Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1897-04-22
FRANCE COMPLAINS.
What the Consul Says of the Pend
ing Tariff Measure
THEIR WINES HAVE BEEN CRITICISED
Our Governments Finally Conceded ths
Correctness of the Complaint
Because we Lacked the
Official Figures

Washington, April 1S.-The remarka-
ole frank statement of the French min
ister,- NJ. Hanotaux, as to the position of
the French government towards the
pending tariff bill. which was made the
subject of special cable dispatch by
the Associated Press yesterday, has at
tracted great attention in official circles
here. Particular interest has been eXcit-
ed by the criticisms upon the American
consular officers in France, and investi-
cation makes it appear that the subject
recently has been discussed at length by
the diplomatic Representatives of the two
countries, and that our government, fin
ally conceding the correctness of the
French assumption that our consuls had
exceeded their instructions in criticising
the French wines, has decided to print
in the same publication which contained
the consular reports, a statement in VIM
dicatio of the wines.
AN ANCIENT COMPLAINT.
The complaint is no new one, so far as
the French government is concerned. For
the past twenty years our consuls in
France, in their reports &c the state de-
partment, have had much to say as to
the extent of the aIulteration of French
wines and brandies. Consul Clifford, at
La Cochelle. reported that not one-half
of tine brandies shipped to the United
states were above suspicion, and he fur
the- stated that the brandy was about
as deadly as absinthe, and was working
great harm to the French workmen- The
only genuine brandy shipped to the
Ir-2x fr1-1
the accumulated stock of former years,
for there was no pure brandy being man
ufactured. Analysis. he said, was of no
use in detecting the presence OF adulter-
ants in this brandy, and in his opinion
it should all be excluded from the Unit
ed States, which was then importing
millions of dollars worth of it every
year.
JUST ANY OLD TRASH.
United States Consul Roosevelt. at
Bordeaux, raised a sensation next when,
in 1882, he declared in his report that
more than oue-half of the brandy ex-
ported was adulterated. He said that
tire discovery of one noxiouS element in
the brandies of France was good
grounds for the exclusion of all of it
from the United States as for the ex-
clusion of American pork from France.
Not long after the consul was shot in
the head by a stray bullet. which he
persisted in regarding as an evidence of
the hostility excited by the free crifi-
cisnls he had INDUCED in.
Consul Knowler, at Bordeaux. in 1889
and 1890, reported that large quantities
of dried grapes and old leaves were used
there in making alleged wines. The
latest publication. however which has
mr. fha wrath of the French
government upon our consuls. came
from United States Consul Chancellor, at
Havre, and was printed in the United
States consular reports as of the date of
July "a last. This was a general report
on wine Making in France and in its
course, Mr.. Chancellor made some strong
statements. though none as pronounced
as those made by the consuls above
named.
INNOCENT OF GRAPES.
Among other things. he said:
The grape is not necessarily an ele-
ment in the production of wine. We
commonly describe wine as the ferment-
ed juice Of the grape, yet it is not always
so, for much of the so-called wine is per-
fect1y innocent of any acquaintance with
the product of the vineyard Recently,
the municipal Iaboratry of Paris, whose
function it is to detect aadulteratiors OF
food and drinks, caused $4,000 casks of
so-called wine to be seized and destroy
ed the official analysis could not detect
in the whole lot a single drop of grape
Juice, but what Il detected was water
alcohol. sulphate of gypsum, glycerine.
salts of potash. and berries for coloring.
1T is a significant FACE that whenever
the vintage is poor, it has been found
that immense quantities OF sugar,
amounting in France, in 1887, to up
wards of $1,000 tons. have been used for
mixing with the wine, while the deficit
in the production of the vineyards has
been in a measure made good by the
making OF many millions OF gallons of
wine (so-called) from raisins, currants.
and the lees of the wine press
UNCLE SAM OWNS UP.
The French objection to this and other
statements of the consul was that he
was not supported by the official figures,
but had accepted mere hearsay state
ments ard the gossip Of newspapers and
ex parte reports as the basis for the
statements, which were calculated great
ly TO harm the reputation that the
French wines had earned, not in the
United States, but in every country in
the world.
The state department made a careful
inquiry into the matter and, without 60
ing behind the regulations it had estab-
Iished. was obliged TO confess judgment
for its standing instructions to IS con-
suiar officers are to avoid accepting as
the basis for official reports anything
less than official statements, else ex-
planatory notes should be attached The
matter is now. however. as before stat
ed. already adjusted. and with the pub
| lication of the explanatory statement in
the next number of the United States
consular reports. the incident will end.