Today -100: January 25, 1920: Of medicinal whisky, destroying the state in open combat, and armistices

As influenza spreads in New York and elsewhere, Assistant Supervising Federal Prohibition Agent James Shevlin says that “most druggists have little desire to handle whisky because of the legal restrictions, but that an appeal was being made to them on the ground that they were in duty bound, as purveyors of medicine, to carry a stock of liquor.” (I asked my GP about this a couple of weeks ago. He seemed to think using whisky to treat flu and pneumonia is a bad idea.)

Secretary of Labor William Wilson decides that membership by aliens in the Communist Party is a sufficient ground, all by itself, for deportation, because the Party is “seeking to destroy the State in open combat.”

The Allies (not including the US) are trying to resume commercial relations with the Soviet Union without actually recognizing the Soviet Union by dealing directly with Russian cooperatives. But Russia says that unless there is a military armistice first, it will sink any ships arriving at Russian ports.

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