chage [?] River in a drunken frolic. "[May] 27. Three Pottawatomies drowned in the Mis- souri, supposed to be drunk. "28. A Pottawatomie poisoned on the Mosquito while drunk. Frequently the case. "30. Arrival of the steamer Wilmington with provisions. A war of extermination appears preparing around the poor Pottawatomies. Fifty large cannons have been landed, ready charged with the most murderous grape shot, each contain- ing thirty gallons of whisky, brandy, rum or alcohol. The boat was not as yet out of sight when the skirmishes com- menced. After the fourth, fifth and sixth discharges, the con- fusion became great and appalling. In all directions men, women and children were seen tottering and falling; the war-whoop, the merry Indian's song, cries, savage roarings, formed a chorus. Quarrel succeeded quarrel. Blows fol- lowed blows. The club, the tomahawk, spears, butcher knives, brandished together in the air. Strange! astonishing! only one man in this dreadful aflfray was drowned in the Missouri, another severely stabbed, and several noses lost. The prominent point, as you well know, the Pottawatomies particularly aim at when well corned. * Life, Letters and Travel of Father Pierre Juan De Smet, S. J., Vol. I, pp. 172-176. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 195 "I shudder at the deed. A squaw offered her little boy four years old, to the crew of the boat for a few bottles of whisky. "I know from good authority that upwards of eighty barrels of whisky are on the line ready to be brought in at the payment. "No agent here seems to have the power to put the laws in execution. "May 31. Drinking all day. Drunkards by the dozen. Indians are selling horses, blankets, guns, their all, to have a lick at the cannon. Four dollars a bottle! Plenty at the price. Detestable traffic. "June 3. A woman with child, mother of four young children, was murdered this morning near the issue-house. Her body presented the most horrible spectacle of savage cruelty; she was literally cut up. "4. Burial of the unhappy woman. Among the provis- ions placed in her grave were several bottles of whisky. A good idea if all had been buried with her. "June 5. A drunken Pottawatomie killed a Sauk. The murderer after the perpetration of the deed, was mortally stabbed by his own father-in-law. Indian way of redressing wrongs. "N. Rumor. Four lowas, three Pottawatomies, one Kick- apoo are said to have been killed in drunken frolics. "7. Attempt at murder. A Pottawatomie was discov- ered endeavoring to kill his aunt, our next neighbor. Timely assistance, a knock down, prevented him. "11. Another bluff accident. Severe scalding. An Iowa drew a knife to stab a companion, when another friend with- out the least ceremony or hesitation, poured over the ag- gressor's head a full kettle of boiling soup. The unhappy man escaped death, lost his hair only, and presents a melan- choly appearance amongst his kindred. "16. A monster in human shape. On the Mosquito. 196 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT [Creek], a savage returning home from a night's debauch, wrested his infant son from the breast of his mother and crushed him against a post of his lodge. "17. Tekchabe, another Mosquito Pottawatomie, shot an Indian through the thigh merely for the pleasure of kill- ing, and finished the unhappy man with the butt of his gun; pounding the head literally to atoms. The nephew of the murdered individual, as a matter of course, stole up to Tek- chabe's camp, found him lying down apparently composing himself to sleep and shot him instantly through the head. This whole affair was settled within twenty minutes time. "18. Arrival of a sub-agent, Mr. Cowper. His presence seems to keep the whisky sellers in some awe, "Don't know what he might or will do." Secure the liquor in cages. The many murders committed act powerfully upon the minds of the Indians. They begged the agent in council to prevent the poison being brought among them. "June 20. A young brother of McPherson killed his as- sistant blacksmith of the Pottawatomies, a Mr. Case an old man; shot him through the head. Got clear in the court at Liberty. "July 6. A company of dragoons from Fort Leavenworth arrived at Bellevue with the Omaha women whom the Sauks had surrendered to them, and delivered them over to their relations. Three of the dragoons, in crossing the Platte op- posite the Otoe village were drowned. "Aug. 4. Arrival of the Antelope. More whisky landed. "6. An encounter lately took place between the Omahas and Sioux; originating in the stealing of a few horses by the latter. About forty are said to have been slain on both sides. "7. The son of the prophet of the Kickapoos killed the blacksmith of the nation. It is rumored that the white man was the aggressor. "8. Arrival of St. Peter's with the annuities. "19. Annuities $90,000. Divided to the Indians. Great AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 197 gala. Wonderful scrappings of traders to obtain their Indian credits. "20. Since the day of payment, drunkards are seen and heard in all places. Liquor is rolled out to the Indians by whole barrels; sold even by white men even in the presence of the agent. Wagon loads of the abominable stuff arrive daily from the settlements; and along with it the very dregs of our white neighbors and voyagers of the mountains, drunk- ards, gamblers, etc., etc. Three horses have been brought to the ground and killed with axes. Two more noses were bit off, and a score of horrible mutilations have taken place. One has been murdered. Two women are dangerously ill of bad usage." Pursuant to the powers conferred by Congress on the President, in 1802, authorizing him to take meas- ures to suppress the liquor traffic in the Indian coun- try, regulations were made by the War Department to prevent the traffic. This, however, was in the days when the rum ration was rampant in the army, and the carrying out of a temperance measure was not very thoroughly done. This was practically acknowl- edged in a report of Secretary of War James Barbour, made on February 16, 1828, stating that such a regula- tion had been made, but that 'some relaxation was made of this rule, which permitted the use of it (spir- its), but only along our northern boundary, and to prevent the utter ruin of our trade which, it was thought, must have followed, if its use were continued by the British traders on that frontier, and restricted to ours/' * * State Papers, Twentieth Congress, ist Session, Doc. 148. 198 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Shortly afterward, Congress, by virtue of its con- stitutional powers to regulate commerce with Indian tribes,* enacted (Act approved June 30, 1834) that "Every person who shall, within the Indian country, set up or continue any distillery for manufacturing ardent spirits, shall be liable to a penalty of one thous- and dollars ; and the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Indian agent, or sub-agent, within the limits of whose agency any distillery of ardent spirits is set up or con- tinued, shall forthwith destroy the same." This law was enacted at a time when means of transportation were meagre, and when liquors were usually manufactured in the vicinity of their sale. In 1847 (Act of March 3), Congress enacted that "no annuities, moneys or goods shall he paid or distributed to Indians while they are under the influence of any description of intoxicating liquor nor while there are good and sufficient reasons leading the officers or agents whose duty it may be to make such payments or distribution to believe that there is any species of intoxicating liquor within convenient reach of the Ind- ians, nor unless the Chiefs and head men of the tribes shall have pledged themselves to use all their in- fluence and to make all proper exertions to prevent the introduction and sale of such liquor in their country." Congress, by Act of February 13, 1862, made it a crime punishable by fine and imprisonment to sell liquors to Indians under the care of a superintendent Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 199 or an agent, whether on or off the reservation. The constitutionality of this law was affirmed by the Uni- ted States Supreme Court in 1865. On the revision of the law, 1873-74, it was so changed that its penalties would only apply to persons selling liquors on their reservations. But the Act approved February 27, 1877, restored the provisions of the Act of 1862, so that persons engaged in selling liquor to Indians, no matter in what locality, or who gave it to them, be- came liable to fine and imprisonment. In 1864 Congress (Act approved March 15, Sec- tion 2140 R. S.) enacted the following drastic search and seizure law, which is still in full force and effect: "No ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating liq- or sub-agent, or commanding officer of a military post, has reason to suspect, or is informed that any white person or Indian is about to introduce or has introduced any spirituous liquor or wine into the Indian country in violation of law, such superintendent, agent, sub-agent, or commanding officer may cause the boats, stores, packages, wagons, sleds, and places of deposit of such person to be searched; and if any such liquor is found therein, the same, together with the boats, teams, wagons, and sleds used in conveying the same, and also the goods, packages and peltries of such person, shall be seized and delivered to the proper officer, and shall be proceeded against by libel in the proper court, and forfeit- ed, one-half to the informer and the other half to the use of the United States; and if such person be a trader, his license shall be revoked and his bond put in suit. It shall moreover be the duty of any person in the service of the United States, or of any Indian, to take and destroy any ardent spirits or wine found in the Indian country, except such as may be in- troduced therein by the War Department. In all cases aris- 200 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ing under this and the preceding section Indians shall be competent witnesses."* The rapid development of the brewing industry and the increased facilities for transportation eventual- ly made necessary supplemental legislation against brewery products. The following Act was accordingly passed July 23, 1892, to meet this emergency: "No ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating liq- uor or liquors of whatever kind shall be introduced, under any pretense, into the Indian country. Every person who sells, exchanges, gives, barters, or disposes of any ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating liquors of any kind to any Indian under charge or any Indian superintendent or agent, or introduces or attempts to introduce any ardent spirits, ale, wine, beer, or intoxicating liquor of any kind into the Indian country shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years, and by fine of not more than three hundred dollars for each offense. But it shall be a sufficient defense to any charge of introducing or attempting to intro- duce ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine or intoxicating liquors in- to the Indian country that the acts charged were done under authority in writing from the War Department, or any of- ficer duly authorized thereunto by the War Department. All complaints for the arrest of any person or persons made for violation of any of the provisions of this act shall be made * The Indian Appropriation Act for 1908 (34 Stat. L. 1017), extended this authority as follows: "The powers con- ferred by section twenty-one hundred and forty of the Re^ vised Statutes upon Indian agents and sub-agents, and com- manding officers of military posts are hereby conferred upon the special agent of the Indian bureau for the suppression of the liquor traffic among Indians and in the Indian country and duly authorized deputies working under his supervision." AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 201 in the county where the oflfense shall have been committed, or if committed upon or within any reservation not included in any county, then in any county adjoining such reservation, and, if in the Indian Territory, before the United States court commissioner, or commissioner of the circuit court of the United States residing nearest the place where the oflfense was committed, who is not for any reason disqualified; but in all cases such arrests shall be made before any United States court commissioner residing in such adjoining county, or be- fore any magistrate or judicial oflficer authorized by the laws of the state in which such reservation is located to issue war- rants for the arrest and examination of offenders by section ten hundred and fourteen of the Revised Statutes of the Uni- ted States. And all persons so arrested shall, unless dis- charged upon examination, be held to answer and stand trial before the court of the United States having jurisdiction of the oflfense."* This Act, unfortunately, failed to protect from the liquor traffic Indians who had taken their lands in severalty or to whom allotments had been made. President Cleveland called attention of Congress to this situation in his message of December 7, 1896,! in which he said : "The Secretary, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the Agents having charge of In- dians to whom allotments have been made strongly urge the passage of a law prohibiting the sale of liquor to allottees who have taken their lands in severalty. I earnestly join in this recommendation and venture to * This law is a revision and re-enactment of Sec. 2139, R. S. t Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. IX, p. 735. 