| OCR Text |
Show ALCOHOL LEAKS HIT HYGOVEHNOR GOVERNOR TELLS SECRETARY OF GROSS VIOLATION UNDER PRESENT PERMIT SYSTEM Aloohol Makers Are Worse That? ' Breweries He Declares; Asks For Conference On Prohibition Subject Harrisburg, Pa. Asking that action be taken to "end gross violation" of the law by holders of federal alcohol alco-hol permits, Governor Pinchot in a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Mellon has suggested a personal conference con-ference with the secretary on the question of prohibition enforcement. The governor's letters, written after af-ter conferences here with state police heads, prohibition enforcement agents and Major William G. Murdock, Philadelphia, Phil-adelphia, of the federal enforcement administration, was in reply to Secretary Secre-tary Mellon's promise in a letter dated dat-ed November 4 of close co-operation with the Pennsylvania state authorities authori-ties in the control of breweries. After thanking the secretary for his assurances that federal permits would be withheld from breweries that have been operating unlawfully Governor Pinchot declared that the violation of the law in the denatured alcohol field had been more vicious and far more important than the breweries. He asked that action be taken to put a stop to these "gross violations," and offered the assistance of the state police in doing so. The governor said he was prepared to offer the details of more than a hundred hun-dred such violations. He said illegal diversions of alcohol was possible "mainly because government regulations regula-tions allow the distilleries to ship their products to a denaturing plant at a distance." "It Is not necessary," said the gov- ' ernor'a letter, "to discuss mistaken statements in your letter further than to point out the present regulations do not forbid putting strong beer into j racking machines; that no permit I can trace has ever been revoked in Pennsylvania for putting strong beer j mto racking machines, barrels or bottles, and that the state police have not actually been given the right to Inspect breweries at any time, as your : letter assures me they have. Several days after the date of it they were : refused admission to a number of per- j mit holding breweries. I assume this i will be corrected at once." I Citing a number of specific cases ! In which he declared that violation of federal alcohol permits were made possible, Governor Pinchot's letter said : "The final decision as to these permits per-mits was not made in Philadelphia but in Washington. It is obvious that men in Washington who are responsible respon-sible for granting or restoring permits per-mits under such conditions have no proper place in the government service." |
