Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-19
NATURAL MINERAL WATERS
An Interesting Question as to Their CLASH
y fcation Settled by the Treasury.
The Addition Simply of Carbonic Acid
Gas Does Not Affect Their
Free Importation.

Acting Secretary Wike of the treasury
has settled en- Interesting question in re-
gard to the classification Of natural min
eral waters The United States consul at
Cologne recently reported that the owner
of a natural mineral spring, in submitting
an invoice for verification, refused to de-
clare that the mineral water covered by the
invoice was a natural production Of said
spring, and had not been subjected to any
change or process Of manufacture, for the
reason that the carbonic acid gas which
the water contained was not entirely the
production of the spring, but was natural
carbonfc acid gas purchased by him and
added to the water. He also informed the
consul that the water from his spring was
put up in the same manner as that from
other springs shipped to the United States
and that If the owners of those springs de-
cIared to such certificate he could do the
same.
The ApoIlinaris Question.
The question of whether the integrity of
the water of a mineral spring Is destroyed,
go far as relates to its being a natural min
eral water, by the addition of carbonic acid
gas, was thoroughly considered by the
Treasury Department several years ago, in
regard to the bottled waters of the apolli-
naris spring. At that time the collector Of
customs at New York assessed duty upon
apollinaris water as an artificial mineral
water, giving as his reason therefor that
the water which reached this country was
not the same as the water produced by the
spring, because 1t had undergone certain
manipulations, such as the addition Of salt
and carbonic acid gas. The question was
such an important one that the department
sent an agent to the springs in Germany
to investigate it. He observed the pro-
cesses employed in preparing the water for
shipping to the United States and report
cd he rt of
carbonic acid gas into the bottles was SIM
ply the restoration Of the identical gas
which escaped from the water as It was
taken from the spring, and that only an in
finitesmal quantity Of salt was added as a
measure of protection to the water. Based
on this report, the department made de-
cision authorizing the free entry Of apolli-
naris as a mineral spring water, and de-
claring general principle that where
the identity Of subject is not lost by the
process 1t has undergone it does not cease
to be the original article.
The Acting secretnry's View.
In letter to the Secretary of State on
this subject few days ago Acting Secre-
tary Wike says: Paragraph 555 Of the
present tariff act provides for the free en-
try of mineral waters, all not artificial
Paragraph 243 provides for duty Of TWEEN
ty per cent upon all limitations Of mineral
water and all artificial mineral waters
cations is not clear. the latter term being
probably intended to comprise such arti-
fetal waters as are not limitations of
natural waters. A combination of the
products of two mineral springs would not
result in an artificial water nor would the
addition of 4 small quantity Of gas OBJ
tained from an adjoining spring change Its
status as a natural mineral water. There
seems to be no reason therefore why the
proprietor of spring should hesitate to
| take the required oath, provided the water
referred to therein is the genuine product
Of mineral spring, and has undergone no
further change or manipulation than is
above described"
The acting secretary says he approves the
suggestion Of the consul at Cologne, that
owners of springs be required to swear be-
fore some German official authorized to adj
minister oaths to the correctness of the
certificates Of natural mineral waters, and
that the certificates afterward be verified
by the consular officer He requests the
Secretary of State to issue Instructions to
carry into effect the consuPs suggestion.