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The Year book of the United States Brewers' Association
The Year book of the United States Brewers' Association Author:United States Brewers' Association Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LIQUOR SMUGGLING Vast Floods of Contraband Pour Into the Country Along the Seaboard and Canadian and Mexican Boundaries —The "Mystery Ships." The sub... more »ject of liquor smuggling into the United States has received much attention from the press since National Prohibition came into force. Scarcely had the ostensibly "dry" era begun, ere it became apparent that the prohibited beverages were flowing in ever increasing streams into the country from many points on the Mexican and Canadian borders, and from many harbors on our long coast line. As time elapsed it became evident that a vast "and organized traffic in smuggled liquors had developed. A special investigation of conditions at Detroit, selected as a typical smugglers' entrepot, was made by John Anderson Palmer, who published his findings in a striking article in "Leslie's Weekly" (Nov. 27, 1920). Mr. Palmer devotes a considerable part of his article to a description of the organization and operation of the smugglers as follows: The business of rum-running, as it is called along the Detroit River section of the border, is not haphazard. It is organized just as other big business is organized. There is no actual trust, as far as can be learned, but there is a sort of a loosely knit organization, or at least a "gentleman's agreement" as to price and deliveries. Landing places on both sids of the river are apportioned, and when prices fluctuate, the offerings are the same all along the twenty miles of waterfront. There are men who furnish the large capital necessary—brokers, who do not touch the actual goods; wholesalers, retailers, field men, scouts, guards, carriers, drivers and navigators. Equipment consists of motor trucks and motor boats, fast touring cars, warehouses, arms and ammunition. Operations are guided by...« less