Cochise review., 1900-10-16
USED-OVER BOTTLES.
Those That Have Held Champagne
 Are Used Over and Over.
Foreign Made GlAss Ranks Niwhsst i'm the Trads--InterestiAw Facts About an Important Baat-
 ness in This Country.

Does all of the American grown champaign go into bottles in America, and is it sold as what it is, or does it pretend to be of French origin?
 What in particular suggests this question, says the Chicago Chronicle, is the statement recently made by a visitor to the New York state wine district that whatever may be said about the wine itself, the champagne bottle cannot be made in America. A member of one of the leading New York bottle manufacturers said, when asked what he thought of this state ment: For ourselves we don't try to make champagne bottles; beer bot ties are more in our line. But don't believe champagne bottles can be sue cessfully made anywhere in this coun- try. A champagne bottle is expected to be of certain recognized green color and certain tapering form. We can get the form, of course, and we can get the color pretty nearly, but we cannot get that brilliancy in the glass which you find in a French bottle, combined with sufficient strength" u
 Another manufacturer took the view that the question of ability or in ability to equal the French bottles with bottles of American sand is inn material, because the supply of sec ond-hand champagne bottles is fully equal to the demand
 From these two statements it ap- pears that the growers of American champagne in Califorpia, New York and Ohio must be content with bottles that have already done service in bringing the wine of Rheims to this country. A bottle dealer in New York says that this is undoubtedly the case.
 This firm" he said, lis the largest firm of bottle dealers in the United States. We ship, even in slack times, from three to four car loads of sec ond-hand champagne bottles week A car load is from 250 to 300 gross ? This means, of course, about l30 0OO bottles a week, or 7,5OO, 600 bottles a year.
 The destination of this mighty army of bottles? The dealer begged to be excused from giving particulars. Some of the bottles find their way to Cali fornia, but il was gathered that much of the bottling is done in New York, And the much more interesting fact was elicited that a large number of bottles which come to America as champagne bottles degenerate to the base uses of beer. This is one result of the war with Spain and the rescue of Cuba Beer is now largely export ed to Cuba in ex-champagne bottles, which seems to prove the assertion of the bottlemaker that there is no de mand for such bottles at first hand for American-made champagne,
 The enormous numbers. quoted by the bottle dealer suggests strong re- fiections, melancholy to the total ab- stainer, on the bibulousness of this great city It must not be assumed, however, that all the 7,5OO, 900 annual dead men" shipped by this firm popped their corks within the limits of New York city. Many of these come from other cities. But the greater number lie at the door of New York, where the janitors and bartenders put them Besides, Kip ling's description of Fuzzy Wuszy- Els all ot sand and ginger when alive And 'e's generally shsmmin' when ,e's
 dead }i applies in both points to : bottle of champagne. It becomes dead man" only to be washed in huge whole sale way by either the dealer or the bottler and filled up again with ''tizz" in some mysterious way. So very like ly the same bottle is sold full, popped, emptied, sold empty, washed and filled again as often as half dozen times in one year. This is terrible record of giddy dissipation for the bottle. It reconciles decent Aperi- cans to the thought that such bottles cannot be made out of American min