The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-26
FRENCH WINE TRADE.
STATEMENT MADE BY THE DE-
PARTMENT OF STATE.
Nice Little Row Raised Because of
the Allegation Made That Much
Alleged French Wine is Not Wine
at All.

! Washington, April 25-The promised
statement from the department of state
touching the report on the French wine
trade by United States Consul Chancellor
at Havre. has been completed and will
appear in the May number of the a d
I States Consular Reports The dep. vent
briefly recalls the fact that Mr. tn
! ceiior, IN his report of July "a. 1895. al
] legged that much of the French wine w 5
not the product of the vineyard. and that
] l5,oCo casks of so-cailed wine had been
4 destroyed by the Paris municipal
He had also alleged thar the great
deficit in the wine crop caused by the
philloxora had been made up from a fluid
made of ra-sins, currants. lees and such
materials
IL IS stated that NJ Hanotaux last De-
cember, called the attention of our am
bassador 20 Paris TO the fact that the
bordeaux chamber of commerce had pro-
tested against the statements of the con-
sui and that the official investigation
had called forth a denial from the mu-
nicipal laboratory that il had destroyed
any such quantity of wine. The state
ments were referred back to Mr. Chan
cellor. who replied that he had obtained
his information as to the destruction of
the 1900 casks of wine from a reliable
English journal, but the name of the
journal he was unable to recall While
in Paris in 1881. under commission from
the governor of Maryland he had
investigated the wine sheds and was there
told that a large number of casks would
be destroyed. and that this action was
not unusual In support of a statement
that large quantities of sugar was used
in the preparation of wines from lees, Mr..
Chancellor referred to debates in the
chamber, in the course of which NJ.
Vulcan had protested against the prohibit
ton of the manufacture of this kind of
wine on the ground that il caused the
consumption of no less than 100000 tons
of sugar yearly.
Having thus laid down the case and
Mr. ChancellorS defense of his state
ments. the state department prints the
following statement made by the French
embassy here under date of March last:
The attention of the French wine
merchants has been called to a report
entitled Wine Making in France. pub
lished in the consular report No. $50. Sep
TENDER. 1898, by c. W. Chancellor, United
States consul at Havre. France, and con-
tanning some Incorrect statements which
might cause prejudice to French COM
me-ce and which it seems desirable TO
rectify.
'First-Mr. Chancellor. having probably
in mind the decrease of wine production
from which France suffered during a
long period. says that large quantities of
wine contain no grape juice. Statistical
information shows that over 1900. 600 acres
of vineyards were partially infected by
the plague during the last 20 years. 1000
900 of which were already replanted up
TO 1895. On the other hand. the production
OF wine has. been in the last two years
exceptionally abundant
'Second-Mr. Chancellor. referring to
information published in an English
journal and reproduced in American pa
pers. added that the French government
recently destroyed 5000 casks of adulter-
ated wines.
From an official inquiry. it appears
that there is no record at the municipal
laboratory of Paris of such destruction.
The occasional seizure and destruction
of small quantities of adulterated wines
is rather to the honor of the French gov
eminent which thus protects the health
of its citizens. Measures have besides.
been taken for the purpose of prohibiting
over alcoholization of wines and the adj
dition thereto of water or of any element
whatever of adulteration.
1T may be added that according to
medical inquiries made by highly COM
petent authority. a moderate consump-
ton of French wine is beneficial to pub
lie health. The official statistics in this
regard are worthy of attention; they
show that drunkenness is less frequent in
regions. Out of 100 cases
of public drunkenness, punishable by the
law of 1873, % cases were recorded in the
northwest of France and "a in the north.
where spirits are mostly consumed, while
9 cases were recorded in the center. in
the southwest and only in the south, |
where the use of wine among the labor
ing classes is general"