The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-04-26
DEFENDING THE WINES.
M. Hanotaux Answers an American
Consul's Statements.
FRENCH WINE NOT ADULTERATED

MIR. chancellor, our Consul at Havre,
Made Charges Which Has Aroused
French OfficIals and Calls Forth o
Statement From M. Hanotaux.
Washington, April 26.-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 COM
pleted and will appear In the May
number of the United States consular
reports.
The department briefly recalls the
fact that Mr.. Chancellor. in his report
of July "a. 1895. alleged that much Of
the French wine was not the product
of the vineyard, and that $4,000 casks
of so-caled wine had been destroyed
by the Paris municipal. laboratory,
having not drop of grape juice in 1t
all. He also alleged that the deficit in
the wine crop caused by the phylloxera
had been made UP from fluid made
Of raisins, currants, lees and such ma
terials.
1t Is stated that M. Hanotaux last
December called the attention of our
ambassador to Paris to the fact that,
Bordeaux chamber of commerce had
protested against the statements of
the consul, and that the official inves-
ugation had called forth denial from
the municipal laboratory that it had
destroyed any such quantity of wine.
The statements were referred back to
Mr.. Chancellor, who replied that he
had obtained his information as to the
destruction of the $1,000 casks of wine
from a reliable English journal, but the
name of the journal he was unable to
recall. While in Paris in 1887 under
commission from the governor Of
Maryland, he had investigated the wine
sheds, and was there told that large
number of casks would be destroyed.
and that this action was not unusual.
In support of statement that large
quantities Of sugar were used in the
preparation of wines from lees Mr..
Chancellor referred to debates in the
chambers, in the course of which M.
Viljean had protested against the pro-
hibition of the manufacture of this
kind of wine, on the ground that it
caused the consumption of no less than
100 600 tons of sugar yearly.
Having thus laid down the case, and
Mr.. Chancellor's defense of his state
ments, the state department prints the
following statement made by the
French embassy here under date OF
March last:
p, THE attention of the French wine
merchants has been called to a report
entitled, wine Making In France"
published in the consular reports by
C. w. Chancellor, United States consul
at Havre, France, and containing some
incorrect statements, which might
cause prejudice to French commerce,
and which 1t seems desirable to rectify.
'Mr. Chancellor, having probably in
mind the decrease of wine production
from which France suffered during a
long period after the appearance OF
phylloXera, says that large quantities
of wine fabricated in France contain
no grape juice. Statistical information
shows that over 4,0000 600 acres of vine
yards were partially infected by the
plague during the last 20 years, 20O0,-
0G0 Of which were already replanted up
to 1895 On the other hand the pro-
duction of wine has been in the last
two years exceptionally abundant, the
production being 100000 gallons in
1895 and !, 1,1S3, $3.50, 900 in 1886. 1t is hardly
credible that when such enormous
quantities of natural wines are pro-
duced French merchants would resort
to the fabrication of artificial wines
containing no grape juice. Such fabri-
cation could be profitable only in coun-
tries producing no wine, or but little.
"Mr. Chancellor, referring to infor-
nation published in an English journal
and reproduced afterwards in Ameri-
can papers, added that the French
government recently destroyed 5000
casks of adulterated wine. There 10
no record at the municipal laboratory
of Paris of such destruction. The oc-
casional seizure and destruction of
small quantities of adulterated wines
are rather to the honor of the French
government, which thus protects the
health of its citizens.
according to medical inquiries made
by highly competent authority a mod
crate consumption Of French wine Is
beneficial to public health. The official
statistics show that drunkenness Is
less frequent in wine consuming re-
gions"