Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1919 — OH, MINERVA! HEADACHES THIS WOULD PRODUCE [ARTICLE]

OH, MINERVA! HEADACHES THIS WOULD PRODUCE

177,000 gallons of whiskey—count ’em—each and every one carrying a dozen headaches —are lying in the government warehouses at Hammond. And while a flock of government agents arebovering about it, night and day, representing all of the taxing organism in the country are burning the proverbial midnight oil, seeking a solution to the problem it .presents. It would appear the government has out-taxed itself. The problem is this: The whiskey was distilled by the Hammond Distilling company, one of the largest in the middle west, prior to the series of blows recently sustained by John Barleycorn. . The company met the first tax of $2.20 per gallon. Then it sold the whiskey to the various saloonkeepers throughout the country at thirty cents per gallon plus the $3.20 tax. The wet goods were stored in the warehouse, pending delivery, but before this could be affected the dry legislation was enacted and another tax of $3.20 imposed. The dry legislation caused many of the purchasers to go out of business. Others facing the July 1 closing order, as well as the additional tax, failed to ask delivery. Thus the liquor remained in bond and was found there some time ago by Lake county assessors. They promptly pounced upon the company for an assessment. They figured out the tidy sum of nearly $1,000,000, as the valuation of the wet goods, upon the bapis of $6.70 per gallon. But the company showed it had received only 30 cents a gallon of the sales and further, that it no longer owned the liquor. The county applied for abjudication of the matter to the state board of tax assessors commissions. This body Tuesday summoned Arthur Wise, treasurer of the company and Jesse E. Wilson, its attorney. After much argument the commission decided the tax should be levied upon the purchasers of the liquor. But in order to determine their sales receipts were necessary. And these, company officials declare, are lost. Hence, 177,000 gallons of whiskey, valued at $6.70 per gallon, is waiting in the government warehouse while officials figure out who shall be taxed Federal authorities have prohibited its removal qntil the additional tax has been paid.