202 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT express the hope that the Indian may be speedily pro- tected against this greatest of all obstacles to his well being and advancement." Congress responded to this recommendation with the Act approved January 30, 1897, which reads: '*Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall sell, give away, dispose of, exchange or barter, any malt, spirituous, or vinous liquor, including beer, ale, and wine, or any ardent or other intoxicating liquor of any kind whatsoever, or any essence, extract, bitters, prep- aration, compound, composition, or any article whatsoever, under any name, label, or brand, which produces intoxication, to any Indian to whom allotment of land has been made while the title to the same shall be held in trust by the Govern- ment, or to any Indian a ward of the Government under charge of any Indian superintendent or agent, or any Indian, including mixed bloods, over whom the Government, through its departments, exercises guardianship, and any person who shall introduce or attempt to introduce any malt, spirituous, or vinous liquor, including beer, ale, and wine, or any ardent or intoxicating liquor of any kind whatsoever into the Indian country, which term shall include any Indian allotment while the title to the same shall be held in trust by the Govern- ment, or while the same shall remain inalienable by the allot- tee without the consent of the United States, shall be pun- ished by imprisonment for not less than sixty days, and by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars for the first offense and not less than one hundred dollars for each offense there- after: Provided, however, That the person convicted shall be committed until fine and costs are paid. But it shall be suf- ficient defense to any charge of introducing or attempting to introduce ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating liquors into the Indian country that the acts charged were done un- AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 203 der authority, in writing, from the War Department or any officer duly authorized thereunto by the War Department." This law, taken in connection with the Act ap- proved July 23, 1892, and Section 2140 R. S. consti- tutes the existing legislation. The Act of 1892 is cur- rently construed by the courts as fixing the maximum punishment, and laying down rules of procedure. The Act of 1897 is construed as fixing the minimum pun- ishment.* This law suffered somewhat at the hands of the United States Supreme Court in the Heff case, in which it was decided (April 10, 1905) "that when the United States grants the privileges of citizenship to an Indian, gives him the benefit of and requires him to be subject to the laws, both civil and criminal, of the state, it places him outside the reach of police regulations on the part of congress ; that the emanci- pation from Federal control thus created cannot be set aside at the instance of the Government without the consent of the individual Indian and the State, and that this emancipation from Federal control is iiot affected by the fact that the lands it has granted to the Indian are granted subject to a condition against alienation and encumbrance, or the further fact that * In 1895 a special law was enacted of the most drastic character, forbidding the sale or introduction of intoxicants into the Indian Territory. This law became obsolete with the organization of the new state of Oklahoma, into which was incorporated the former Indian Territory. \ 204 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT it guarantees to him an interest in tribal or other property."* This decision draws a sharp line between the operations of Federal and State law. When an In- dian receives a fee simple patent to his allotment he is em.ancipated from Federal control. From that time he can be protected from the liquor traffic only through the operations of state law. Following the lead of the general government, all of the states which have an Indian population have enacted more or less drastic legislation against selling liquor to Indians. In 1906 Congress took another advance step. The Act approved June 21, (34 Stat. L. 328) appro- priated "to enable the Commissioner of Indian Af- fairs, under the direction of the Secretary of the In- terior, to take action to suppress the traffic in intoxi- cating liquors among the Indians, twenty-five thou- sand dollars, fifteen thousand of which to be used ex- clusively in the Indian Territory and Oklahoma." This appropriation was renewed for the fiscal* year 1908, without the restrictions as to the locus of the expenditures. The operations under these two Acts, directed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, met with such success that Congress appropriated $40,000 for the work for the fiscal year 1909. These operations * On Dec. 20, 1909, the Supreme Court of the United States decided (U. S. vs. Sutton) that that part of the Act of 1897 prohibiting the introduction of liquor upon Indian allotments was valid. , ' AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 205 were successful beyond expectations and Congress in- creased the appropriation for the fiscal year 1910 to $50,000 and for the year 191 1 to $80,000. From the beginning of Federal relations with the Indian tribes 1,214 different treaties have been negoti- ated with them. The first of these treaties to contain a definite provision eliminating the liquor traffic was that made with the Choctaw Nation in 1820.* Article XII of this treaty reads : *Tn order to protect industry and sobriety among all classes of the red people in the Nation, but particularly the poor, it is further pro- vided by the parties, that the agent appointed to re- side here, shall be, and is hereby, vested with full power to seize and confiscate all the whisky which may be introduced in said Nation, except that used at public stands, or brought in by permit of the agent or the principal chiefs of the three districts." This pro- vision, at the earnest solicitation of the chiefs, was strengthened in the treaty made with the Choctaw Nation September 15, 1830. Article X of that treaty provided that "the United States shall be particularly obliged to assist to prevent ardent spirits from being introduced into the Nation."t This policy, originally promoted and insisted upon by the Indians them- selves, eventually became the general plan of the Gov- ernment, and in later years scarcely a treaty was ne- gotiated with any Indian tribe that did not contain a * Kappler: Laws and Treaties, Vol. II, p. 135. t Ibid, p. 223. 2o6 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT clause obligating the Federal Government in some form to prevent the introduction of liquors into the Indian country. Up to the year 1871 the Indian had been treated by the Government, legally, as if he were some strange monster from another world. In law he was not a citizen, he was not a woman or minor, he was not an alien, he was not a convict nor a lunatic, he was not a slave. A mass of tangled legislation had grown up re- garding the status of the Indian that was incompre- hensible even to the legislators themselves. Horatio Seymour attempted to describe this situation when he said : "Every human being born upon our continent, can go into our courts for protection — except those who once owned this country. The cannibals from the islands of the Pacific, the worst criminals from Europe, Asia, or Africa, can appeal to the law and courts for their rights of person and property — all save our native Indians, who, above all, should be pro- tected from wrong." In the Indian Appropriation Act approved March 3, 1871 (16 Stat. X. 566; carried into Section 2079 R- S.), Congress in sheer desperation provided that, "no Indian Nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent Nation, tribe, or power with whom the United States may contract by treaty." Since that time, "agreements" have been made by Congress with tribes or bands of Indians, instead of treaties. Indian AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 207 tribes, bands and individuals, henceforth, were subject to direct legislation by Congress. This was the first step toward an entirely new policy in dealing with the aborigines. The old regime had been full of mistakes. The Indians were misunderstood by the whites, and the whites were not understood by the Indians. The Government had not always sent its best men to deal with the Indians. Under the spoils system, any ward heeler too disreputable to be given a position else- where was often rewarded for political services by be- ing made an Indian agent or a post-trader. The close of this period was mafked by an incident which illus- trates the conditions that had arisen under the old Governmental policy. During the troubles with the Apaches in 1870-71 four hundred braves had been gathered at Fort Grant, where they were fed on con- dition of being good. They were not very good, but still were about as good as, or better, than the whites. Massacres, troubles and scandals resulted. The Fed- eral grand jury investigated the matter and reported: "We find that the hostile bands of Indians in the terri- tory are led by many different chiefs, who have generally adopted the policy of cochise, making the points where the Indians are fed the base of their supplies for ammunition, guns and recruits for their raids, as each hostile chief usually draws warriors from other bands when he makes an import- ant raid upon the citizens, or the neighboring State of Sonora, where they are continuously making their depredations. We find that the habit of beastly drunkenness has generally pre- vailed, with few marked exceptions, among the officers com- manding at Camp Grant, Camp Goodwin, and Camp Apache, 2o8 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT where the Apache Indians have been fed; that the rations issued at these camps to the Indians have frequently been in- sufficient for their support, and injustly distributed, sometimes bones being issued instead of meat; that one quartermaster of the United States said he made a surplus of tv^elve thou- sand of corn in issuing rations to the Indians at Camp Good- win. We find that a commanding officer, while commanding at Camp Apache, gave liquor to the Apache Indians, and got beastly drunk with them from whisky belonging to the Hospital Department of the United States Government; also, that another officer of the United States Army gave liquor to the said Indians at said camp; that officers of the United States Army, at those camps where Indians are fed, are in the habit of using their official position to break the chastity of the Indian women; that the present regulations of Camp Grant, with the Apache Indians on the reservation, are such, that the whole body of Indians might leave the reservation and be gone many days without the knowledge of the command- ing officer. In conclusion of the labors of this United States Grand Jury, we would say that five hundred of our neighbors, friends, and fellow-citizens have fallen by the murdering hand of the Apache Indian, clothing in the garb of mourning the family circle in many of the hamlets, towns and cities of all the states of our country. This blood cries from the ground of the American people for justice — justice to all men." Beginning with the Act of 1871, referred to, the Government gradually adopted an entirely new policy in dealing with the Indian. Instead of keeping him upon a reservation, as in a zoological garden, the In- dian more and more began to be treated as a re- sponsible being. The policy of breaking up reserva- tions, and allotting the lands to the Indians in sev- eralty began to be inaugurated. Schools began to be AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 209 established in the Indian country itself. The Indians were encouraged to travel and mingle with the whites. The result was a better understanding between the two races. The Indians began to come into full citi- zenship, began to seek and obtain employment in the same vocations as the white man, began to marry and give in marriage with the Anglo-Saxon; and the In- dian question, which has been a nightmare for two hundred years, begins to give promise of an ultimate solution. The Federal Possessions. CHAPTER VII. When any new territory has been acquired by the Federal Government, either by conquest, theft, purchase or otherwise, it has been its policy to set up, as speedily as possible, some form of government in which the local population has more or less part. The responsibility for regulating the traffic in intoxicants has been turned over to these governments as soon as established. Section 30 of the "Act to provide a gov- ernment for the Territory of Hawaii" contained the words "nor shall spirituous or intoxicating liquors be sold except under such regulations and restrictions as the Territorial legislature shall provide."* A similar course has been adopted in the case of Porto Rico and the PhiHppines. Posts and islands held purely for military or naval purposes are governed by military or naval governors, such government being essentially autocratic. The treatment of the liquor traffic by these governments has varied according to local con- ditions and the character of the governing officers. The Indian Territory, District of Columbia and Alaska have been important "possessions" governed * Approved April 30, 1900. 31 Stat. L. p. 150. ^ AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 211 wholly and directly by the Federal Government. These, then, may properly be considered in this con- nection. From the beginning, Congress has steadily main- tained the policy of prohibition of the traffic in intoxi- cants in the Indian Territory. This principle has again and again been affirmed in treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes. The general laws of Congress against selling liquor to Indians or "introducing" the same into the Indian country have always applied to the Indian Territory. Moreover, Congress enacted a special law* of the most drastic character, forbidding the traffic in intoxicating liquors in this territory. At times there has been much criticism of the Federal officers appointed to administer the laws, but the ap- pointment of unsuitable men has been due to a defect of administration rather than a variation in the prohi- bition policy of Congress. The District of Columbia, the territory of which is now practically identical -with the City of Wash- ington, came under the control of the Federal Gov- ernment on February 27, 1801, the city being incor- porated on May 3 of the following year. It was a Capital built in the wilderness. Th^ site had pre- viously been owned by a man named Pope, who called the place "Rome," and the east branch of the Potomac was the "Tiber." The District was formed into two counties, the one on the Virginia side, the other on * Act approved March i, 1895. 28 Stat. L. p. 687. 212 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT the Maryland side. The laws of Virginia were ex- tended over the Virginia county, while the laws of Maryland prevailed in the Maryland county. A special court was created to administer these laws. The Act incorporating the City of Washington provided a city council of two houses, elected by the taxpayers who were residents. The mayor was appointed by the President. Under the original ordinances of the city council, it cost $i per year to keep a female slave, $8 to run a saloon, and $9 to keep a female dog. The first two considerable schoolhouses were provided for by a lottery.