The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1906-10-19
FREE ALCOHOL
IN AMERICA

| WASHINGTON, Oct. 1.-The free al
cohol law went into operation today.
Representative f. ]. Hill, of Connecti-
mer making a study of denaturized al
cohol laws, says that Germany was the
country i'm which the most progress
was found to have been made, and Mr..
Hill has many things to say of the
interesting things he found there.
Mr.. Hill was asked about the many
, small farm distilleries to be found in
Germany, some OF which, according to
Government reports. do not make
more than a dozen or fifteen gallons
of alcohol in year
/, Isn't it exceedingly expensive for
the German Government to keep track
of 10000 farm distilleries, many of them
being 50 small that it cannot pay to
send an inspector to them" he was
asked.
Not at ALL" said Mr.. Hill. "The
German Government has that matter
down to fine point and has no more
trouble collecting the revenue from
those small plants than our Government
has in collecting it from the big distil-
leries of Kentucky. You see, the stills
have to be made in certain way,
which includes tank that can be lock-
ed with Government lock and sealed
with Government seal. The small
farm distilleries do not operate all the
year round. The distilling is kept for
the winter months when there is moth
ing else to do, just as the American
farmer chops his wood or shells his
corn in the winter after the crops are
all in and he has the leisure to, do some
thing other than straight farm work.
when the German farmer has sort
ed out his refuse stuff such as the
small and decayed potatoes or rejected
fruits, he drops line to the Govern
ment that on certain date. thirty
days hence, he wants to begin operating
his still. They have to give thirty
days notice, according to the German
law, in order that the Government
officials may have all the time needed
to do their part. Sometime during
the thirty days an inspector comes
along and looks the still over to see
that it is clean and in good running
order, and especially that the tank
is empty. Then he locks and seals the
tank. after which the still is ready for
the farmer. He is at liberty to go
ahead and distil until the tank is full.
when the farmer has finally COM
pleted his distillation and wants to get
the money for his alcohol he notifies
the person who is to buy 1t from him,
and as soon as he knows the date it |
IS to be removed, he notifies the Govern
moves the seal and measures the con-
tents of the tank and collects the re-
venue. If the farmer wants to de- !
naturiae it on the spot he can do so
in the presence of an inspector, when
the amount of the tax will be returned
to him. But generally the farmers
sell through the great central selling
agency of Germany. which denaturi2es
mt central point and in large quaint
ties and collects the rebate from the
Government in considerable sums.
Thus. You will observe, the Govern
ment agents do not spend any appre-
ciable time at any one farm and one
inspector can cover a large territory.
Meanwhile the central selling agency
pays the farmer on the basis of
beverage alcohol and rebates to him
for all which is denaturized, 1t is
perfect acting system and is not ex-
brilliantly expensive for the Govern
ment.
There are, of course, many farmers
who do not feel that they have enough
of an alcohol crop to pay them to
maintain n still. These Join with
others in cooperative distillery and
that | imagine will be what many
farmers in this country will do. 1t will
work much as does the old cider mill
in the country here now. The farmers
will haul their alcohol producing crops
to the still, and will get their return
on what is produced. either in alcohol
or money, as may seem best To meet
their desires and necessities,
But of one thing / am more and
more convinced the more look into
it, and that is that with the waste
which has been going on on the Ameri-
can farm ever since there has been an
American farm, and with the abund-
ance of our farm resources, we can
make alcohol cheaper than any German
farmer can. In fact, | am willing tn
predict that within few years we win
be leading the world In this Industry,