Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-06-06
ADULTERArIoN OF LIouORs

Eminent chemists assert that nine
tenths, at least, of all liquors consumed
IN the United States are more or less
drugged. To say that half of all that
pretendS to come across the Atlantic is
wholly manufactured on this side of it.,
would be to fall short of the truth.
There are numbers who live and thrive
by such nefallous trade. Long practice
IN the use of sugar of lead, cap;ncum,
acids, aloes, juniper berries, ver,ligris,
logwood, &C., &C., in varying and nicely
graduated proportions, has enabled them
II bring the art to degree of perfection
that seems almost fabulous. Cheap Mon
Ongahela whiskey, bought into their
vaults by the hogshead, comes out bot
tied and ready for sale, as Madeira, Cog
nae, Champagne, Pale Brandy, Cream
of the Valley, and Old Port. In these
the color, favor and smell of the origi-
nails will be so closely initiated that ex-
perlenced taste is deceived by them. So
complete and minute are their operations
that not only are foreign brands forged,
and the shape of bottles, the devices of
seals and corks initiated, but even artifi-
cial dust and cobwebs are fabricated to
give them an air of respectable antiquity.
at other proof of this were needed, be-
sides the results of chemical analysis, it
might be found in the facts that more
Port is drank IN the United States in one
year than passes through the Custom
House in ten; that more Champagne is
consumed IN America alone than the
whole Champagne district produces; that
Cognac Brandy costs four times as much
IN France where it is made, as it is sold
for IN our coIner groggeries; and that the
failure ofthe whole grape-crop in Madeira
produced no apparent diminution in the
quantity, nor at all corresponding in
crease IN the price of the wine.
1t is these compounds that madden
and destroy such multitudes in our towns
and cities. In wine-growing countries,
where wine IS cheap and plentiful, and
It's use almost universal, there are none
of these horrors of intemperance that
shock and alarm us here. France, Italy,
Spain suffer no more from the free use Of
their wines, than we do from our Cider,
or Sparkling Catawba."
Ii none but pure liquor was permitted
to he sold, its price would instantly be-
c0ne so great as to put it beyond the
reach OF those who now fall victims to
= red-cye" and '' rot-gut." Genuine
Brandy, Gin and Rum are the most costly
of all termented drinks, instead of being
as we are accustomed to think, the cheap.
est. To say nothing of the cost of trans
portatiOn, they cannot be bought Oh the
spot where they are made at anything
like the rates they are sold at in our
drinking saloons. Brands that at whole
sale bring So bottle, are sold at retail
lor & three cents glass ~
\ law providing for the prohibition and
punishment Of these authorizations, could
De faithfully carried into effect, for all
parties would have common interest in
aus enforcement. 1t could be resisted by
lew Tor no man wants to drink these
pOisonS, and no dealer would acknowl-
edge that he sold them. Temnerance
men would gain their end Of dr;v;no
these beverages out Of use, and all re
spectacle liquor merchants would nrof;,
by the rise in prices. Constitution. 81
rights would not be more infriuged tban
by the detection and punishment of anv
other fraud and no property would lie
destroyed, except the liquid poisons and
the implements of their manufacture
Alb. Journal.