* The license fee for a saloon re- mained very low, never reaching more than $100, until the passage of the Act of March 3, 1893, which raised a barroom license to $400. This has subsequently been doubled, making the present license $800. In the history of the District an enormous amount of legislation has been enacted regulating the behavior of saloonkeepers and slaves.f So far as liquor selling is concerned, these provisions were along the same * In 1812 the Board of Aldermen voted to raise $10,000 for this purpose by means of a lottery. It was approved by President Madison on Nov. 23 of that year. t In 1848 the New York Anti-Slavery Society published the "Black Code," compiled by Worthington G. Snethen, giv- ing a text of eight Federal and twenty-eight Maryland Acts, besides 16 City of Georgetown ordinances and 29 City of Washington ordinances, all regulating the conduct of negro slaves, and all in force in the District. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 213 lines as the average laws restricting the traffic, current at this time. Washington had two periods of prohibition in iti. history. One by order of the Board of Health, and the other by a direct vote of the people. In 1830 during an epidemic, the Board of Health, acting under an opinion of Attorney General Wirt, declared the selling of liquor a nuisance and closed the shops for three months.* During the year 1853, when the agitation for state prohibition raged all over the nation, the question became an issue in the Washington City election. The "dry" ticket won by a vote of 1,963 to 991. After a lively season of intrigue, the Board of Alderman and Common Council, in October, 1854, passed an ordinance forbidding absolutely all tippling * The text of the resolution of the Board of Health was as follows: "The Board being fully impressed with the belief that the use of ardent spirits is highly prejudicial to health, and the corporate authorities having decided that this body possesses full power to prohibit and remove all nuisances, and the late Attorney General, Mr. Wirt, having officially given it as his opinion that the Board of Health have, under the charter and the acts of the city councils, sufficient authority to do any, and everything which the health of the city may require: "Therefore, Resolved, That the vending of ardent spirit, in whatever quantity, is considered a NUISANCE — and, is hereby directed to be discontinued for the space of 90 days from this date. "By order of the Board of Health."--Fifth Report Amer- ican Temperance Society, p. 115. 214 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT houses.* The law, however, never went into effect. A test casef was promptly instituted and an appeal taken to the United States Circuit Court, where Judge Morsel], on December 23, decided that, while the Board had the power to regulate, it had not the power to prohibit the traffic in intoxicants. So the tippling houses remained over the protests of the voters. Congress foisted upon the people the tippling houses against their expressed wish. On July 14, 1862, these Washington whisky sellers so demoralized the Federal troops that Congress was compelled to * The Act passed the Board proper on Sept. 25, 1854, by a vote of 10 to 3. It passed the Board of Common Coun- cil Oct. 2, by a vote of 17 to 3, and was approved by Mayor John T. Powers. The text of the ordinance was as follows: "Be it enacted, &c. that from and after the first Monday of November next, tippling houses or shops be, and the same are hereby prohibited in the city of Washington; and it shall not be lawful after the first Monday in November, for any person in any part of the city of Washington, to sell or bar- ter any brandy, rum, gin, whisky, or other spirituous liquors, mixed, wine or cordial, strong and lager beer, or cider, in quantities less than a pint; and any person or persons who shall sell or barter as aforesaid, shall on conviction thereof, forfeit and pay a fine for each and every offence, of twenty dollars, to be collected, and applied as other fines due this corporation; and on failure to pay said fine, or of securing the payment of the same; the person or persons so offending shall be committed to the workhouse for a term not less than seven or more than sixty days." — Washington Globe, Sept. 26, 1854; National Intelligencer, Sept. 27, 1854; Journal of the American Temperance Union, Nov. 1854, p. 167. t Charles Werner vs. the Corporation of Washington. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 215 act and prohibited the sale of liquor to soldiers and volunteers in the District of Columbia. The saloons were also closed during the grand review at the close of the Civil War, when two hundred thousand troops marched through the streets. In 1871 Congress organized the District* into a full Territorial form of government, and established a legislature. The legislature, however, was so prodi- gal in its appropriations in its first session, that Con- gress decided that the people were not yet fit for self- government. In 1874 the Territorial form of govern- ment was abolished, and the present Commissioner form established, Congress making the laws directly. During the eighties, when so many states were voting on the question of constitutional prohibition, various attempts were made to induce Congress to submit to the people of the District the question of prohibition which they had adopted by a vote of al- most two to one in 1853. Early in 1884 Senator Col- qiiitt introduced such a bill, but the final result was only the passage of an Act to raise the barroom license to $100, at which figure it remained until 1893, when it was quadrupled. Since 1906 these efforts have been renewed without result. During the winter of 1907-8, a thousand women and children of the city thronged the corridors of the Capitol on the occasion of a Committee hearing the proposal. * In 1846 Congress had receded that portion of the Dis- trict South of the river to the state of Virginia. 2i6 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ALASKA. The beginnings of civilization in Alaska were a continuous drunken orgy. The coun- try was discovered by Russians in 1741. The Russian fur traders gave their employees rations of rum. Craftsmen were paid in rum. Even the Russian priests drew rations of rum. The Russian Governor and other officials went on frequent drunken de- bauches. The natives were induced to make unfavor- able treaties through getting the head men drunk. The Russian-American fur company exchanged rum for furs.* In the beginning of the 19th century Ameri- can and British ships began to engage in the Alaska trade along the same general principles. This led to the ukase of 1821, forbidding foreign ships from trad- ing in these waters, which act produced such vigorous protests in America and Great Britain that the order was never carried out. The affair resulted, however, in the international treaties of 1824-5. These treaties did not permit the foreigner to traffic in spirits. Therein Russian craft won, for their traders continued the practice of giving the natives rum for their furs, and the foreigners found that without rum they could make no purchases. The always aggressive Hudson Bay Company gradually encroached upon the Russian trade, and eventually began using rum in their traffic despite treaty obligations. The competition of these * H. H. Bancroft's Works, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 516, 519, 581, 438, 439, 463, 560; Sir Geo. Simpson's Report on the Hudson Bay Co., i8S7, P- 369. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 217 two powerful companies in the rum and fur trade so debauched the natives that they were unfitted for gathering the necessary fur. This situation led to an agreement between the two companies, in 1842, in which both companies contracted to abolish entirely the giving or bartering of rum to the natives.* This situation continued in force during the remainder of Russia's sovereignty. The purchase of the Territory by the United States in 1867 was followed by the usual influx of gamblers, adventurers, whisky peddlers, office seekers and the dissolute of all classes. Although the actual transfer of sovereignty did not occur until October 18 of that year, the Federal Government had, months before, begun taking steps to keep out the liquor. As early as June 5, the Secretary of the Treasury had issued instructions to the collector of the Port of San Francisco to prevent the shipment of "ardent spirits." On September 2, six weeks before the transfer, Major General Halleck, in command of the Department of the Pacific, requested President Grant to declare by proclamation the newly acquired Russian territory to be "Indian country," in order to prevent the introduc- tion of intoxicating liquors. On the following year Congress specifically authorized the President to pro- hibit the liquor traffic in the new country, but still the President did not act. It was not until February 8, * Simpson: Report on the Hudson Bay Co., 1857, p. 369. 2i8 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 1870, that the President issued the order* forbidding the importation of distilled spirits into Alaska. There then followed a quarter of a century of prohibition, sometimes badly enforced. At first the laws were weak, but Congress was generally prompt to provide remedies when requested. The initial prosecutions, begun two years after the order, developed the fact that the Act of 1868 conferred no jurisdiction upon any court to try liquor cases. Congress remedied this with certain sections inserted into the Sundry Civil Appro- priation Actf of March 3, 1873, forbidding the sale of spirits or wine in Alaska and prohibiting the erection of distilleries therein. Jurisdiction was also conferred upon the United States Courts. A few months later, the Attorney General rendered an opinion to the ef- fect that Alaska was to be regarded as "Indian coun- try," and that no spirituous liquors or wines could be introduced therein without an order from the War De- partment. In 1874 the War Department issued regu- lations under which liquor could be introduced for cer- tain purposes, but these privileges were so grossly * The order read, "Under and in pursuance of the au- thority vested in me by the provisions of the second section of the Act of Congress, approved on the 27th day of July, 1868, entitled "An Act to extend the laws of the United States, re- lating to customs, commerce and navigation over the terri- tory ceded to the United States by Russia and for oth- er purposes, the importation of distilled spirits into and with- in the District of Alaska is hereby prohibited." t 17 Stat. L. p. 530. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 219 abused that they were withdrawn a year later. In 1875 another legal tangle developed. The law re- quired that a prisoner must not be detained more than five days before removal. As the nearest District Court was at Portland, Oregon, a thousand miles away and only a monthly steamer was in operation, it was impossible to comply with the terms of the law, and the judges would turn the criminals loose as fast as they were arraigned. The appointment of an In- dian agent for the Territory only partly improved the situation. In despair the President, in 1877, re- lieved the War Department of the management of the Territory and turned it over to the Treasury Depart- ment. From this period until 1884, Alaska was merely a customs district, governed by regulations made by the Secretary of the Treasury, and protected in the southeast corner by a small naval vessel. In 1881 the Treasury issued instructions to allow the importation of beer and wine, alleging that distilled spirits only were prohibited. The administration of the Treasury Department was no improvement upon that of the military, the collection of revenue being apparently the principal object of the administration. Congress, by an Act approved May 17, 1884, erected a skeleton of a government for the purchased Territory, creating a governor, judge, commissioners, district attorney and marshals, all appointed by the President. Sec- tion 14 of the Act prohibited the importation, manu- facture and sale of intoxicating liquors in the district except for medicinal, mechanical and scientific pur- 220 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT poses. The President was directed to make necessary regulations to carry the law into effect. The period from the passage of this law until 1899 was another season of scandal. It was in this period that the infamous "spoils system" began to re- ceive its death blow, and, as with a snake, the tail died last. In political management it had become the cur- rent practice to send to a post in Alaska any politician whom it was necessary to reward, and who was too notorious a scoundrel to appoint to any position at home.* Under this system Alaska became a rival of Dahomey as an example of misgovernment and mal- administration. A period of "free rum" prevailed in which lawlessness was but little restrained. This situation was pointed out as the "horrible effect of pro- hibition" with great industry, principally by the whisky outlaws themselves. In sheer desperation. Governor John G. Brady went to Washington and per- sonally appealed to Congress for a high license law. Brady having gone to Alaska as a missionary twenty- five years before, his opinions had great weight. Alaska was given a high license law in the Act ap- proved March 3, 1899. Barroom licenses were fixed at $500 to $1,500 per annum, according to the population. The usual high license restrictions, prohibition of * In 1898 Governor John G. Brady informed the writer that by personal investigation, he found that eleven per cent of the Federal officers in Alaska at that time were under in- dictment for crimes of various sorts. