Canada at War: WARTIME LIVING: The Great Parch

¶ Two were dead in Ottawa, three in Toronto, three in Halifax, one in Vancouver, from drinking industrial alcohol, shaving lotions, hair tonics, paint removers.

¶ Winnipeg police said that 95% of all flavoring extracts (vanilla, etc.) sold in some stores was bought to flavor stomachs, not cakes and candies.

¶ In many places bootlegging was rife, doctors' prescriptions for medicinal alcohol up sharply.

¶ All over the Dominion, thirsty Canadians found liquor-store shelves bare, bootleggers' prices sky-high (in some instances, $15 for a fifth of Scotch). Result: a demand for substitutes....

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