Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-15
Gen. Nulta's Testimony Before the
Industrial Commission.
EXPERIENCE As a RECEIVER
Best Place in the Country for Dis
tiIIation Purposes.
METHODS OF MANUFACTURE

| morning and examined Gen. John McNulta,
| the receiver of the whisky trust.
| The name of Gen. McNulta is familiar
! throughout the United States, and in the
west he is known The Great American
| Receiver because of his extensive connec-
| ton with trusts which he has had as
| lawyer by appointment of courts for many
| years. He entered the Union army a
| captain served under Gen. Grant, and came
| out of the service with the rank of briga-
| der general. He has long practiced law in
! Bloomington, H.. and was for twenty
| years a partner of Judge Weldon of the
Court of Claims. He served in the state
senate of Illinois and a member of
| the Forty-third Congress as a republican.
| He defeated for reelection by ex-Vice
President Stevenson, whose intimate friend
he has always been.
He was a candidate for governor of Ilh-
| nois, and was warm supporter of Mr..
| Gresham throughout his political career.
| He lost the nomination for the governor
| ship of Illinois by but a few votes He has
been the receiver of the Toledo and Kansas
City railroad, the Wabash railway and in
| 1875 was appointed by the court receiver of
| the whisky trust, afterward known the
| Distilling and Cattle Feeding Company. He
| Is also receiver of the First National Bank
| of Illinois, the American Brewery Com
| pany of Chicago and many other large
| Germs. he Is referred TO as nav
| ing acted as receiver of more large inter-
| ests than any other man in the country.
Receivership of the whisky Trust.
Gen. McNulta began his testimony by
| giving some of the details regarding his re-
ceiverShip for the so-caIled whisky trust
| Much of this information was covered in
| the testimony of Mr.. c. c. Clarke, who
| before the commission on Saturday. When
| he took charge of the papers in the receiv-
ership he failed to find the trust papers. A
| safe known to contain papers was found
and he prepared to blow it open in order to
get at the contents, but finally an expert
| succeeded in opening it, and some import
ant papers Were found.
| 1t was found that one distillery at Ne
braska City, Neb., had been sold for SO 600
| at private sale, and later was bought by the
Distilling and Cattle Feeding Co. for $410,-
| COO There was another case in which one
who was later an officer Of the company
had purchased a diStillery and sold it to the
company for $3.50 900 more than he gave for
| 1t. These and other things resulted in the
witness filing q bill against number of in
dividuals, including some officers, to
cover $500 600 There were other items to
make up this total growing out of stock
speculations in New York by officers of the
company The examination of the accounts
of the Distilling and Cattle Feeding Com
pany was made in its offices at Peoria, Ill.
Best Place for DistilIatfon.
tS0fi6, III, ne Saiu, Is tSlll1ldleu 10 De d
better place than any other in the country
for purposes of distiliing. 1t is in the CEN
ter of the corn belt and cheap corn is Sc
cured. 1t is in the vicinity of coal mines
and coal is furnished at very cheap rates.
More than anything else, 1t has an unlimt-
ed supply of cold water Of about 81 degrees,
which does not vary in temperature more
than two degrees in the entire year.
This water is from an underground river,
and the cold water supplies what could be
had in many other places only by the use
of ice. All the distilleries along the bank
of the river have the of this water.
There were no patents that he knew of
owned by the Distilling and Cattle Feeding
Trust or Company, but 1t had secret pro-
cesses that were Of value. He had been
told by experts that there are 800 to 360
different varieties of germs in the yeast
used in dtstiIling, and that by experiment
they discovered the yeast that had the best
germs for their purposes. When these
germs were secured they were carefully
guarded for the purpose of multiplying
theEl and he had heard that diStilierS had
given $500 for little jug of the most ia
vored yeast.
Labor" Gen. McNulta said, sis a COM
paratively small part of the cost of the
production of spirits and alcohol. The prin-
cipal cost is in corn, barley, rye and other
malt"
The proportion Of spirits produced from
a given quantity of raw material had not
increased except very slightly during the
past five years, and such Increases as there
were were not owing to important methods
that had been devised by the combination.
"Rotgut'' the Purest whisky.
THE cheap, common rotgut whisky" he
said, lis the purest whisky"
The whisky In the beginning of it's manu-
facture is unpalatable, but its treatment
makes it palatable. He explained the diff
ferent methods of distiilation, saying alco-
hol is the basis of all the spirits.
He was asked as to the quality Of the
commissary whisky during the civil war
He replied that ne was not an expert on
the subject at that time, but he thought 1t
was cheap eye water" though it SEEM
ed, under the conditions at the front, to be
a very comfortable thing at the time.
Those who went into the trust sold their
certificates of stock, and many of them
built other distiiieries, and they finally
built many distlleries that the trust
could not buy them The high prices Great
ed by the trust attracted competitors in
the field He explained the rebate system
of the Old trust and said he did not think
that system would ever again be attempted
and it is not now used by the whisky com
bination.
When they tried to control the market
they tried to hold up prices where they
ought not to be, and that brought in the
competition" he said. I'm the future they
will seek to control the market by cheap
ening the cost of production. That is the
only way they can hold the market in my
opinion HAD the trust cheapened the
product they would have retained the con-
troll of the market
When he assumed the control of the trust
as receiver he cut the prices on whisky in
order to get rid of the stock of whisky on
hand
After recess of one hour Gen. McNuita
again went on the stand. He presented
several prepared statements In the form of
exhibits to his testimony giving cost of
! production, cost of the product, &c, during
a series of years. These statistics had
| never been published, and were made UP
from data taken from the books of the
trust, which came into the hands of the
witness when he became receiver
Gen. McNulta was on the stand when The
Stars report was closed.
Appointed n Second Lieutenant,
The President has appointed Roger STAN