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 221 sales to Indians, intoxicated persons, minors, etc., pre- vail, but are largely ignored by the liquor dealers. Some modifications have since been made of the Act as to details. The discovery of gold in recent years has attracted such widespread attention that Alaska is apt to have more consideration at the hands of Con- gress in the future than in the past. The history of the country has not been a credit to the United States, For the most part, whether under prohibition or high license, it has been merely a game preserve for the whisky peddler. Sidelights on Congress. CHAPTER VIII. In theory, Congress has always represented the people. In the concrete, the people have not always realized the full benefits of this high ideal. Between the real wishes of the masses and the Acts of Congress there has been an intervening dark jungle where po- litical wolves lived, in which conventions have been manipulated, beneficent proposals ambushed, injured special interests placated, campaign funds raised, much needed votes procured by decoy methods, poli- ticians corrupted and the desires of the people thwarted. In any contest with intrenched wrong in this wilderness, an overwhelming demonstration of public sentiment has usually been required to establish the people's will. Yet, in spite of these difficulties and discouragements, Congress has, with some discounts, modifications and marginal readings, more or less voiced the average sentiment of the nation. The seamy side of Congressional life always had its principal center and inspiration in the two drink- ing establishments formerly existing in the basement of the National Capitol building in Washington. Pub- lished descriptions of life in Washington during the AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 223 first forty years of its existence were streaked with stories of scandal and Bacchanalian carousals in the gambling houses and saloons along the "corduroy" pavement* of Pennsylvania Avenue. The early ses- sions of Congress made Washington resemble, in a disagreeable degree, the "wide open" mining towns of the far west. PubHc lotteries, the duello, brazen gam- blers, drunken statesmen and the raucous female were painfully in evidence. The ebb and flow of public sentiment in moral matters has been followed by similar changes — - changes for both better and worse — in the moral Hfe of the Capital. The coming and going of the two drinking places in the halls of legislation serves well as a barometer to measure these variations. The original establishments were merely bars, and not very orderly bars — like those of the average saloon. The temperance reform, initiated as a national organ- ized movement in 1827, had assumed extensive pro- portions during the thirties, during which a strong prohibition sentiment had been developing. This in- fluence had so marked an eflfect on Congress that in September, 1838, a joint standing rule was adopted that "no spirituous liquors shall be offered for sale, or exhibited within the Capitol, or on the public grounds, adjacent thereto," and orders were given to the police * The first "pavement" on the street was made by laying logs in the marsh crossways of the street and covering them with dirt. Hence the term. 224 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT officials to enforce the regulation.* While spirits were eliminated by this act, beer and wine remained, so drunkenness continued. On February 26 another amendment to the rules was adopted forbidding the sale of all intoxicating liquors, and another proposal to abolish the restaurant itself narrowly escaped pas- sage.f After the Civil War the conduct of the two restaurants was left to standing committees of the House and of the Senate. In this time, when public attention was distracted with the internecine strife, the sale of liquor was renewed in the building. This was accompanied by a return to the orgies of the olden time, centering in these drinking establish- ments in the basement. For a quarter of a century, ending with the year 1900, the inauguration of the President was accompanied by such wholesale drunk- enness that these carousals were invariably made the subject of special articles by metropolitan daily pa- pers. Several times the House passed bills to prohibit the sale of liquor in these places, but the Senate re- fused to concur. During the winter 190.1-2, both of these restaurants were raided, the proprietors being arrested on a police court warrant charging sales of liquor without the payment of a retail license.J The * Second Report, American Temperance Union, Per- manent Temperance Documents, Vol. II, p. 21. t Niles' Register, Vol. LXVI, p. 14. t These warrants were sworn out by the writer and the prosecutions promoted by him. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 225 offenders were fined $300 each. The cases were ap- pealed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, where it was decided that the licensing laws of the District (Act of 1893) ^^^ not apply to the Congres- sional restaurants for the reason that they were under direct control of Congressional Committees and con- ducted for the use and convenience of members of Congress.* The object of the prosecutions, however, was attained. So much uncomplimentary discussion of the Congressional drinking "speakeasies" resulted, that Congress enacted a law prohibiting the sale of liquor within the Capitol building before the cases were finally decided.f The ''moral suasion" phase of the temperance re- form has been well represented in Congress by the Congressional Temperance Society, afterwards re- christened the Congressional Total Abstinence Society. At the initiative of the American Temperance Society, February 26, 1833, was generally observed through- out the country as a day for the organization of tem- perance societies. Through the efforts of General Lewas Cass, a meeting was called for that date in the Senate Chambers^ at which was formed the Congres- sional Temperance Society, with General Cass as President and Walter Lowrie, Secretary of the Senate, * Page vs. Dist. of Columbia, Appeal Cases, Dist. of Col. 20 Tucker, p. 469. t 32 Stat. L., p. 1221. t These quarters are now occupied by the United States Supreme Court. 226 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT as Secretary. This society, formed on a basis of total abstinence from ardent spirits.* continued until 1842, when, through the efforts of Thomas F. Marshall, of Kentucky ,f it was reorganized on a basis of total absti- * The preamble and first two articles of the Constitution read: "As the use of Ardent Spirits is not only unnecessary, but injurious, as it tends to pauperism, crime, and wretched- ness; to hinder the efficacy of all means for the intellectual and moral benefit of society, and also to endanger the purity and permanence of our free institutions; and as one of the best means for counteracting its deleterious effects, is the in- fluence of UNITED EXAMPLE, Therefore, we, members of Congress, and others, recognizing the principle of abstinence from the use of Ardent Spirits, and from the traffic in it, as the basis of our Union, do hereby agree to form ourselves in- to a society, and for this purpose adopt the following Consti- tution, viz: "Article i. This Society shall be called THE AMER- ICAN CONGRESSIONAL TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. 'Article 2. The object of this society shall be, by ex- ample, and by kind moral influence, to discountenance the use of Ardent Spirit, and the traffic in it, throughout the com- munity." t "Tom" Marshall, after years of dissipation, had re- cently become a pledged total abstainer and made numerous temperance speeches in Washington and vicinity for several years. At the second public meeting of the reorganized so- ciety, Marshall began his address by saying: "Mr. President: The old Congressional Temperance Society has died of in- temperance, holding the pledge in one hand and a champagne bottle in the other." AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 227 nence from all forms of intoxicating liquors and under the name of the Congressional Total Abstinence So- ciety. George N. Briggs of Massachusetts was the first president of the reorganized concern. For eighty years the Society has held annual meetings, having a membership ranging from a dozen up to a hundred.* By virtue of the eminent men connected with the or- ganization, it has lent dignity, character and standing to the temperance reform. Another contribution in the same direction was the "Presidents' Declaration," a joint appeal urging the entire discontinuance of ardent spirits as a bev- erage, signed by twelve presidents of the United States.f The paper, drafted by Dr. Justin Edwards in 1834, was personally presented to President Madison for his signature by Edward C. Delavan. Shortly afterwards Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams * On its rolls appear such names as Lewis Cass, Henry Wilson, Millard Fillmore, Rufus Choate, Franklin Pierce, Felix Grundy, Schuyler Colfax, William Windom, John A. Logan, Lot M. Morrill, James A. Garfield, James Monroe, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Henry W. Blair, A. H. Colquitt, John D. Long, Nelson Dingley. t The following are the signers, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson. President William Henry Harrison died before there wan an opportunity for presenting the paper for his signature. 228 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT added their names. In commemoration of the event, silver medals were made in England and presented to President Adams and ex-Presidents Madison and Polk. Delavan during his lifetime made it a practice to ask each incoming President for his signature. The text of the "Declaration" read: "Being satisfied from observation and experience, as well as from medical testimony, that ardent spirit, as a drink, is not only needless but hurtful; and that the entire disuse of it would tend to promote the health, virtue and happiness of the community; We hereby express our conviction, that should the citizens of the United States, and especially all young men, discontinue entirely the use of it, they would not only promote their own personal benefit, but the good of the coun- try and the world." Aside from the forensic contests directly connect- ed with the Civil War, one of the most dramatic debates that ever took place in the United States Senate, and one in which Congress was shown at its best, occurred on December 19 and 20, 1849. This affair was pre- cipitated by Senator Walker of Wisconsin, who offered the following resolution : "Resolved, That the Rev. Theobald Mathew be permitted to sit within the bar of the Senate during the period of his sojourn in Washington." Father Mathew was then fresh from his triumphal tour of the Eastern states, in the course of which he had administered the pledge to about 100,000 persons. Some years before, however, he had signed an address along with Daniel 0*Connell, urging American Irish- men to throw their influence against slavery. 'This ad- AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 229 dress had been indiscreetly published by New York abolitionists at that time when reason was generally ignored in the heat of debate over this question of slavery. The publication aroused the South, and some of the Southern Senators violently attacked Senator Walker's resolution. Never before had the privilege of the Senate been extended to any civilian, foreign or domestic. General Lafayette had been the only for- eigner ever accorded that honor. After the first on- slaught of the Southerners, Henry Clay slowly arose and said :* "I think, sir, that the resolution is an homage to human- ity, to philanthropy and to virtue; that it is a merited tribute to a man who has achieved a great social revolution — a revolu- tion in which there has been no bloodshed, no desolation in- flicted, no tears of widows and orphans extracted; and one of the greatest which has been achieved by any of the bene- factors of mankind." Said Senator William H. Seward: "This Capitol, its hall, its chambers, and its grounds, are filled with statuary, memorials of the illustrious benefactors of mankind, of other nations as well as our own; and these memorials are looked upon with pleasure and satisfaction by all the living. But there is a painful reflection that occurs to us when we raise these monuments to the dead. They can convey no encouragement to the benefactor in the prosecu- tion of his philanthropic enterprises. They convey to him no sympathy in the sufferings which he endures. The resolution before the Senate presents a very different occasion — an oc- casion in which we can without danger of error, recognize a public benefactor of mankind; and in which the homage * Cong. Globe, Vol. XXI, Part I, p. 51- 230 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT which is offered is unalloyed by the painful reflection that marble cannot feel and cannot hear I look upon him as entitled to approbation and gratitude of the American Nation." General Lewis Cass said : "This is but a complimentary notice to a distinguished man just arrived among us, and well does he merit it. He is a stranger to us personally, but he has won a world-wide renown. He comes among us on a mission of benevolence, not unlike Howard, whose name and deeds rank high in the annals of philanthropy, and who sought to carry hope and comfort into the darkest cells, and to alleviate the moral and physical condition of their unhappy tenants. He comes to break the bonds of the captive, and to set the prisoner free, to redeem the lost, to confirm the wavering, and to aid in saving all from the temptation, and dangers of intemperance. It is a noble mission, and nobly is he fulfilling it. I need not stop to recount the evils which the great enemy he is contending with has inflicted upon the world — evils which are the source of a large portion of the vice and misery that human nature has to encounter. But the inundation is stayed. Higher motives, nobler aspirations, the influence of religion and the hopes of life are coming to the rescue, and are doing their part in this great work of reformation. You grant a seat here to the successful warrior returning from the con- quests of war. Let us not refuse it to a better warrior — who comes from the conquests of peace; from victories achieved without the loss of blood or life, and whose trophies are equally dear to the patriot and the Christian."