THE STATES: Events

Indiana’s Attorney General, Arthur L. Gilliom, last week reiterated some specific cases to show why he is fighting for a state law allowing physicians to prescribe whiskey for medicinal purposes.

Case No. 1: “When three of my sons were at Death’s door and our physician prescribed a pint of medicinal whiskey, I did what my father would do: I broke the law; I went out and obtained the liquor.”

Case No. 2: “Governor Ed Jackson did the same thing when his wife was dangerously ill.”

New York’s Governor, Alfred Emanuel Smith, issued the state’s financial statement for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927. It showed a surplus of $13,965,345 in the state treasury. Governor Smith mentioned that the cost of government in New York has risen $135,961,870 since 1917. Said he: “I am ready at all times and at all places to defend the policy of my Administrations in the handling of the state’s business.” Manhattan newspapers headlined his report in characteristic fashion: The Democratic World: SMITH ANSWERS G. 0. P. CHARGE OF EXTRAVAGANCE”EX Democratic Times : GOV. SMITH SHOWS STATE HAS $13,965,345 SURPLUS; FOES PREDICTED DEFICIT. The Republican Herald Tribune: RUNNING COST OF STATE THIS YEAR TO RISE $30,-000,000.

Illinois has been able to build some of the finest concrete highways in the nationwithout the aid of a gasoline tax. But now, what will she be able to do with the added wealth of the two-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax which went into effect on Aug. 1 ? Will she have electric-lighted boulevards through the prairies? Will she have marble bridges? Unfortunately, she lost a little of her potential revenue when some 85% of her automobile owners drove to gasoline stations on the day before the tax began, and shouted: “Fill ‘er up!” In Illinois the average retail price of gasoline has been 18c, including tax.—

—Massachusetts and New York are the only states which do not now have a gasoline tax.