THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
1«гг*.1 м
miiur, June 1. 1933. *i (he I'o.ioffic. »i lUlilch. Norih
Caroline, under «lie Act of March 3. 1H79.
Vol. XI. No. 34
January 22, 1944 Kg
Moonshining:
Back Again!
.Hr. Sprinkle* lias uuoarllied sonic*
inlt*rc*sfing statistics relative* to
the* increase in illicit distilling
throughout North Carolina anel
otlic*r states in this district.
By KAIJMI SPIt INKLE
MOOXSHIXI.V am I what it
used to be; say back in 1011
and early 42; but North Car¬
olina’s corn likkor business is defi¬
nitely picking up. And. what’s more,
it's likely to keep picking up from
here on out.
According to authoritative sources,
namely the Alcohol Tax
Г
nit agents
of the Bureau of Internal Revenue,
the trend toward increased white
lightnin’ production can be ascribed
to three things :
1. The high tax on legal
whiskey with attendant high
retail price.
2. The growing scarcity of
legal fire-water.
3. The attractive prices illegal
stuff is bringing— $17 a gallon
and up.
In the first six months of the fiscal
year hack in the lush days of *41.
*t ill seizures in the Tar Heel Stale
ran something like this: July, 100;
August, 93; September, 155; October,
100; November, 102; and in Pearl
Hurbor month. 140. The total for the
lo.t half of 1941 was
«90
stills.
Then came 1942, and rationing—
of sugar, tires, gasoline and the like
(not all ingredients, necessarily, of
moonshine; but anyway, came the ra¬
tioning). The box score of 1942 -till
seizures, bv months, ran like this:
1942
January
February
A! aii'h
April
June "I
July
August
September
October ....
November
December
Stills
132
... 125
. S3
124
«9
«2
78
70
53
43
.... 23
«0
It will be noted that the ’42 still
seizures started off strong, declined
sharply in .May and fell to a record
low of 23 stills seized in Novem¬
ber, reviving somewhat in Deeemlier.
Seizures in the first half of 1912.
amounting to 595, compared favor¬
ably with the total of
«90
seized iu
the last half of ’41. But the last six
months of '42 figured out at a meager
327 .till..
Recent Increase
Seizures in 1943 started out quietly
in the 50’s and «0’s hut since about
July the moonshiners have been com¬
ing out of the doldrums three step- at
a time and falling hack only one,
instead of vice versa. In December,
no less, according to the report ju.t
released by T. Edward Patton in
Charlotte, North Carolina ATI' In¬
vestigator iu Charge, moonshiner,
took the rap to the time of 98 still-,
which is getting hack to something
like old times.
Specifically, the 1943 take in still*,
by months, was as follows:
1943 Stills
January . 53
February 63
Mar. I, 61
April . 70
May 53
June .
«4
July . 79
Anguit . 57
September 91
October si
November . 59
Deeemlier ..._ . 97
A month’s haul by the
АТГ
agent.
( I'unlinut'tl on
/н
uje ht'cnly-six)
THE COVER PICTURE
Four beauties and the devil.
The “devil’s head,” as it is
better known, is a peculiar rock
formation in western North
Carolina. It is visited annually
by many hundreds of tourists;
or rather it was before gasoline
and tire rationing went into
effect. Photograph by Depart¬
ment of Conservation and De¬
velopment.
t