* The climax of the debate came when General Sam Houston of Texas, a Southerner to the core, spoke in favor of the resolution. He said: * Ibid, p. 53. a AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 231 *'I cannot view this resolution as some honorable gentle- men do; I cannot regard it, sir, as any test of merit beyond what the great Apostle of Temperance has manifested to the world by his advent to this country. Father Mathew goes not with a torch of discord, but with a bond of peace, refor- mation and redemption to an unfortunate class in the com- munity. I, sir, am a disciple; I need the discipline of refor- mation, and I embrace it; and would that I could enforce the example upon every American heart that influences or is in- fluenced by filial affection, conjugal love, or parental tender- ness. Yes, sir, there is love, purity and fidelity inscribed upon the banner which he bears. It has nothing to do with aboli- tion or with nullification, sir. Away with your paltry ob- jections to men who come bearing the binnacle above turbid waters, which unfortunately roll at the foot of this mighty Republic. I bid him welcome. It has nothing to do, in m; opinion with all the noise of political strife, and I am not prepared to combine it with the tariff, nullification, abolition or anything of that kind, or manufacture in any shape, unless it is the manufacture of intemperate men into sober, respecta- ble citizens." To the credit of the Senate, the resolution, the debate over which extended into two days, was carried by a vote of 33 to 18. Prior to the Civil War Congress had little to do with serious legislation regarding the drink traffic. The temperance movement of the period, culminating in the widespread demand for Prohibition, looked merely to enactments by the state legislatures of prohi- bition laws under the police powers reserved to the states by the Federal Constitution. Congress, there- fore, considered the liquor traffic merely as it was in- volved with the customs, internal revenue, or matters 232 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT of rations for the army and navy. It was not until twelve years after the War that Congress began prob- ing among the vitals of the traffic in intoxicants. This movement first took the form of a demand for a *'Com- mission of Inquiry" to investigate the effects of prohi- bition in the states where this policy had been adopted. The first step taken was on February 6, 1872, when a memorial was presented to Congress asking the ap- pointment of a Commission of five or more members "Whose duty shall be to investigate the subject of prohibitory legislation and its effects upon intemper- ance during the period, over twenty years, covered by such legislation in Maine, Massachusetts, and other states of the Union" and "also to consider and recom- mend what additional legislation, if any, would be ben- eficial on the part of the national government for the prohibition, within its jurisdiction, of the manufacture, importation and sale of all intoxicating liquors to be used as a beverage."* For twenty years the people clamored for this legislation. Six times the bill passed the Senate, only to be defeated in the House. While this agitation did not result in the Commission of Inquiry desired, it did result in the establishment by the House of Represen- tatives of a "Select Committee on the Alcoholic Liquor Traffic." This Committee, first established by the Forty-sixth Congress, has been continued to the pres- ent time. A movement was organized by representa- * Misc. Doc. No. 60, 42d Cong., 2d Session. AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 233 tives of the United States Brewers' Association in the Forty-eighth Congress to abolish this Committee. While the attempt failed, the same result, for the time being, was effected. Speaker John G. Carlisle "pack- ed" the Committee. Of the nine members appointed, seven were opposed to having any such committee at all. * Since that time this Committee has often been used merely as a morgue in which to bury temperance proposals. At other times, however, especially dur- ing the time of Speaker Reed, this Committee has been often friendly to the temperance cause and has been the medium for accomplishing some useful legislation. Contemporary with this agitation for a Congress- * Dorchester, Liquor Problem, p. 700, quotes the follow- ing from the Washington Sentinel, edited by the attorney for the United States Brewers' Association, regarding this gro- tesque farce: "There are few who have any idea of the anxieties and labors necessary to prevent the prohibitionists from storm- ing the Capitol. Had not Speaker Carlisle, and, we dare say, at our urgent request, paid some attention to the doings of the House Liquor Traffic Committee, there is no doubt but that the Prohibitionists would have been successful. Though he had composed the committee of seven Democrats and only four Republicans (one of the latter a German-American) yet old Price of Wisconsin, would have carried the day, be- cause four of the Democrats did not attend the meetings of the committee, and one of the other Democrats voted with the prohibitionists. Fortunately the absenting members final- ly came in, and the prohibitionists were once more defeated. Speaker Carlisle deserves the thanks of the friends of person- al liberty throughout the country." 234 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ional Commission of Inquiry, was a demand for the sub- mission to the people, by Congress, of an amendment to the Federal Constitution, forever prohibiting the traffic in intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes. This proposal was promoted chiefly by United States Senator Henry W. Blair, who began operations by introducing into the House of Representatives, De- cember 12, 1876, a bill to submit such an amendment to a vote of the people. The bill provided that such prohibition should begin ten years after the proposed amendment * had been ratified by three-fourths of the states. Senator Preston B. Plumb introduced a similar * The text of this proposal was as follows: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), that the fol- lowing amendment to the Constitution be, and hereby is, pro- posed to the States, to become valid when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several" states, as pro- vided in the Constitution: "Section i. From and after the year of our Lord 19QO the manufacture and sale of distilled alcoholic intoxicating liquors or alcoholic liquors any part of which is obtained by distilla- tion or process equivalent thereto, or any intoxicating liquors mixed or adulterated with ardent spirits, or any poison what- ever, except for use in the arts, shall cease; and the importa- tion of such liquors from foreign states and countries to the United States and Territories, and the exportation of such liq- uors from and the transportation thereof within and through any part of this country except for the use and purpose afore- said, shall be, and hereby is, forever thereafter prohibited. "Section 2. Nothing in this article shall be construed to AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 235 measure into the Senate of the Forty-sixth Congress. A third proposal was introduced into the Senate by Mr. Blair, then a Senator, on December 12, 1887. The first and last of these proposals were favorably report- ed to the Senate by the Committee on Education and Labor, but no vote was ever reached. A similar movement, one to submit the question of Prohibition to the peo- ple of the territories, met with defeat during the eight- ies. All of these proposals were savagely fought by the United States Brewers' Association, which, since waive or abridge any existing power of Congress, nor the right, which is hereby recognized, of the people of any State or Territory to enact laws to prevent the increase and for the suppression or regulation of the manufacture, sale and use of liquors, and the ingredients thereof, any part of which is alcoholic, intoxicating or poisonous, within its own limits, and for the exclusion of such liquors and ingredients there- from at any time, as well before as after the close of the year of our Lord 1900; but until then, and until ten years after the ratification hereof, as provided in the next section, no State or Territory shall interfere with the transportation of said liquors or ingredients, in packages safely secured, over the usual lines of traffic to other States and Territories in the manufacture, sale and use thereof for other purposes and use than those excepted in the first section shall be lawful; Pro- vided, That the true destination of such packages be plainly marked thereon. "Section 3. Should this article not be ratified by three- fourths of the States on or before the last day of December, 1890, then the first section hereof shall take efifect and be in force at the expiration of ten years from such ratification; and the assent of any state to this Article shall not be rescinded nor reversed." 236 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT its organization in i860, has maintained a lobby in Washington and has exercised a powerful influence over legislative proposals affecting its interests. For ten years Senator Blair led this contest for National Prohibition against this influence. He led it with such vigor and persistency that his political downfall re- sulted. For thirty years after its organization, the United States Brewers' Association had things practically its own way in Washington. Temperance representa- tions were made through and by the National Tem- perance Society to a considerable extent. Represen- tatives of this body frequently were heard before Com- mittees, but its headquarters were in New York City, and no one was on the ground to "watch" and con- tinuously care for Temperance interests. Further- more, many of the states, during the eighties, were engaged in hand to hand contests of their own for con- stitutional prohibition. The high license movement had its beginnings in this period, the original "Slo- cumb law" having been adopted in Nebraska in 1881. Much earnest effort was expended in the promotion of this idea. It was also during this period, beginning practically in 1884, that much of the temperance propa- ganda was directed toward building up the Prohibi- tion party. Under these circumstances, it is quite nat- ural that the thirty year period ending with 1890, is AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 237 practically barren * of all Congressional legislation in the interest of the temperance reform. The "Original Package" decision had the result of focusing the attention of the people upon Congress, and led to better things. Early in 1890, the United States Supreme Court (Leisy vs. Hardin) decided that "the state had no power, without Congressional per- mission to do so, to interfere by seizure, or by any other action, in the prohibition or importation and sale by a foreign or non-resident importer of liquors in un- broken original packages." Under color of this de- cision, the liquor dealers everywhere began opening "original package" shops, defying not only state and local prohibition laws but license laws as well. The rumsellers celebrated their victory by opening these shops in the most offensive places and in the most obnoxious manner. Joints were opened near schools and churches, and in choice resident districts of many cities. A wave of indignation spread over the country of such intensity that rioting occurred in various places. The only remedy lay in an Act of Congress. To remedy this situation, the "Wilson Law" was hur- riedly passed (Approved August 8, 1890), intended to make all intoxicating liquors subject to the laws of the * An exception is the Act of 1886 providing scientific temperance instruction in the District of Columbia, the Ter- ritories, the Military and Naval Academies, etc. 27,^ THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT state into which they were sent.* This law was, how- ever, weakened by the Supreme Court in a subsequent case,t in which it was decided that, while the effect of the law was to remove the Federal protection from the consignee in selling in defiance of state law, yet the words of the Act "arrival in such state" contemplated their delivery to the consignee before state jurisdiction would attach 4 The controversy over this "Original Package" law and the prompt passage of the Wilson act led the peo- ple to look to Congress for further relief. Early in the "nineties," the Reform Bureau (now International Reform Bureau) was established in Washington as a "Christian lobby," by Dr. Wilbur F. Crafts. The pio- neer work of Dr. Crafts was followed up by the estab- * The text of this law reads: 'That all fermented, distilled or other intoxicating liq- uors or liquids transported into any State or Territory or re- maining therein for use, consumption, sale or storage therein, shall upon arrival in such State or Territory be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such State or Territory enacted in the exercise of its police powers, to the same ex- tent and in the same manner as though such liquids or liq- uors had been produced in such State or Territory, and Shall not be exempt therefrom by reason of being introduced there- in in original packages or otherwise." t Rhodes vs. Iowa, 170 U. S., 412. X For several years Congress has been importuned to remove this obstacle to the full exercise of the police powers of the states, but, so far, the liquor dealers have been able to prevent such action. ,, AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 239 lishment of the Legislative Department of the Wo- man's Christian Temperance Union, and also by the Department of the American Anti-Saloon League, and the work reduced to systematic representations. The lobby of the United States Brewers' Association was thus met on its own grounds. Since this time there has been a hand to hand contest in Washington be- tween these two forces, the prohibitionists, step by step, gaining the ascendancy. Since the establishment of these temperance representatives in Washington they h^ve been able to defeat practically every new move of importance on the part of the liquor interests * and have secured much positive legislation of advan- tage to the prohibition cause. The laws against selling liquor to Indians have been three times revised and perfected, f The beer saloon has been driven out of the Army, after a furious struggle, and large appro- priations have been made to provide gymnasiums, bet- ter rations, and other things to take the place of items alleged to have been formerly supplied through the profits of beer selling. Appropriations for the mainte- * An important exception was the overthrow of pro- hibition for Alaska in 1899. This movement, however, was not the result of the work of the liquor interests. John G. Brady, then Governor of Alaska, who had spent most of his life in that country as a missionary, came to Washington and personally pleaded for high license on the ground that the whisky peddlers would sell anyhow and the territory needed the revenue. t Acts approved July 23, 1892, March i, 1895 and Janu- ary 30, 1897. 