The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-02-15
Proposition to Tax the "Bouillers
de Cruz Causes the Major
ity TO Rise in Arms.
COMPROMISE SAVES CABINET.
Deputies Could Not Consent TO
Force Their Constituents to
Pay for Making Their
Own Brandy.
BY ]. CORNELY.


SPECIAL BY CABLE TO THE NEW YORK
HERALD n THE ST. LoUIs REPUBLIC.
Paris. Feb. H.-tCopyright, 1906. when.
the week before last. the Chamber debated
the estimates of expenditure. every Deputy
was forced to introduce into the budget a
little gift for his electors. OF them all. the
most ingenious was that Southern Deputy
who asked for a vote OF several millions of
francs in order to supply the French Amy
with wine, so that his constituents would he
assured of selling their vintage.
During the present week there has been a
complete change Of spectacle. The esti-
mated expenditures We're under discussion.
TO balance great expenditures there must
be great receipts. which are obtained by
taxation.
But those very deputies who always con-
slider the expenditures too small always re-
gard the receipts as too great-that is to
say, they think taxes are too high.
THE "BOUILLERs DE CRU
France produces and drinks a great deal
Of brandy. In the North alcohol is manu-
featured in big distilleries from beet root:
in the East 1t is distilled from fermented
plums and cherries; in the West it is made
from fermented apples. and in the South
from fermented grapes.
Whereas. the production Of alcohol is an
Industrial in the North, It Is an agricultural
and individual employment in the West.
East and South. That is. in these latter
sections. the agriculturalist distiIls in his
own house, from his own retort, the prod
uct of his own growing. He thereby be-
comes a 'bouilleaur de cru" because he
boils uncooked fruit in order to obtain al
coho1 from 1t.
II has become a custom to exercise no
Supervision of this manufacture, and to per-
NIT the agriculturist not to pay any tax
on the olcohol he makes. supposedly, for his
own use, while in the distilleries Of the
North the fiscal agents levy a tax Of AZ
cents on every liter of pure alcohol.
However, the ''bouilleurs de cru number
between 3oo, 900 and 400. 1000. They are not
satisfied to drink the alcohol they make
they sell 1T, or they exchange It, which
comes to the same thing; and upon every
litre thus put into circulation the treasury
loses Is francs 10 confines. The total loss
to the state from this Is by the most con-
sentative judges estimated at 81. 900 900 an
nually.
This estimate Is arbitrary. for this kind
Of distilling being clandestine, it is i'm
possible to know how many hectolitres Of
alcohol escape taxation, and consequently
impossible to Judge the extent of the fraud.
PROPOSAL TO TAX THEM.
Some people believe that the loss exceeds
S,V1V,UU annually. Consequently, Tor thirty
years past whenever France has had great
financial difficulties. it has always been pro-
posed either to suppress or to regulate the
privilege enjoyed by the ''bouiileurs de cru"
In the financial bill for this year. NJ.
Rouyier had introduced a method of regula-
ton which he calculated would add about
$6.0 600 to the receipts of 1903.
Immediately the Deputies of the majority
were up in arms, and 1t might have been
believed. for a moment that the Minister
of Finance would be defeated and would
drag down the whole Cabinet with him in
his fall.
One Deputy. however, hit upon an idea
which allowed the Minister and the ma
1ority to come to an understanding. Vine
and fruit-growers who do not cultivate more
than one nectar, about two and a half
acres. of vineland. or more than fifty fruit
trees. were relieved from all fiscal con-
troll.
Office. but 1t must not be supposed that it
has not lost a part of the sympathy of its
majority at least, as much because of it's
bad intentions towar the 'bouilleurs de
cruz as because of the spiritualistic and re-
ligious declarations OF NJ. Combes relative
to the congregations law.
A name has already been mentioned in
the lobbies of the Chamber as a successor
Of NJ. Combes in case of a catastrophe. 1t
Is that OF NJ. Chaumie, Senator and Minis
ter of Public instruction. whose good ma
ture and ooenness Of character have won
for him many supporters in the Chamber.