The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-11
DECLINE OF RUM AS A DRINK
A Hundred Years Ago Was the
 Drink of Continents.

New York Evening Post.
 It would be hard to find more strik-
 gradual disappearance of rum from the
 list of supplies necessary to the house.
 hold. This particular form of strong drink at one time, and not many years
 ago at that, so universally known and
 so commonly used that it became sym
 onym for all kinds of hard liquors, IS
 now scarcely ever heard of except TOT
 cooking purposes. few hot drinks, anu
 according to the testimony of the dealers in the finer grades of wines and liquors
 there is no demand whatever Tor rum of really good quality in private houses.
 stored in the wine cellars of New York: and only at rare intervals docs rum or any great age or fine quality appear on
 the lists at auction sales.
 The oldest authentic rum that has come
 to public notice recently is probably some
 Santa Cruz that changed hands at q
 sale here few years ago, ana Wnicn
 dated back fully century, but lots or that kind are rare. The oldest Medford
 rum Is probably some that was sold in
 1896 in this city which dated from 1875,
 and was bottled in 1888, and another lot
 of that same year which was still in
 liquors. improves with age. and becomes
 darker and much thicker. In fact old
 rum which Is very strong. Is almost iike
 q liquer. and most delicious in taste.
 
 rum there is also what is called Old
 London Dock Rum, so named from the
 fact that originally the liquor was ship ped to London, and stored for years in the dock vaults to age 1t. The name nn- ally became a title to distinguish q cer- tain grade and quality of rum which is still on the market: Our own New Eng, land rum, famous in colonial times, and
 until the period of the civil war. was generally a rather poor grade or liquor. Rum is distilled from molasses, the skimmings of the boiling house on sugar plantations. and the refused juice oi these products were shipped from the West Indies to New England. and enor- nous quantities of the fiery liquor man uractured there. As early as 1870 this business was under way in New England and in such quantities that in 16S6 it is said that rum, rhurn, rumbullion, rum booze, or kill-devil was so cheap there that man could get intoxicated on Il England rum in 1n9 was worth about three shillngs a gallon, two pence less than the price of the West India brand
 When the slave trade began and carsoes of rum were sent to Africa to be ex changed for slaves, this American pro- duct was so cheap that it soon put an end to the trade in French brandy, which
 was at first the great medium or ex- change in that business.
 Tn 1874 there were 5O000,00O gallons oi rum manufactured in the United States when the population was about S,OOO,OVO people. At that time rum was as com mon drink as beer or whiskey in these days. and 1t continued to hold its own fairly we'll until the period of the civil war. Since then other drinks have sup planted it and during recent years the importations of rum have shown steady falling off, doubly significant In view i oi the rapid Increase in population. In lSs. the importation was 39,37S gallons and | 1,l77 cases, and in 1900 only 22.722 gallons | and 765 cases. The amount varies from year to year good deal, but grows | steadily less In the long run. The larg- | est quantity at present goes to the hotels | for cooking purposes, and to certain ex. | tent for punches and hot drinks. good deal Is used in the hospitals, but this liquor is rarely more than eight or ten years old. Rum, according to one con
 noisseur, should be at least eight years old before 1t is drunk at all, and inn proves steadily from that time on. A year or two ago there was a temporary revival of the use of rum in afternoon tea, but that has gone out now, and was never great enough to anect ths
 trade to any extent These facts apply equally to Great Britain, where the use of rum and the amount imported have both steadily de- clined during recent years. Rum was never so popular on the Continent, and
 with its abandonment by the Anglo-Sax- ons its fate as a drink Is probably sealed.
 The changes of fashion in these matters
 are so great, however, that 1t would not
 surprise some of the wine merchants, If
 ever a fad for hot drinks instead of
 iced ones should arise, to see rum regain
 it's position as the most important Of
 spirituouS liuuorS,