240 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT nance of soldiers' homes are now made contingent upon the prohibition of liquor selling therein. Twice the excise laws of the District of Columbia have been revised and several times amended in the interest of the prohibitionists. What is known as the "New Heb- rides bill"* (Approved February 14, 1902) was passed to prohibit Americans from selling intoxicants, opium and fire arms to the unprotected natives of Pacific * The text of this law (32 Stat. L. pt. i, p. 33) reads: "That any person subject to the authority of the United States who shall give, sell, or otherwise supply any arms, ammunition, explosive substances, intoxicating liquor, or opium to any aboriginal native of any of the Pacific Islands lying within the twentieth parallel of north latitude and the fortieth parallel of south latitude and the one hundred and twentieth meridian of longitude west and one hundred and twentieth meridian east of Greenwich, not being in the pos- session or under the protection of any civilized power, shall be punishable by imprisonment not exceeding three months, with or without hard labor, or a fine not exceeding fifty dol- lars or both. And in addition to such punishment all articles of a similar nature to those in respect to which an offense has been committed found in the possession of the offender may be declared forfeited. "Sec. 2. That if it shall appear to the court that such opium, wine, or spirits have been given bona fide for medical purposes it shall be lawful for the court to dismiss the charge. "Sec. 3. That all offenses against this act committed on any of said islands or on the waters, rocks, or keys adjacent thereto shall be deemed committed on the high seas on board a merchant ship or vessel belonging to the United States, and the courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction ac- cordingly." AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 241 Islands. In 1895 Congress directed the Bureau of Labor to investigate the economic aspects of the liquor problem. The published results of these investiga- tions, made under the direction of Carroll D. Wright, have provided much "ammunition" for the prohibition- ists ever since. The prohibitionists won another de- cided victory in the "Act to regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States," approved March 3, 1903. Section 30 of the Act * governing the letting of eating privileges at immigrant stations, provided "that no intoxicating liquors shall be sold in any such im- migrant station." It was during the consideration of this bill that the scandal over the criminal prosecu- tions of the unlicensed drink sellers in the basement of the Capitol was at its height. To end the matter, a clause was inserted in this immigration act providing that "no intoxicating liquors of any character shall be sold within the limits of the Capitol building of the United States." The constitutional validity of such a clause in an act to "regulate immigration" is open to grave question, but Congress is not apt to contest its own enactment. It was during this period that the United States took her place among the civilized nations of the earth in protecting the natives of the Congo Free State from the whisky peddler. The "Brussels Conference," held in 1890, decided to establish a zone around the district in which the sale of distilled spirits should be prohib- 32 Stat. L., p. 1220. 242 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ited. Within two years seventeen leading nations of the earth had ratified this convention, including Per- sia and Turkey. It was not until December 14, 1899, that the United States became a party to this agree- ment for the "Zone de prohibition." A supplemental agreement of the second Conference, that of 1899, was also ratified. It was in pursuance of this new policy of the Government, that, on January 4, 1901, Henry Cabot Lodge introduced into the Senate the following resolution, which was adopted : "RESOLVED. That in the opinion of this body the time has come when the principle, twice affirmed in inter- national treaties for Central Africa, that native races should be protected against the destructive traffic in intoxicants, should be extended to all uncivilized peoples by the enactment of such laws and the making of such treaties as will effectually prohibit the sale by the signatory powers to aboriginal tribes and uncivilized races of opium and intoxicating beverages." Congress, like all representative bodies, is never up to the millennium standard. It contains represen- tatives of the worst as well as the best elements of society. In the passage of a bill, the vote of the one counts as much as that of the other. Congress repre- sents approximately the average public sentiment on any reform. But the burden is on the reformer to get even this average sentiment expressed in legislation. It is for him to assume the aggressive. Vested inter- ests in iniquity are on the defensive and have the ad- vantage of being already intrenched in legislation. But the standard of Congress is becoming higher with each succeeding election. The unfit are one by one left upon AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 243 the scrap heap. There is less incentive for a Congress- man to become the puppet of the liquor interests than formerly, and there is correspondingly greater inclina- tion to relieve the people of the burdens of the licensed liquor traffic. Under the present system of representa- tion there are many ways for intrenched wrong temporarily to hold its position by bullying, bribing, trickery and various forms of chicanery. The ultimate triumph of right may thus be deferred, betrayed, or compromised, but never finally defeated. 244 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT I I i ^ 1 6 6 6 2 •c 00 « ro « 1 1 f2 13 1 s >0^ «0 *J P< O lO fO »0 M «ooO OOforOOOTj-C^OONOOOVOcOtv riOO- lO (^ CO lOVO OwvOOOOVOOOONMMTtOVO O\00 CO •* O\00 C) w VO 00 «o »o '*Nt>.'^r0OvOjTj-O;>OiHi>.f2OO\O "^00 00 O »0 O vo «^ !>. >0 f^ tJ-VO lO Ki m 00 \o dl»CTftC»MTftCd\otCo»oN«tC inoo ^ f^od •-T'^fd; ■»fioMooro 00 M \o O 0\ to M Ttvo O tN to t^NO »0 Tj-\o 00 O -^VO to to O O 00 toco ro Ov M VO 00»N«OTJ-r0N0 f^OO VO N Jn.00 tv. I^VO fO « to ii tovo r«» ■* O tNOO «x 0\ PO fO I CO i VOOO O ION O too to« N 0> NfO-*J^ "* 0\ ^^ w vo M to 0\ N ■»!• N ro lo 0» PO ON 00 00 to O N VO 00 N N lO 00 ■* N 00 00 o! w CO fO to PO o \o 'too O vo " « N tHO w »0 O N to N tovo rj- Ot to 0\ t^ •* t " ^ ° ^ *? 1°^ *^ "1; *? ^ o\poM« NO \0 VO to^O VO tC K toOO tN » OO'trOOO 1 ^! 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O CS^vo 00 00 f^N^'^'^CJvro'^NrOO •*^1<^ »00 w " O odoO O VO oloo ^00 ro lOVO t^ N I- ;NPjro-> rj- ts. cji ro^ '^vo tJ- VO Tj-toovo Tj-n-ov TtvO ro ■* inOO TfoO ^ '-' rooo «2 I loOO •^ '^ O tv. Oj N Tj-OO ro w 0\ rovo to ■* ro O vo "C 1 tC " «>^ " >" >rt ^ ■^ rovo >nvo d\ tC dv i-T -^ ol O 00 .3 u>000'*toNNO\ro"Mr)NVOOOvo mOO (x ro rrj " ' M ro t^ i^jvo »x O IT) Tf ro ■* t^vo O 00 00 <^ '^ ►- "^ i-T tC " o 00 oroMrCtCrotCtCwotCqioi-rf^ Ot Ot O 0\ rx N. txoO 00OvOO>HNP*N'*t^VO t^oO 0\ O w N ro ■* irjvo t^OO 0\ o 0>0>0>OiOvOiOvOvO\OOOOOOOC>Oo,- 000000000000000000 O\0\0\0v0v0v0\0s0*0vc' AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 247 NUMBER OF SPECIAL TAXPAYERS AS RETAIL LIQUOR DEALERS AND RETAIL DEALERS IN MALT LIQUOR IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1876. Year-ending June 30. Special Taxpayers. R. L. D. R. D. M. L. Total 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 J 883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 189s 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1 90s 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 156,634 157,345 155,850 163,525 170,640 168,770 187,871 180,068 182,318 190,121 188,107 168,587 188,675 189,002 230,408 215,434 219,863 215,419 208,388 204,294 194,942 195.964 199,729 207,525 213,416 220,636 230,056 241,239 243,400 236,448 230,512 223,504 217,813 7,964 9,499 10,636 11,610 8,536 8,006 7,998 8,220 8,676 8,409 8,685 8,161 7,899 7,798 10,389 10,031 10,073 12,618 10,486 12,064 11,076 12,071 12,327 12,716 13,131 13,754 14,468 13,826 14,976 17,094 18,266 20,434 21,681 19,655 164,598 166,844 166,486 175,135 179,176 176,776 195,869 188,288 190,994 198,536 196,792 176,748 196,574 196,800 240,797 225,465 229,936 228,037 218,874 216,358 206,018 208,03s 212,056 220,241 226,547 234,390 242,231 281,651 293,966 298,271 296,834 296,789 293,163 237,468 During the years 1877-80 wholesale dealers in malt liquors are included with retail dealers. The figures for 1891 cover a period of fourteen months. Index ADAMS, JOHN Agitating for Constitution 14 Attitude Toward Liquor Traffic 99 On Army Liquor Ration 130 On Indians 160 ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY. Mentioned 25, 227 ADULTERATION Action of Congress Against 20 Liquor Dealers Oppose Laws Against 21 John M. Atherton on S4 David A. Wells on Imitation Wines 104 Fortified Wines 105 Legislation Against, in Europe 109 Industrial Alcohol 114 Pure Food and Drug Act 119 AGRICULTURAL COUNCIL OF THE PYRENEES ORIENTALS. Action of Against Adulterated Wines 111 ALASKA Police Power of Congress over 17 How Governed 209 Early Conditions in 216 Purchase of 217 Grant's Proclamation 217 Complications of Enforcement 218 Government of, 1884 Established 219 Movement for High License in 220 Governor Brady on Delinquent Office Holders 220 Overthrow of Prohibition in 220, 239 ALCOHOL For Fortification 106 Denatured Alcohol 115 Compounds of 119 Statistics Denatured Alcohol 118 ALE, (See Malt Liquors.) ALTO DOURO. Adulterated Wines and 112 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 249 AMERICAN ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE Efforts in Anti-Canteen Fight 154 AMERICAN INDIANS. (See Indians.) AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY Mentioned 69 Cited 213 AMERICAN TEMPERANCE UNION Mentioned 33, 69, 132. 137. 155. 156. 157, 185 AMES, FISHER. Quoted 42 ANTI- SALOON LEAGUE. (See American Anti- Saloon League.) ARDENT SPIRITS. (See Spirituous Liquors.) ARGENSEN, VICOMTE d' Decrees Death Penalty for Selling to Indians 170 ARIZONA. Indian Troubles in 207 ARMY Chapter on 125 Continental Army Ration 126 Whisky Troubles in Continental Army .126 Ration of 1790 128 Liquor in War of 1812 130 Rum Ration Opposed by Calhoun 131 Opposed by John H. Eaton 132 John Adams' Views on Liquor Ration 130 Gen. Macomb on Spirit Ration 133 Adj. Gen. Jones on Spirit Ration 133 Maj. Gen. Gaines on Spirit Ration 134 Statistics of Desertions Before 1830 134 Gen. Eaton Discontinues Ration 134 Gen. Cass' Order as to Rations 136 Daniel Webster Opposes Spirit Ration 137 Secretary Crawford Prohibits Sutlers Selling Spirits. . . .138 Gen. Scott on Drink in Mexican War 138 Senator Pomeroy on Drink in Army 139 Gen. McClellan on Army Drinking 140 Discontinues Spirit Ration 141 Temperance Propaganda in 142 President Hayes Abolishes Beer 144 Wine and Beer Recognized by as Non-Intoxicating 145 Origin of Beer Canteen 145 General Orders of 1895 148 Gen. Howard on Army Canteen 149 Gen. Corbin's Early View 149 Grigg's Decision 152 250 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Gen. Sternberg's Early View of Canteen 150 Canteen Abolished by Congress 151 Appropriations for Amusements in 154 Drink in Confederate Army 154 ATHERTON, JOHN M., on Internal Revenue 84 AVAUGOUR, GOV. Mentioned 170 BANCROFT, H. H. Cited 216 BARBOUR, JAMES, Report of, on Indian Regulations 197 BARTMEYER vs. IOWA. Case Cited 25 BASTABLE. Quoted on Revenue 97 BATES, ISAAC C. Mentioned 25 BEECHER. LYMAN. Referred to 99 BEER. (See Malt Liquors.) BEER CANTEEN. (See Army.) BEER CO. vs. MASS. Case Cited 26 BILL OF RIGHTS. Mentioned 13 BITTERS 119 BLACK CODE, THE. Referred to 212 BLACK DRINK, of the Indians 161 BLACK HAWK WAR. Caused by Liquor Traffic 168 BLACK SNAKE. Temperance Efforts of 186 BLAIR, HENRY W. Mentioned 227 Efforts for Commission of Inquiry 234 BLOCK, ELIAS & SONS. Litigation With 78 BLUE JACKET. Mentioned 187 BONDED WAREHOUSES Provided for 100 Regulations Concerning 101 BOTTLING IN BOND. Act March 3. 1897 103 BOWMAN CASE. Cited .24 BRACKENRIDGE, HUGH H. Mentioned 62 BRACKENRIDGE, H. M. Mentioned 62 BRADLEY, JUSTICE. On Prohibition 26 BRADY, JOHN G. Urges Overthrow of Prohibition in Alaska 220, 239 BRANT, THOMAS. Mentioned 187 BRICE, W. A. Mentioned, Frontispiece. BRIGGS, GEO. N. Referred to 227 BROWN, DAVID. Mentioned 178 BROWN, JOHN. Mentioned 178 BRUNO, GIORDANO. Victim of Personal Liberty 10 BRUSSELLS CONFERENCE. Account of 241 BUCHANAN. JAMES. Mentioned 227 a.J^^-^-^^'^ f lb ^ AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 251 BULL. RUN. Drunkenness at 139 BUTLER, B. F. Interdicts Intoxicants from His Command 142 CALHOUN, JOHN C. On Tariff 44 Opposes Rum Ration in Army 130 CANADA Early Prohibition of Selling to Indians 169 CANTEEN. (See Army.) CAPERS, JOHN G. Rulings of 122 CARHEIL, ETIENNE. Efforts to Protect Indians 172 CARLISLE, JOHN G. Aids Distillers 103 In Congress 233 CARTIER, JACQUES. Mentioned 162 CASS, LEWIS Mentioned 35 Opposes Spirit Ration in Army 136 Temperance Efforts of 225 Mentioned 227 On the Liquor Traffic 230 CATHAY, RANDOLPH W. Mentioned, Dedication. CHARLES II. Action of Against Adulterated Wines 110 CHARTERED WINE COMPANY OF OPORTO 113 CHEROKEE INDIANS Temperance Movement Among 187 Prohibition Law of 1819 188 Of the Western Cherokees 189 National Cherokee Temperance Society 189, 190 Compact of 1843 189 In Eufaula Convention 132 See Also, Indians ^ CHEROKEE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. (See Cherokee Indians.) CHICASAW INDIANS. Temperance Efforts of 1890 191 CHOATE, RUFUS Employed to Fight Local Option 22 Defends Liquor Interests in Important Cases 32 On Prohibition 33 Mentioned 227 CHOCTAW INDIANS Temperance Efforts of 190 Early Treaties With 205 CHRISTIAN LOBBY. Referred to 238 252 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CIVIL WAR Remote Cause of 14, 72 Prohibition Prior to 70 War Tax of 1862 70 Debates in Congress Over War Tax 73 Prices of Whisky During 82 Drink Troubles in 139, 215 CLAY, HENRY. On Liquor Traffic 229 CLYMER, GEORGE. On Liquor Traffic 57 CONFEDERATION. Conditions Under as to Commerce. .18, 19 COLFAX, SCHUYLER. Mentioned 227 COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS Memorial of 57 COLOGNE SPIRITS 114 COLQUITT, A. H. Mentioned 215, 227 COLUMBIAN SPIRITS 116 COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER. Quoted on Indians 165 COLUMELLA. On Fortified Wines 109 COMANCHE INDIANS. Temperance Efforts of 190 COMINGORE, DAVID N. Mentioned 78 COMMISSION OF INQUIRY. Movement for 232 COMMITTEE ON ALCOHOLIC LIQUOR TRAFFIC Origin of 232 COMPENSATION U. S. Supreme Court on 27 Congressman Morris' Resolution for 72 CONFEDERATE ARMY. Drink in 154 CONGO FREE STATE. Prohibition in 241 CONGRESS Powers Given by Constitution 15 Police Powers of 16, 17 Financial Straits of 38 Passes First Customs Act 43 First Excise Act 58 Repeals Hamilton's Internal Revenue Law 65 Revenue Act of 1814 66 Internal Revenue Resolutions Considered 68 Act of 1862 '. 