The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-05-05
The State Agency.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE COW
MITTEE.
A Small Portion of the Liquors Refused
but NO Reflections Cast Upon MIR.
Chase.

The committee of the Executive CouLci,
consisting of Messrs. Monroe of Thomaston,
Chase of Portland, Brown of Fairfield and
Fogg of Lewiston, who were appointed to ex-
anime the State Liquor Agency, were in ses-
sion at the Falmouth Hotel Friday and Satur-
day. and on Saturday Grew up the following
official report, which will be Submitted:
The committee of the Council to whom was
referred the Investigation of the present condi-
ton and quality of the liquors in the Stat,
Agency, visited Portland on the 21st day of
April, and proceeded at once to discharge the
duty assigned them. They visited the Agency
and began The Investigation as best they could
They found it dificnlt to determine the quality
of the liquors BY any invoice or analysis provi-
eusy made. There were in the agency large
amount of various kinds of liquors estimated BY
theAgent to be of the value of $I2, 600. In
order to arrive at correc. conclusions the COM
mittee found IL necessary to Call in the aid of
practical and scientific men. They engaged
practical liquor dealer from Boston, who ade
several tests. They also caused samples of q
greater portion Of tho liquors to be analysed by
two state assayists, ana the COMMITTEE were
pleased to learn that the three gentlemen thus
employed as experts came substan tally to The
same conclusion in regard to the quality of the
various liquors subjected to their examination
and analysis. The committee awaiting them;
determined that there was in the agency
quantity Of whiskey amounting to about IA
barrels and quantity of brandy amounting 10
about barrels, which would not stand the
test, and the committee were of the opinion that
said liquors not being such as the law COR
templated should be kept for sale, should not
be taken by Mr. Bgelow, the newly appointed
agent. In addition to the foregoing named
impure liquors the committee found in the
agency barrels Of liquor called M. rum which
they DID not feel safe In passing upon, as the
report of one of the assaylsts indicated its bad
character. They therefore determined that
said NJ. rum should be subjected to a further
and more specific analysis by competent assay
lists to be selected by Messrs. Chase and Bige-
low, and that said rum should be accepted or
rejected according to the results of said analy-
sis. The committee at their first visit were in-
formed by ire State Agent that the aforesaid
whiskey had not been sssayed and he could
not vOuch for It's purity.
The committee as the result of their obser-
walton and experience this examin alton have
come TO the CONCLUSION that it is lot safe for
the State agent to buy on sstamp goods, for
one stamp liquors are rectifed liquors which
have been mote or less tampei ed with, and
liable to coDtain poison which units them for
medical or mechanical purposes. There is SO
much fraud 10 liquors that neither the State
Agent, nor the Town AGENT, nor the people
are able 10 determine whether they are pure or
not In order d BE- safe the liquors should
have both the stamps of the manufacturer and
the government upon the cask before any
reliance Can be placed upon them and even
then there is great chance for deception, and
the liquors should /, bought of the most
reliable houses in the country. The tact that
liquors are imported goods is lot necessarily a
guaranty of their purify. The brandy rejected
by the committee was imported and taken
directly from the bonded warehouse by Mr..
Chase. The committee are OF the opinion that
the Legisla' ure should take the snbject into
consideration aud see If some means cannot be
adopted to iusore 10 the people pure article
which may be safely used for medical and
mechanical purposes
(Signeo1 Ell 81. MONROE, chairman.