Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-03-11

Ns , vital elixir F., but s. with til, til;
drink. 1t is the chemical division OF the
internal revenue bureau. and one of the matters
1t has in charge is the detection Of fraud in the
sale Of oleomargarine Tor butter.
1t seems startling to learn that the consump-
ton Of oleomargarine in this country has
doubled in the last five years. The people of
the United States eat 100000 pounds of it
every month or "a 900 tons annually Nearly
all OF 1t Is put up by the great meat packers in
Chicago. Cincinnati, New York, Providence and
Kansas City. The manufacture of it is law faI
but il is not permitted 10 masquerade rs butter
In the market. Suspected SAM lea are bounced
upon by revenue agents and submitted to
chemical test.
Many hotels and restaurants and boarding
houses IN tho United States use oleomarcarine
FOR their purposes this artificial product is ex-
ceLontly adapted Whereas butter quickly
spots oIeomargarine always looks rice and re-
mains fresh indefinitely. Some of it which has
been kept at he treasury for three years is as
goodascver today. Tits better in flavor than any
except hrst-rate butter. People who buy rancid
butter for cooking would DO much better to
purchase oleomarSarine. The best of the latter
IS not cheap, Costing much as % cents a
pound. thus api reaching ordinary grades Of
butter in prIce.
HOW oLFoMARGARINE rs MADE
The peculiar favor of butter is due TO the
presence of As per cent of fatty acids. These
acids are volatile and ral idly decomp pose. hence
the rapidly with which the substance spoi,s
Oeorlargarine contains very little Of such
destruc;ible material 1t is made from beef
fat, which Is removed from he animal in tho
process of slsughtering. washed and placed in a
coid-water bath. Next, the fat is cut into small
pieces by mac Line and cooked until the LIQUID
portion has separated from the tissues. The
liquid fit il settled until perfectly clear Then
1t Ii pressed to extract the stearine leaving
pnre "oeo oil, which, churned together with
milk and butter, becomes olcumargarine The
lat. beng almost tastelcss. batter is put in TO
give the requisite favor. the besr oleomargsrine
having 70 per cent of the finest butter.
ANALYzING $50 T DRINKS"
Another part OF the work OF the treasury
chemists consists in analyzing so-called TEN
perauco' beverages to find ont whether they
are alcoholic and taxable az such. Especially
In parts OF the country where prohibition il en-
forced the manufacture OF beer for sale under
such innocent names as .'hop pop" is common
Many OF the drinks aud ''meiiciues' advertieed
rs strictly non-alcoholic in reality highly
Intoxicating. People who are Giling find them
very comforting" and even well persons re-
gard 1t as expcdient to buy their liquor in such
disSulses. An investigation of this subject in
sHtuted a few years ago revealed The fact that
nearly all beverages thus labeled contain alec
ho. some OF them running up to 40 Der cent
Whisky at proof Is only so per ccnt alcohol
Good Jamaica ginger IL mostly brandy. the
government Will not permit it to be sold as q
drink without paying tax.
The Mckinley law permits makers of sweet
wines, such AZ sherry and port. 10 lorlIfy them
with grape brandy up to limit OF - per cent
of alcohol. in order to keep them from souring
Samples are tested at the treasury to make
sure that they do not exceed this
SPIRITS IN BOND.
1t is a remarkable thing to consider, by the
way, that there is a sufficient quantity of
spirituous liquors now in the custody OF Uncle
Sam 10 intoxicate every human being on the
face of tho earth. There are ut preSen, no.
O0J 900 gallons OF all kinds Of spirits locked I'D
by the government in warehouses. Every
distiler il Obliged by law 10 have warehouse
barred and 10 ked. in which the whole OF his
product In barrels must be stored, under the
charge Of United States storekeerer The
locks and seals put on the warehouse are pro-
Vided by the government, to which the dstiier
gives bond that he will remove the liquor and
pay the tax on Ii before 'he expiration of threo
years. This is what is meant by Spirits in
bond"
PROOF AND ABOVE PROOF.
The tax on whisky and other spirits is ninety
cents gallon. II below proof. II paws Just az
II ~cO'O bi oSi IL ptNs ucrc proper
ton. Proof il fifty per cent alcohol The alco-
hol of commerce is about 1873 per cent of proof.
High wines arc about $50 per cent. They are
coarre spirits produced from grain by strong
fermentation and dis;illiag. Bv making the
process rapid, with plenty OF Yeast for the fer
msnt' Tour or hve gallons can be got out of one
bushcl of corn Good whiskv, however is not
made in that way. Only small amount of
yeast IL put with The grain to ferment it, and
the result is n slow di tiila ton which ONLY OBJ
tains about two and half gallons from bushel
Of corn. High wines are used for comround-
ing; that Is. the Manufacture of beverages ar
tificiallv b. utilizing hem a a base aud adding
various fiavoring ss,nces, &c. Obviously Ibis
Is much cheaper way TO produce liquors than
the compare lively waste?ul me hod of slow dis
tii.ation. Most Of Tie bourbon and rye whisky
that one drinks is produced in this fashion,
ARTIFICIAL LIoUoRs.
However. high wines contain much fusel oil
and other objectionable crudities and for this
reason compounders usually employ them in q
modified shape known ''coIogne spirits"
The latter are made by passing the high wines
through charcoal and by o.her refining pro-
cesses. Cologne spirits are neutral in flavor
being practically ta-,eless and TINS they readily
absorb whatever havors NAV be introduced
Brandy is manufactured from them b. mixing
percentage of real brandy with them Ii
they are to be converted into whisky judi
cious proportion of the finest bourbon NAV be
added. SO extensive is this industry of making
artificial liquors that nearly onehnlf of the pro-
ductiou OF spirits in this country is in the shspe
OF high wines aud cologne spirits. Dishonest
dis,lllers swindle Uncle Sam out of an euor-
nous amount Of money annually by producing
more liquor than they acknowledge, selling it
surreptitiously. Sometimes n email warehouse
is reported destroyed by fire and investigation
proves that the spirits have been previously
spirited away. When q warehouse is robbed by
its owner or by thieves the government locks
and seals rarely disturbed more conn
mon method is TO remove the contents by bur
rowing beneath.
THE LEGITIMATE PRODUCTION
This country produces about lit 900 900 eal-
Ions Of spirits annually. The output of moon
shine" stills is not included. Revenue agents
destroy 700 such stills on On average every
year. During the Ave years from 1877 TO 1881
they wiped out 5000 illicit stills. If it be
reckoned that each Of these stills turned out
five gallons day, it will be seen that the loss
Of reysuue TO the government WAS very great
In three consecutive wears twenty-five agents
were killed and forty-niue wounded in eucoupt-
era with moonshiners. 1t costs Uncle Sam
$500, 900 year 70 ferret out unlawful distillars
In the mountain regions of the South alone.
CIGARS IN BoxEs
Within the last few days the internal revenue
officers have seized large number of boxes Of
very Ane cigars, each containing eiahty-four
luscious "weeds' It was simply ON account of
| h. vhi r.. III ~. A.