70 Provisions of 1794 and 1813 71 Resolution of Congressman Morris 72 Resolution on Slavery 72 Debates on War Tax 73 Act of 1866 76 Manipulation of Revenue Laws '^ 86 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 253 Act of 1868 89 And Whisky Frauds 93 Action on Bonding Period of Spirits 101 On Fortified Wines 105 Industrial Alcohol 114 Pure Food and Drug Legislation, Discussed 119 Efforts to curtail Liquor in Continental Army 127 Legislation as to Use of Liquor in the Army 129 Abolishes Army Canteen 151 Steps to Protect in 1802 179 Prohibits Selling to Indians 197 Enforcement of Indian Laws 204 Summary Treaties With Indians 205 Power of Over District of Columbia 211 Over Alaska 216 Deals With Alaska 218 Liquor in the Capitol 222 Debate Over Father Mathew 229 Agitation for Commission of Inquiry 232 Efforts of United States Brewers' Association 233 Of the W. C. T. U 236 Of the National Temperance Society 236 Of the Reform Bureau 238 Of the Anti-Saloon League 239 Passes New Hebrides Law 240 Ousts the Saloon From Public Buildings 241 Participates in the Brussells' Conference 241 Senator Lodge's Resolution 242 CONGRESSIONAL TEMPERANCE SOCIETY Mentioned 35 Formation of 225 CONGRESSIONAL TOTAL ABSTINENCE SOCIETY Formation of 225 CONNECTICUT Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 Pequod War 167 CONSTITUTION Origin of 12 State Constitutions 13 Bill of Rights 13 Magna Charta 13 Advocated by Hamilton, Jay and Adams 13 Jefferson's Attitude Toward 14 Attempt to Authorize Sumptuary Legislation in 15 254 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Powers Given to Congress 16 Fourteenth Amendment 16 To Sell Liquor not a Right Guaranteed by Fourteenth Amendment 17 Right of States to Prohibit Liquor Traffic not in Con- flict With 26, 27, 28, 34 Causes of Adoption of 39 CORBIN, H. C. Early View of Army Canteen 150 CORT, WILLIAM. Referred to 126 COXE, TENCH. Report of 65 CRAFTS, W. F. Mentioned 238 CRAIG. NEVILLE B. Mentioned 62 CRAWFORD, GEO. W. Order of 138 CREEK INDIANS. Anti-Liquor Compact of 1843 190 CROWLEY vs. CHRISTENSEN. Case Cited 28 CURLEY EYE. GEORGE. Mentioned 187 CUSTOMS Powers of Congress Over 16 Chapter on 32 Right to Import Does not Imply Right to Sell 32, 35 Decision of 1847 32 Cause of Establishment 37 Provisions of 1783 38 Hamilton, Madison and Ellsworth Advocates of 39 Urged by Washington 39 Hamilton Quoted 40 Madison's Resolution of 1789 40 Thomas Fitsimmons of 41 John Lawrence Quoted on 42 Fisher Ames Quoted on 42 Elbridge Gerry Quoted on 43 Washington Approves of 42 First Act of Congress for 43 Revenue From 45 Table of Customs Receipts 46 Rate of Duty Increased 47 Duty on and Revenue from Prior to 1826 48 Effect of Excise on Importation of Liquors 48 Tariff Acts 49 Customs Rate on Liquors of Various Laws. 50 Receipts From Prior to 1814 68 DAWES COMMISSION. Mentioned 191 DELAVAN, E. C. Temperance Propaganda of. in Army , 142 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 255 Promotes President's Declaration 227 DELAWARE. Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 DEMOCRATIC PARTY. On Prohibition 70 DENATURED ALCOHOL. (See Alcohol.) DeSMET, FATHER. Narrative of 1D4 DINGLEY, NELSON. Mentioned 227 DISTILLED SPIRITS. (See Spirits.) DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA How Governed 209 Early Conditions in 210 Regulations as to Saloonkeepers and Slaves 212 Lottery in 212 Prohibition in 213 Early Conditions in 223 Excise Legislation in 2 tO DIX, GENERAL. Mentioned 141, 142 DONNACONNA, CHIEF. Mentioned 162 DORCHESTER, DANIEL. Cited 233 DOXEN, CHARLES. Mentioned 184 DRUGGISTS. Revenue Regulations as to 119 DUDLEY, COL. At Battle of Ft. Meigs 182 DUGAN, THOMAS B. Mentioned 150 DUTIES. (See Customs.) EAGLE SPIRITS 116 EATON, JOHN H. Opposes Spirit Ration 132 Prohibits Spirit Ration 134 EDWARD III. Action of Against Adulterated Wines 110 EDWARDS, JUSTIN. Work of ; 227 ELIZABETH, QUEEN. Mentioned 12 ELLIOTT, GEORGE. Mentioned 178 ELLSKWATAWA Institutes Temperance Campaign 180 Mooney's Estimate of 183 ELLSWORTH, COL. Fight of Against Drink in Army 142 ELLSWORTH, OLIVER. Advocates Constitution 39 ENDICOTT, EVAN. Mentioned 178 ENDICOTT, W. C. Establishes Army Beer Canteen 147 ENGLAND Excise in 54 Stamp Act 55 Second War With , 66 Laws Against Adulteration 110 256 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Industrial Alcohol in .116 Second War With 130 Operations in Alaska 216 ESCALANTI, CHARLES. Mentioned, Dedication. ESTAMAZA. Temperance Efforts of 187 EVANS, JUDGE. Decision of in Revenue Case 79 EWELL, GEN. Opposes Drink in Army 142 EXCISE Power of Congress as to 15 Effect of, on Importation of Liquor 48 Origin of 54 William Pitt on 55 Virginia Agreement of 1774 55 Boycott of Colonists of 56 Pennsylvania Excise of 1756 56 Defended by Hamilton 56 See Internal Revenue FEDERALIST, THE Origin of 39 Mentioned 56 FEDERALIST PARTY. First Downfall of 62 FESSENDEN, WILLIAM PITT. On Prohibition 74 FIELD, JUSTICE. On Prohibition 28 FILLMORE, MILLARD. Mentioned 227 FIND LEY, WILLIAM. In Whisky Rebellion 62 FITZSIMMONS, THOMAS. Quoted 41, 58 FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES Temperance Efforts of 187 Origin of 39 Mentioned 210 FLETCHER vs. RHODE ISLAND. Case Cited S3 FOOTE, A. H. Opposes Navy Spirit Ration 157 Quoted 158 FORTIFIED WINES ' D. A. Wells on 104 Act of 1890 105 Statistics of 106 Act of 1906 107 In European Countries 108 FT. MEIGS. Battle of 181 FRANCE Commercial Treaties with 34 Debts of Congress to , 38 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 257 Excise in 54 Fortified Wine Laws in 108 Laws Against Adulteration Ill Industrial Alcohol in 116 FREE TRADE Account of 44 After 1818 69 FRELINGHUYSEN, THEODORE. Mentioned 35, 227 FRIENDS Baltimore Yearly Meeting of, Speech of Mechecunnaqua 174 GAINES, MA J. GEN. On Army Spirit Ration 134 GARFIELD, JAMES A. Mentioned f 227 GENEODIYO. Temperance Efforts of 184 GEORGIA. Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 GERMANY. Industrial Alcohol in 116 GERRY, ELBRIDGE. Quoted 43 GIBSON, GEORGE. Mentioned 132 GOOD HUNT, CAPT. Mentioned 187 GOUGH, JOHN B. Referred to 99 GRAHAM, WILLIAM Atempts to Collect Internal Revenue 61 GRANT, U. S. Proclamation as to Alaska 217 GRAY, JUSTICE. Dissents to Original Package Decision. . . 23 GREENVILLE. Treaty of. Mentioned 173 GRIER, JUSTICE. On Prohibition 35 GRIGGS, ATTORNEY GENERAL Opinion of, on Army Canteen 152 GRUNDY, FELIX. Mentioned 34, 35, 227 HALLECK, GEN. Recommendation as to Alaska 217 HAMILTON, ALEXANDER Agitating for Constitution 14, 39 Quoted on Revenue 40 On Internal Revenue 56 Argument for Excise 57, 58 Genius of 64 HAUANASSA. Appeal of 183 HARD HICKEY. Mentioned 187 HARLAN, JUSTICE Dissents to Original Package Decision 23 On Prohibition 27 In Revenue Case 79 HARMER, GENERAL. Mentioned 173 HARRISON, BENJAMIN. Mentioned 147 HARRISON, W. H. 2S8 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Meets Ellskwatawa 181 Compact With Tecumseh 182 Mentioned 227 HAWAII. Provisions of Enabling Act 209 HAWKINS, JOHN. Slave Trader, Mentioned 12 HAYES, R. B. Abolishes Intoxicants from Army 144 HECKWELDER. Cited 162 HEFF DECISION. Quoted 203 HENDERSON. Cited Ill HENRY III. Reissues Magna Charta 24 HICKS. CHAS. B. Mentioned 1*88 HIGH LICENSE • Thomas Fitsimmons on 41 James Madison on 41 Memorial College Physicians and Surgeons 57 A. P. Morrill on 71 Henry Wilson on 81 Discussed 96 In Alaska 220 Beginning of Movement for 236 HOLLAND. Debts of Congress to 38 HOOKER, GEN. Opposes Drink in Army 142 HOWARD, O. O. On Drink in Army 150 HOUSTON, SAM. On Liquor Traffic 230 HUDSON, HENRY. Mentioned 162 IMPAIRMENT OF CONTRACTS 26 INDIANS Congress Given Control of Trade with 16 Chapter on 160 Cost of Indian Wars 169 Primal Conditions as to Drink 161 The Black Drink 161 Characteristics of 163 Columbus on 165 Bounties on Indian Scalps 166 King Philip's War 168 Black Hawk War 168 Drink Among, in Canadian Colonial Times 169 Work Among, of Jesuit Fathers 170 Action of at Pittsburg in 1783 173 Efforts of Mechecunnaqua for 173 Campaign for Temperance of Ellskwatawa » 181 Efforts of Chief Hauanossa 183 Geneodiyo 184 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 259 Iroquois Temperance League 184 Agritation of Kahgegagahbowa 185 Of Black Snake 186 Of the Seneca Chiefs 186 Work of Bstamaza 187 Laws of the Cherokees 188 Action of Western Cherokees • 189 National Cherokee Temperance Society 189 Anti-Liquor Compact of 1843 190 Chicasaw Prohibition Laws of 1828 190 Treaties With Government 191 Eufaula Convention 192 Sufferings of on Account of Liquor Traffic 193 Narrative of Father DeSmet 194 Congress Prohibits Selling to 198 Powers of Indian Agents 200 Heff Decision 203 Law Enforcement for 204 Treaties With 205 Change in Legal Status of 206, 208 Horatio Seymour on 206 In Alaska 217 INDIAN TERRITORY Prohibition Laws of 192 Special Law for 203 How Governed 209 Prohibition in 210 INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL. (See Alcohol.) INQUISITION Erected by Advocates of Personal Liberty, II. INTERNAL REVENUE Powers of Congress as to 16 Effect of on Importations 48 Chapter on 54 Origin of the System 54 Provisions of the Stamp Act 55 William Pitt on 55 Hatred of, by the American Colonists 55 Pennsylvania Act of 1756 56 Defended by Alexander Hamilton 56 Memorial of Robert Morris 57 Memorial College of Physicians and Surgeons 57 Gen, James Jackson on 57 Efforts of Alexander Hamilton for 57 26o THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Early Action of Congress on 58 First Excise Law 59 Opposition to 60 Early Troubles in Collecting 61 Thomas Jefferson on 63, 64 Collections Prior to 1801 65 Collections Prior to 1814 68 Act of 1813 66 Act of 1814 66 Monroe's Recommendation as to 67 Agitation of 1826 68 Act of 1862 70 A. P. Morrill on 71 Licensing Provisions in Acts 1794 and 1813 71 Henry Wilson on 73 Debates in Congress 75 Act of 186,6 76 Regulations Concerning 77 Judge Harlan's Decision 7? Charles Sumner on SI Henry Wilson on 81 John M. Atherton on 84 United States Brewers on 84 Manipulation of, After the War 86 John Sherman's Protest 86 Report of Revenue Commission 87 Frauds on 88 Act of 1868, 89 Statistics of Distilled Spirits 90 Statistics of Breweries 91 Production Malt Liquors Since 1863. . ^. 92 Frauds in 93 Report of C. H. Van Wyck 93 David A. Wells on 94 Daniel H. Pratt on 94 Exposures of Frauds in 94 W. C. T. U. Protests Against 95 Ethics of 96 Collection of 100 Bonded Warehouses discussed 101 Green B. Raum and 102 Action of Hugh McCullough 102 Bonding Period Extended 103 Fortified Wines 104 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 261 statistics Fortified Wines 106, 107 Fortified Wines in European Countries 108 Adulteration 109 Denatured Alcohol 115 Statistics Denatured Alcohol 118 Regulations as to Drug-gists 119 Regulations as to Two Per Cent Beer 124 Special Taxes not Required of Army Canteens 149 Statistics of Appendix INTERNATIONAL REFORM BUREAU. Work of 238 INTERSTATE COMMERCE Powers of Congress Over 16 Original Unimportance of 18 Character of, Under Confederation 19 Jurisdiction of Congress Over Adulteration 20 Complications of With State Police Powers * 22 Original Package Decision 23 Wilson Act 24 Taney Decision 22 Justices Waite, Harlan and Gray on 23 IRIQUOIS TEMPERANCE LEAGUE (See Six Nations Temperance League.) ITALY. Fortified Wine Laws of 108 JACKSON, ANDREW Sows Wild Oats 132 Opposes Liquor Ration in Army 134 Signs President's Declaration 227 JAY, JOHN. Advocate of Constitution 14, 39 JEFFERSON, THOMAS Views on Constitution 14 On Excise 64 On Liquor Traffic (footnote) 64 On Beer 130 Mentioned 160 Efforts to Protect Indians 178 JESUIT FATHERS. Work Among Canadian Indians 169 JOHNSON, ELIAS. Mentioned 185 JONES, ADJ. GEN. On Army Spirit Ration 133 KAHGEGAGAHBOWH. Temperance Efforts of 185 KANSAS vs. ZIEBOLD. Case Cited 26 KENTUCKY Revenue Litigation in 78 Production of Whisky in 84 Asked to Protect Indians 179 262 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT KIBD vs. PEARSON. Case Cited 28 KING JOHN. Mentioned 24 KING PHILIP'S WAR. Caused by Liquor Traffic 168 KOSCIUSKO. Mentioned 180 KUMSKAKA. Mentioned 181 LAFAYETTE, GEN. Mentioned 229 LA FREDICRE, MAJOR. Mentioned 169 LALEMANT, JEROME. Temperance Efforts Among Indians 170 LA MERCIER, FATHER. Work Among Indians 171 LAVAL, BISHOP. Efforts to Keep Liquor from Indians 170 LAWLEWASEIKAW. (See Ellskwatawa.) LAWRENCE, JOHN. Quoted 41 LEE, RICHARD HENRY Puts Down Whisky Rebellion 62 LEISY vs'. HARDIN. Case Cited 24 LICENSE CASES. Cited 22 LIEBER, GEN. Opinion of 152 LINCOLN, ABRAHAM Mentioned 44 Compensation Idea 72 Opposed to Liquor License 76 Signs President's Declaration 227 LION D'OR 116 LIQUOR TRAFFIC Chief Justice Waite on 25 Justice Harlan on 27 Justice Field on 27 Ruf us Choate on 33 Chief Justice Taney on 35 Daniel Webster on 35 Justice Grier on 36 Justice Woodbury on 37 Alexander Hamilton on 40 James Madison on .y 41 Thomas Fitsimmons on 41 John Lawrence on 41 Fisher Ames on 42 Elbridge Gerry on 43 First Customs duty on....' 43 Revenue from Exaggerated 45 Customs Revenue from 46 Revenue Act of 1789 47 Customs Revenue from Prior to 1826 Q . . . 