National Affairs: Wet Poison

The New York State Legislature this year refused to pass a prohibition enforcement act. Last week it did, however, enact a law to protect its citizens from the ravages of wood (methyl) alcohol. A ‘legger selling this poison as a beverage will go to jail for one year the first time, for two to five years thereafter. Now to stay within the State law, New York ‘leggers must deal strictly in the kind of alcohol (ethyl) prohibited by the U. S.

When first introduced, the measure made felonious the sale of beverages containing “wood alcohol or other poisonous substance.” Realizing that the U. S. Drys, Consolidated, would soon seek to establish that all alcohol was a “poisonous substance,” the Wets quickly changed the bill to specify wood alcohol.