The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-03-05
BLOW AIMED At
WHISKY BUSINESS.
Red Liquor Men Scared About
Little Clause in Pure
Food Bill.
BY w, w. Jermane.

BY w. w. Jermane.
Washington, March Sit is now the
turn of the whisky interests of the
United States to walk the floor, and
they are doing it. This does not, per-
maps; apply to the distillers, but it does
70 the so-called blenders and rectifers
who concoct and bottle and place on
sale a variety of brands of whisky UNI
Ger more OF less widely advertised
names.
The pure food bill, as it passed the
senate and as it will probably pass the
nouse unless the whisky men can head
It. off, provides that whisky shall be
Or rectifed, or consists of an admix-
ffure of different grades of the same
liquor, or contains, or is mixed with,
s other substances, and the word
blended, or. rectifed,' or mixed as
the case may be, is not plainly stated
on the package in which such liquor is
offered for sale, or if the label or any
written or printed statement accom-
Ranylng the package in which 4 such
liquor is kept or sold contains any false
statement as to the character or con-
tents of such package, or represents
such liquor to sbe the product Of any
actually produced" Ss'....,.
The penalty for violation Of this act
Is to be q years Imprisonment or
line of $500, or both, for the first Of
tense, and double the fine and the same
term IN prison for subsequent offenses.
Fooled at First.
Nov, when this. bill passed the SEN,
ate, the whisky men thought it was
all right. They shook hands with them
selves and said they would do all they
could to get it, thru the house. Their
point of view. was that the bill made
It optional with them as to&whether
blended ''-or "rectifiedV or ''mixed,''
and; of course, they expected to brand
itzall as "blended'' or 'srectifed,' and
never any of it as =" mixed, - since it
was obvious even to a whisky man that
whisky branded as "mixed' wouIdn It
sell any better. over a. bar than it would
II branded 'paris green'' or Hrat
poison
But a brief investigation at the treas
ury department showed that there is
really no blended whisky in this coun-
& try, blended whisky under the decision
Of the courts being the combination of
two or more, different kinds or, makes
OF straight whisky, for the purpose of
getting a certain effect, and with no
other ingredient added. rs ega5&F >
~ NO DloIluSTS III .COuQTrysSF5 eFtk>
The so-called whisky blenders Of this
country. and there are many of them,
since practically every wholesale whisky
dealer claims to blend, are not blenders
at all under the law. They do not com
bine two or more straight whiskies for
the purpose of making a certain indi-
T1dual brand, but they do mix straight
whisky with alcohol and water and
little. favoring matter and also little
colofing matter, and call it blended,
and get rich doing so. -.
And so when they found that the
treasury, under this proposed law, would
require them to expose to the govern
+ ment the exact process used and brand
their goods accordingly, they . saw
at the first glance that this would re-
quire them to mark their bottles as
mixed''7 and from that moment the
whisky interests Of the entire country
began to fight for an amendment to the
bill in accordance with the suggestion
OF Senator Foraker, who asked the sen
ate to make it offended" or "recti-
fed0 or vatted,' the alleged blend
ers of this country having no objection
to the use of any one Of these terms
on their bottles. But the ! word
'mixed'' makes them sick.
Working on the House. +, -.
In the senate the Foraker amendment
was voted down, it will be remembered,
but the whisky men did not give up.
q They at once buckled in to try to have
1t accepted by the house committee,
which expects to report out the pure
food BILL perhaps this week. The way
they went at this was to have all the
whisky men in the business Of etblend-
ing send telegram to the member
of the house committee on interstate
commerce whom they best knew asking
for heaven s sake that the Foraker
amendment be made a part of the bill
before it is sent to the house to be
finally voted on. The result has been
perfectly astounding. and also indica-
tive of. the wide whisky acquaintance
IS no exaggeration to say that some
members of the committee have re.
ceived a pile of kilograms foot high
in a single morning.
IF this bill becomes a law in its pres
ent form it will drive out Of The mar,
ket some Of the bestknown brands of
cred liquor It will hit some that
are familiar In name as any object
can be that stares: at you from the
pages of nearly every magazine. you
1. And, furthermore, if this -. law i.
adopted by the legislatures of the vari
] Gus states, as is expected, in order tt
have uniformity thruout the country
twill make the penalty apply to every
saloonkeeper who allows bottle 81
nlisbranded whisky to be handed out
over his bar. In short it will lead tx
the universal sale and use of what is
well known as straight whisky
only-whisky containing no adulterants
and nothing more harmful than the
whisky itself. And in accomplishing
this the law will make the whisky
business far less profitable than it has
been for years. - =
WASHINGTON NOTES
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