48 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 263 Effect of Excise on 48 Rates of Dutj* on Under Various Laws 50 Internal Revenue, Chapter on ^ 53 Licenses Under the Stamp Act 55 Whisky Rebellion 60 Robert Morris on 57 Thomas Jefferson on 64 Revenue from Prior to 1801 65 Revenue from Prior to 1814 , 68 A. P. Morrill on 70 Resolution of Congressman Morris 72 Suggestion of Lincoln 72 Unrestrained After 1818 69 Henry Wilson on 73 Abraham Lincoln on 76 W. P. Fessenden on 75 Henry Wilson on 81 John M. Atherton Urges Taxation on 84 United States Brewers Urges Tax on 84 Report Revenue Commission 87 Revenue Frauds 88 Statistics of Spirits 90 Statistics of Breweries 91 Statistics Fermented Liquors 92 Effect of Taxation on, Discussed 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 Bonding Period Discussed 101 Fortified Whines 104 Adulteration of Wines 109 Industrial Alcohol 115 Pure Food and Drug Legislation 119 Two Per Cent Beer 124 Troubles of in Continental Army 126 Troubles of in American Armies 137 Abolished from Army 151 Abolished from Navy 158 Among Indians 160 Cause of King Philip's War 168 Cause of Black Hawk War 168 Cause of Pequod War 167 Trouble Among Canadian Colonists on Account of 169 Protest of Mechecunnaq'ua 173 Of Ellskwatawa 181 Of Hauanassa 183 Of Geneodiyo 184 264 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Of Kahgegagahbowh 185 Of Black Snake 186 Of the Seneca Chiefs 186 Cherokee Laws Against 188 Indian Anti-Liquor Compact of 1843 190 Prohibition Laws of the Chicasaws, 1890 191 Government Treaties With Indians 192 Sufferings of Indians on Account of 193 Action of Congress to Protect the Indians 198 Report Arizona Grand Jury 207 Prohibition of, in District of Columbia 213 William Wort on 213 Early Troubles by, in Alaska 216 Henry Clay on 229 W. H. Seward on 229 Lewis Cass on 230 Sam Houston on 230 LITTLE TURTLE. (See Mechecunnaqua.) LOCAL OPTION Power of Congress to Enact 17 Right of States to Enact. Sustained 22, 34 In District of Columbia 214 LODGE, H. C. Resolution of 242 LOGAN, JOHN A. Mentioned 227 LONG, JOHN D. Abolishes Navy Beer Canteen 158 Mentioned 227 LONGSTREET, JAMES LOVELL, GEN. JOSEPH. Report of 131 On Drink in Confederate Army 154 LOWRIE, WALTER. Mentioned 225 LYTTON, LORD. Report on Adulteration Ill MACOMB, GEN. ALEXANDER On Army Spirit Ration 133 McCLELLAN, GEN. GEO. B. On Army Drink 140 Abolishes Spirit Ration 141 McCULLOUGH, HUGH. Ruling of / 103 McCOOK, GEN. Mentioned 150 Mcdonald, gen. john Exposure of Revenue Frauds of 94 McKIM, JOEL. Mentioned 178 Mckinley, WILLIAM. Mentioned 44 MADISON, JAMES ^ AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 265 Urges Duty on Spirits 39, 40, 41 Letter of Jefferson to 63 Signs President's Declaration . . . . , 227 MAGNA CHARTA Mentioned 13 And Prohibition 24 MAINE Prohibition Opposed by Democrats in 70 Prohibition in 75 MALT LIQUORS Original Duty on 43 Rates of Duty on Under Various Acts 50 Statistics of Breweries 91 Statistics of Since 1862 92 Two Per Cent Beer 124 In the Continental Army 126 Abolished from Army by President Hayes 144 Recognized by War Department as Non-Intoxicating. . .145 Congress Prohibits Selling to Indians 200 Statistics of Appendix MANHATTAN. Origin of Name 162 MARQUETTE MISSION. Referred to 172 MARSH, JOHN Referred to 99 Cited 140 MARSHALL, THOMAS F. Referred to 99 Quoted 227 MASSACHUSETTS Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 Washington's Order at Cambridge 127 Early Indian Laws 167 Prohibits Selling Liquor to Indians in 1633 169 MASSASOIT. Mentioned 162 MARYLAND Troops for Whisky Rebellion 62 Early Liquor Licenses in 65 Continental Rum Ration 127 Address of Mechecunnaqua 174 Formation of District of Columbia from 212 MATHER, COTTON. Quoted 168 MATHER, INCREASE. Quoted 168 MATHEW, THEOBALD Mentioned 70 266 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT American Campaign of 228 Debate in Congress, over 229 MECHECUNNAQUA (Little Turtle) Portrait of, Frontispiece Record of 173 Address at Baltimore 174 MEETHEETRASHE. Mentioned 181 MERWIN, J. B. Mentioned 76 METCALF, VICTOR H, Referred to 115 MILES, NELSON A. Recommends Abolishing Drink from Army 143 Opposes Army Canteen 153 MONROE, JAMES Recommends Removal of Excise 67 Mentioned 131, 227 MOONEY, JAMES. Quoted 183 MORRILL, A. P. ■ On Liquor Traffic VO MORRILL, LOT M. Mentioned 227 MORRIS, CONGRESSMAN Resolution of, on Compensation 72 MORRIS, ROBERT. On Liquor Traffic 57 MORRISON, JOHN. Mentioned, Dedication. MORROW, HENRY A. Establishes Army Club 145 MORSELL, JUDGE. Decision of 214 MUGLER vs. KANSAS. Case Cited 26 NATIONAL CHEROKEE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY (See Cherokee Indians) NATIONAL PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION. Mentioned 84 NATIONAL PURE FOOD AND DRUG CONGRESS Action of 114 NAVY Chapter on 155 Rum Ration of Continental Congress 155 Temperance Movement in 156 W. H. Seward on Drink in 156 Spirit Ration of 1861 157 Spirit Ration Abolished 157 Admiral Foote on 157 Order of John D. Long 158 NEBRASKA. High License in 236 NELSON, JUSTICE. On Prohibition 35 NEW HAMPSHIRE. Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 NEW HEBRIDES. Law, Quoted 240 NEW JERSEY AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 267 Early Failure of Excise in 56 Troops for Whisky Rebellion 02 Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 Laws Regarding Indians 166 Prohibits Selling Liquor to Indians in 1769 169 NEW YORK. Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 NEW YORK PACKET. Mentioned 40 NORTH CAROLINA Opposition to Excise in 60 Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 Bounty of, on Indian Scalps 165 O'CONNELL, DANIEL. Mentioned 228 OHIO. Asked to Protect Indians 179 OKLAHOMA. Law Enforcement for 204 ORIGINAL PACKAGES Rule of 1872 as to 21 Decision of 1888 23 Decision of 1847 23 Wilson Law 24 Results of 237 OSAGE INDIANS. Temperance Efforts of 190 OSCEOLA. Meaning of Name 161 PARNELL, GEO. Report of 88 PATH-KILLER. Mentioned 188 PENNSYLVANIA Excise of 1756 56 Opposition to Excise in 60 Whisky Rebellion in 64 - Troops for Whisky Rebellion • 62 Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 Army Spirit Ration of 1776 127 Bounties on Indian Scalps 166 Prohibits Selling to Indians in 1701 169 Action of Indians at Pittsburg in 1783 178 PEQUOD WAR. Caused by Liquor Traffic 167 PERSONAL LIBERTY Development of 9 Discussed 10 Fourteenth Amendment to Constitution 16 Magna Charta Provisions 24 Inherent Rights 24 United States Supreme Court Decisions on 26, 27, 28 Rufus Choate on 33 Whisky Rebellion 60 And Collection of Revenue 100 268 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PIERCE, FRANKLIN. Mentioned 227 PIERCE vs. NEW HAMPSHIRE. Case Cited 33 PITT, WILLIAM. On Stamp Act 55 PLINY. On Fortified Wines 109 PLUMB, PRESTON B. Mentioned 234 POLICE POWER Of Congress 16, 17 Over Alaska 17 Of the States 22, 24, 26, 27, 28 Of Indian Agents 200 Over District of Columbia 211 Over Alaska 216 POLK, JAMES K. Mentioned 227 POLYGAMY. Defended by Personal Liberty Advocates 9 POMEROY, SENATOR On Prohibition 75 On Drink in the Army 139 PORTER. (See Malt Liquors.) POST CANTEENS. (See Army.) POTTAWATOMIE INDIANS. Sufferings of 194 PORTO RICO. Power of as to Liquor 209 POWERS, JOHN T. Referred to 214 PRATT, DANIEL H. On Revenue Frauds 94 On Imitation Wines 104 PRESIDENTS DECLARATION. Account of 228 PRICES. Effect of Taxation on 82 PRICE, W. A. Mentioned 78 PRINTUP, HORATIO R. Mentioned 184 PROCTOR, R. A. Promotes Army Beer Canteen .147 PROHIBITION Not Impaired by Fourteenth Amendment 16 Power of Congress to Prohibit 17 Of Adulteration of Foods 20 Original Package Troubles 23 Sustained by United States Supreme Court 24 Chief Justice Taney on 22, 35 Chief Justice Waite on 25 Justice Harlan on 27 Justice Field on 28 Justice Bradley on 26 Not an Impairment of Contracts 25 Rufus Choate on _. 33 Justice Grier on 36 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 269 Justice Nelson on 36 Justice Woodbury on 37 Elbridge Gerry on 43 A. P. Morrill on 71 Prior to Civil War 70 Protected in Revenue Laws of 1794 and 1813 71 Proposal of Congressman Morris 72 Henry Wilson on 73, 81 W. P. Fessenden on 76 Army Prohibition, Rule of Continental Congress 127 Selling to Indians in Early Canadian Colonies 169 Massachusetts act of 1633 169 New Jersey Act of 1679 169 Pennsylvania Act of 1701 169 By Western Penn. Indians in 1783 173 Efforts of Mechecunnaqua 173 Laws of the Cherokees 188 Of the Choctaws 190 Of the Chicasaws 191 Government Treaties 191 Eufaula Convention of 1902 192 By Congress of Selling to Indians 198 Heff Decision 203 For Indian Territory 203 In District of Columbia 214 In Alaska 218 Commission of Inquiry 232 Original Package Controversy 237 New Hebrides Law 240 Wright's Investigations 241 In Government Buildings 241 Brussells Conference 241 Senator Lodge's Resolution 242 PROPHET, THE, (See Ellskwatawa.) PUKEESHENO. Mentioned 180 PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT. Features of 119 RAMRODS. Mentioned 75 RANWELL, JOHN. Action Against Adulteration Ill RAPE. A Doctrine of Personal Liberty 11 RAUM, GREEN B. Recommendation of 102 REED, T. B. Referred to 233 REFORM BUREAU. (See International Reform Bureau.) REVENUE From Liquors 46 270 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT From Liquors Prior to 1826 48 Customs, Chapter on 32 Internal Revenue 54 Stamp Act 55 First Internal Revenue Law 58 Whisky Rebellion 61 From Liquors Prior to 1801 65 From Liquor Prior to 1814 68 Act of 1862 70 Revenue Debates in Congress 73 Act of 1866 76 Effect of War Tax on Prices 82 Frauds on 88 Distilled Spirits 90 Malt or Fermented Liquors 92 Frauds in 93 Bastable on 97 Manipulation of Bonding Periods 101 Statistics of Fortified Wines 106, 107 Industrial Alcohol 115 Regulations as to Druggists .119 As to Two Per Cent Beer 124 RHODE ISLAND. Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 ROBBERY. A Doctrine of Personal Liberty 11 ROBERTS, SAM. Mentioned, Dedication. ROME, ANCIENT. Adulteration of Wines in 109 RUM. (See Spirits.) RUSH. BENJAMIN. Referred to 99 RUSSIA Fortification Laws in 109 Operations of in Alaska 216 RUSSIAN-AMERICAN FUR COMPANY Operations of, In Alaska 216 ST. CLAIR, GEN. Mentioned 173 SCOMP, H. A. Cited ; 155 SCOTT, GEN. WINFIELD. On Army Drink 138 SEMINOLE INDIANS. Temperance Efforts of 190 SENECA CHIEFS. Petition of 186 SENECA STEEL. Mentioned 187 SEWARD, W. H. On Drink 156, 229 SEWELL, THOMAS. Referred to 99 SEYMOUR, HORATIO. On Indians 206 SHAW, LESLIE M. Referred to 115 SHERMAN, JOHN AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 271 Mentioned 44 On Manipulation of Excise Laws S6 SIMPSON, GEO. Report of, on Alaska 216 SIX NATIONS TEMPERANCE LEAGUE. Work of 184 SKY. JOHN. (See Hauanossa.) SLAVERY A Personal Liberty Doctrine 11 Resolution for Compensation for 72 Of Indians in Colonial Times 166 In District of Columbia .* 212 SLOCUMB LAW. Mentioned 236 SMALL CLOUD SPICER. Mentioned 187 SMITH, CAPT. Mentioned 187 SMITH. SAMUEL Letter of Jefferson to 64 Efforts for Indians 178 SNETHEN, WORTHINGTON G. Mentioned 212 SORBONNE. On Prohibition 171 SOUTH CAROLINA Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in .•. . . 65 Bounties on Indian Scalps 166 SPAIN Laws as to Fortified Wines 109 War With 116 SPECIAL TAXPAYERS Discussed 77, 79 Provisions as to Druggists 119 Two Per Cent Beer Dealers 124 Special Taxes not Required of Army Canteens 149 Statistics of * Appendix SPIRIT RATION. (See Army.) SPIRITS Washington Urges Duty on ^. . . 39 Hamilton Quoted on /• • • • 40 Madison Urges Duty on '..... 40 First Tariff on 43 Rates of Duty on 50 Stamp Act Excise on 55 Excise of 1791 58 Whisky Rebellion 60 Licenses for Prior to 1802 65 Prices of. Manipulated by Congress 82 Statistics of, Since 1862 90 Act of 1868 89 2^2 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Whisky Frauds 93 Bonded Warehouses 101 For Fortified Wines 105 Industrial Alcohol 115 Statistics Denatured Alcohol 118 Pure Food and Drug Legislation 119 Troubles of in Continental Army 126 In Later Armies 137 Consumption of Appendix STAMP ACT. Liquor Tax in 55 STATE SOVEREIGNTY Mentioned 14 Fourteenth Amendment and 16, 17 Clashes With Interstate Commerce Laws 22 Right of States to Prohibit Liquor Traffic Sustained 24, 26, 27, 28, 34, 35 Whisky Rebellion 60 Litigation Over Special Taxpayers 77 STERNBERG, GEO. M. Early View of Army Canteen 150 STONE vs. MISSISSIPPI. Case Cited 25, 26 STUART, GILBERT. Mentioned, Frontispiece. SUMNER, CHARLES. On License 8 SUMPTUARY LEGISLATION Proposed in Constitution 14 Defeated in Constitutional Convention 15 SUTLER. (See Army.) SUTTON CASE. Cited 204 SWITZERLAND. Fortified Wines in 108 TALL CHIEF. Mentioned 187 TANEY, ROGER B. On Local Option . 22 On Prohibition . 35 TAYLOR, ZACHARY. Mentioned 227 TAX RECEIPTS. (See Special Taxpayers.) TECUMSEH Mentioned 180, 181 Compact With Gen. Harrison 182 TENNESSEE. Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 TENSKWAUTAWA. (See Ellskwatawa.) THOMAS, EVAN. Mentioned 178 THOMPSON, GEN. Mentioned 161 THURLOW vs. MASSACHUSETTS. Case cited 33 TONICS 119 TREATY OF GREENVILLE. Mentioned 173, 182 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 273 TUSCARORA TEMPERANCE CORNET BAND Career of 184 TURNER BILL. To Prevent Adulteration of Beer 113 TWO PER CENT BEER. Character of 124 TYLER, JOHN. Mentioned 227 UNITED STATES BREWERS' ASSOCIATION On Revenue Taxes 84 Operations in Congress 233, 235, 236, 239 UNITED STATES REVENUE COMMISSION Quoted 85, 87 Recommendation to Congress 89 On Fortified Wines 104 U. S. SUPREME COURT On Interstate Commerce 17 On the Right to Sell Imported Liquors Regardless of State Laws 21 On the Right to Sell Interstate Liquors Regardless of State Laws 22 Taney Decision Upholding Local Option 22 Original Package Decision 23 Sustains Prohibition 24, 26, 34 On Inherent Right to Sell Liquor 25 Bartmeyer vs. Iowa Decision 25 Chief Justice Waite on "Bartering Away Public Health and Morals" 25 Harlan on Right of State to Enact Prohibition 27 Beer Company Case 26 Mugler Case , 26 Ziebold Case 26 Crowley vs. Christensen Case 28 Decision Regarding Treasury Regulations 79 Heff Decision 203 Sutton Decision 204 Results of Original Package Decision 237 VAN BUREN, D. T. Mentioned 141 VAN BUREN. MARTIN. Mentioned 227 VAN WYCK, C. H. Report of, on Internal Revenue 93 VERMONT. Revolutionary Liquor Licenses in 65 VINAGE. Laws of France as to 108 VIRGINIA Early Opposition to Excise in 60 Troops for Whisky Rebellion 62 Revolutioniary Liquor Licenses in 65 Seizing Indians for Slavery * 166 274 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Formation District of Columbia from 212 VIZETELLY. Cited ; 111 WAITE, CHIEF JUSTICE Dissents to Original Package Decision 23 On Prohibition 25 WALDO, ALBIGENCE. Quoted 128 WALKER, SENATOR. Mentioned 228 WARD, COL. Referred to 126 WASHINGTON. (See District of Columbia.) WASHINGTON, GEORGE On Customs Tariff 39 Signs First Act of Congress for Customs Law 43 Order as to Use of Liquor in Army 127 On Scalping Indians 166 Visited by Mechecunnaqua 173 WASHINGTONIAN MOVEMENT. Mentioned 69 WASHINGTON SENTINEL. Quoted 233 WEBSTER. DANIEL Employed to Fight Local Option 22 Defends Liquor Interests in Important Cases 32 On Temperance 35 Opposes Army Spirit Ration . 137 WELLS, DAVID A. On Revenue Frauds 94 On Fortified Wines 104 WELLS, WILLIAM Account of 174 Efforts for Indians 179 WERNER vs. WASHINGTON. Case Cited 214 WESTERN CHEROKEES. (See Cherokee Indians.) WHIPPLE, BISHOP. On Indian Wars 160 WHISKY FRAUDS 93 WHISKY REBELLION Beginning of 60 Outrages of €1 Washington's Proclamation 63 WHISKY RING. Exposure of 94 WICHITA INDIANS. Temperance Efforts of 190 WILEY, H. W. Efforts Against Adulteration 20 WILLIAMS, GEORGE. Mentioned, Dedication. WILSON ACT. Mentioned 24 WILSON, HENRY On Prohibition 73 On License 81 AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 275 WILSON. JAMES. Referred to 115 WILSON LAW. Passage of 237 WINDOM, WILLIAM Refuses to Aid Distillers 102 Mentioned 227 WIPING STICK. Mentioned 187 WINE Original Duty on 43 Rates of Duty on, Under Various Laws 50 Stamp Act Duty on 55 Licenses- Prior to 1802 65 Fortified 104 Consumption of Appendix WIRT, WILLIAM. On Liquor Traffic 213 WOODBURY, JUSTICE. On Prohibition 37 W. C. T. U. Protests Against Revenue 96 Influence in Congress 236, 239 WRIGHT, CARROLL D. Investigation of 241 WRIGHT, JOEL. Mentioned 178 YANCY, THOMAS. Jefferson's Letter to 130 YERKES, JOHN W. On Fortified Wines 105 ZONE DE PROHIBITION. Account of 241 RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS • 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 • 1 -year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF • Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW AUG 1 2 2003 DD20 15M 4-02 /I''— a— * ^43250