New Orleans Republican., 1877-05-19

There is only one solution of the COM
mercial contradiction that has been fur
nished by the market quotations in the
large cities OF this country. Fraud has
been written on every line of the Cincin-
natl and Louisville whisky market re-
ports for the past year. There is q story
IN circulation here, which your cores
pondent will no doubt verify from the in-
ternal revenue records tomorrow, that the
distillers of Ohio and Kentucky never
change their customers, and sell their
wines to local rectifyers, who by some
means are enabled to make good the ap-
parent loss. This deviltry can be carried
on in several ways well known to the Sc
cret service here.
Among the various means for fraud in
this business, the following are the most
likely to be adopted: The package can be
SO constructed that the instrument in-
dicates about three gallons less that the
barrel really contains. Another way is,
the barrel may be marked to hEVe from
two to five gallons 'wantsge, when the
gauger allows it to be filed full. 1t is
l said here that the rich distillers of Ohio
and Kentucky hold large quantities of
whisky to give it ''age." This is sold at.
| q better prioe; but it is well known that
large shrinkage, leakage, soakage and
Evaporation take place. These goods are
yaauged when made, but not afterward.
an enterprising distiller, with an acsom-
modating gauger can I'LL the barrels full
at the end of year or six months, and
thereby make the government lose the
shrinkaee, and the distiller profit by the
aaaging" when sold
The distillers Of Illinois sold for export
| IL. L. % - nm mn
gallons of alcohol. This is not required
to nav tax, but is sent forward in bond
from Illinois to New York in care of the
collector of customs. When he reports
the goods shipped to Europe the bond is
released. These goods must be sent di-
rectly. under permit from the bonded
warehouse of the distllery to the collec-
tor, SO that neither the distiller nor any
intermediate person can have any advsn-
tape from liberal gauge. They are sold
and bought on the gauge of the govern
mept gauger at the distillery. These
goods are in brisk demand, and can be
sold in very large lots. They are usually
1888 degree proof, or nearly two gallons
hiphwines in one gallon of alcohol. The
price paid is nearly always double the
rrice of highwines, dedueting the govern
fnept tax of ninety cents per proof gallon.
The Illinois distillers have sold them in
lots of from 500 to 1000 barrels at thirty
seven cents per gallon in the Western
market, five cents being added for freight
to New York, thus making the price forty
two cents in New York. 1t will thereby
be clearly seen that the Western distiller
gets nineteen to twenty cents per proof
gallon for his product at home. This
brings the price of highwines, when the
tax is added, 81 09 to 81 10 per gallon in
the market Of Illinois.
Cincinnati and Louisville are 300 miles
nearer New York, and freight about one
third less At no time during the past
year have the enterprising distillers OF
Ohio or Kentucky seen it to their advan-
tage to compete for this large export
trade, and secure this fair price for their
goods in a legitimate way, but have pre-
ferred to continue selling their product al
ST 04 and 81 OF IN their own markets,
when they have the advantage of freights
on their side; and, further, they have not
only found it profitable TO sell their goods
at this apparent loss of from three to six
cents per gallon, but it appears doubly
strange that they continue this apparently
ruinous business, when the fact is remem.
bered that the corn out of which these
very goods is made costs them from foul
to six cents per bushel more than any.
where in Illinois. Cincinnati is reported
from the internal revenue Office here as
exporting no alcohol.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue
to-day, when asked for an explanation as
to the reasons why distilled spirits should
sell in the highwines market in Cincin.
natl for four cents less gallon than in
Chicago, was utterly at loss to explain.
The head of the spirit division, relating
to distilled spirits, seemed anxious to de-
velop any fraud that might exist or be
supposed to exist in Cincinnati; but he
believed the two collectors there were hon.
orable men. He approved every effort
that could be made to show fraud, and
said the department would stand by the
ENQUIRER in it's endeavor to break up the
whisky combination if it exists. He took
the ground in regard to weighing spirits
which he thought would be an effectual
method of preventing fraud-that the
statutes, in using the word weigh" had
reference to hydrometers, saccharometers
and other Rauging instruments, rather
than Fairbanks scale; but he was will
ing to adopt the scale principle, though il
was not decided in the Office whether il
was legal or not to change the gaugers,
/ remove all the officers, or do anything
that would explain the serious discrepan'
cies.
4 The officers Of the revenue bureau, in
response TO request for the amount oi
, distilled spirits exported from the citieE
Of Cincinnati and Chicago respectively,
say that the expectations from the former
place are next TO nothing, while from the
latter they were over one million gallons
} of alcohol this year mp to the first Of
} April, and have been very much large
since. 1t was deemed strange that while
there is more money in the export trade
J than in selling spirits at home, all ex
J portations should be from Illinois and
J none from Ohio. Commissioner Raun
! said that the distillers in Cincinnati &C
! count for it by the statement that the!
! dispose Of their stock on the spot, q
! once, through which they claimed th'
> benefits of liberal gauge, and, perhaps
: took advantage of filling their barrels at
high temperature, and having then
/ gauged at low temperature, or through
8 some other means be could not under
Q stand As for the export goods, it ha
9 been urged at the Treasury Department
that where a hundred barrels are export
) ed no tax Is peid, and the entire expens
4 Of the Transaction " ould be about SEQ
r to the purchaser, while the tax aion
8 would be about S7200. To drop thi
D amount Of capital would enable the dis
. tiller to DO more work in his line; and
I Is regarded here as strange that ther
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