Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1906-07-13
new ALCOHOL LAW.
Congress- Action in Removing
Tax on DenaturaliZed Pro-
duet II Public BLESSING.

With the dawn of 1907 the United
States will step into line with Eng
land, France, Germany, Holland and
practically all the other countries OF
Europe and of South America by re-
cOgnitiOD in its revenue laws of com
mercial or "denaturized' alcohol as
distinguished from alcohol used in the
manufacture of beverages.
The long fight of the agricultural
the manufacturing and the medical
worlds before Congress for the remov-
al of the tax Of &2.O7 per gallon on
grain alcohol used for commercial
purposes and so denatured as to make
its use for human consumption i'm
possible, has been won. The law has
been signed by President Roosevelt
and on Jan. |. 1907, will go into
effect.
What it will mean to the farmers of
the great West, far removed from fuel
production centerS who will now be
able to make from corn unlimited
quantities of taX-free alcohol for fuel
cannot now be estimated with accur-
acy, but it means a difference Of mil
lions of dollars in the aggregate in
their incomes.
AFFECTS EVERY CITIZEN.
The effect of the new law on various
industries in which the denaturiZed
alcohol can be used as it is in for
eign countrieS-in the manufacture
of chemicals imported from Germany
to the extent of millions of dollars
per year, for instance-is expected to
be equally sweeping and the propon-
ents of the new law declared before a
congressional committee that in one
way or another the removal of the
revenue tax from denaturized alcohol
would affect almost every citizen of
the United States.
In the first place, alcohol can be
produced for seven cents per gallon
from corn. 1t can be made from
scores of other products-in fact,
from anything containing starch and
sugar. Potatoes, beets, glucose and
many other things can be utilized for
it's manufacture and doubtless will be
now that the tax has been removed.
The "denaturiZing" of the alcohol
consists merely in adding to it either
impure wood alcohol, mineral oil,
fish oil or some other substance that
would render it unfit for human con-
sumption. Thus it could not be util-
ized in the place of taxed alcohol in
the manufacture of cheap whiskies,
patent medicines, essences, perfumes,
extracts and the like in many Of
which the poisonous "wood alcohol, !"
or methyalated spirit, are used
to-day.
ALCOHOL A NECESSITY.
The interest of the public at large
in the new law centers in the build
ing up of new industries that is GER
tain to follow the operation of the
law. Alcohol is an absolute necessity
in the organic chemical industry and
in the manufacture of the great ma
jority of such chemicals large quanti-
ties must be used. Owing to the fact
that denaturized alcohol has long
been produced practically at cost in
Germany, manufacturers in these
lines in that country have developed
their industries so that they now
practically control the markets of the
world. They sell large quantities in
this country, the cheapness of the
alcohol enabling them to undersell
American manufacturers despite the
high tariff. The total manufacture
of fine chemicals in the United States
valued at less than $5,OOO,O0O while
the value of these articles exported
by Germany annually exceeds $1,000
600.
Denaturized alcohol can be used
not only in the manufacture of chem
icals, but in the making Of hats.
SmokeleSS powder, Eliminates, artific-
al silks, picture frames and holdings,
polished metal goods, electric fixtures
coal Tar dyes, Photographic supplies,
pencils, watches, celluoid, transpar-
ent soaps. For some of these purposes
grain alcohol is used, but the cost is
excessive on account of the tax. That
is $l.1O per proof gallon, which is
equivalent to a tax of $2.O7, on indus
trial alcohol. This tax has forced
manufacturers to use substitutes Of
various kinds, the principal of which
is refined wood alcohol, which has in
furious qualities, rendering it danger
Gus to the health of the workers
handling it.
CHEMIST TESTTFIES.
When the bill for removing the tax
on denaturiZed alcohol was being dis
cussed before a congressional COM
mittee many eminent physicians and
chemists testified to cases by the
score in their experience in which
blindness, permanent illness and even
death had followed the constant use
of wood alcohol by workers in various
trades. Blind painters who had lost
their sight vanishing with materials
in which wood alcohol was used, gave
their testimony and begged the com
mittee in behalf of the workers of the
country, to pass the bill allowing the
use of grain alcohol tax free.
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