Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-20
CULTIVATION OF NORWOOD
Action Against the Green Curse"
Taken by Belgium.
ALARM FELT IN SWITZERLAND
Founder of American Fiction-Great-
est Novel Readers-Relations Of
Hartman and His Employees.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald
NEW YORK, June 10, 1907
Secretary Wilson of the Department Of
Agriculture at Washington has ordered an
investigation into the reports that have
come to him from time to time concerning
the increase in the manufacture of absinthe
in this country. 1t is alleged that the cul-
tivation' of the wormwood bush, from the
seeds and leaves of which absinthe Is dis
titled, is becoming quite extensive in Wis
consin and other parts of the country.
The oil of wormwood, from which alb
sinthe is made by adding alcohol and other
ingredients, has been manufactured for
many years for medicinal purposes, chiefly
in the neighborhood of Baltimore. The
Oil is used in the manufacture of lini-
ments and lotions, and is administered in
ternally to horses, cattle and other animals
to cure certain diseases. Until recently 1t
has been distilled exclusively from the
seeds of the wild wormwood. The liqueur
of oil, which may be made only from the
cultivated plant, called in the botanical cat
alogues "Artemisia absinthium.''
The plant grows wild on every farm al
ticularly in damp soil. The old-fashioned
wormwood herb remedy for diseases of the
stomach has been used ever since any
body can remember. For the manufacture
of oil for medicinal purposes the seeds have
been sown broadcast, and the plants cut
down and sent to distilleries, where the
roots, bark, twigs, leaves and seeds have
been boiled up together and the oil extract
ed very much whisky is made from
grain. The oil is very valuable, and the
supply never has been equal to the demand.
gagged in the business, and the European
market has absorbed all the medicine man.
ufacturers in this country could spare.
The Green Curse of France
The manufacture of the green terror of
France as the liQueur is called, because,
like cocaine, it ruins the body and mind and
soul, is still quite limited in this country.
Indeed, 1t has never been Investigated and
nobody has any accurate idea of the
amount produced. But the consumption of
absinthe in the United States has increased
very rapidly and is becoming general. For
merly 1t could only be obtained at few
clubs, restaurants and bars freouented by
foreigners in the larger cities, but today
I am told, there is a bottle Of absinthe on
the buffet of almost every saloon In the
country and Secretary Wilson thinks that
1t is about time to inquire into the matter
The results Of the investigation will be
published In the bulletins Of the depart
ment, and If they prove to be Of sufficient
Importance will be submitted to Congress
for legislation that will crush the Infant
industry speedily as possible. We have
enough curses In this country without in
Producing the green curse" Of France.
Congress, of course, has no constitutional
power to prohibit the cultivation Of worm
wood or the manufacture of oil, or even the
liqueur itself, but under the interstate COM
merce clause of the Constitution 1t can pre-
vent its shipment from state to an
agitation that
result in local legislation.
Belgium has absolutely prohibited the
manufacture, importation and sale o. the
liqueur under a very heavy penalty. The
law was passed last September, and gave
the manufacturers and dealers six months
to dispose of their plants and stocks.
Corrective Legislation.
The people of France consume 80 per
cent of the entire absinthe product Of the
world, and until recently the chief source
of their supply was Switzerland. In both
countries there has been an earnest agita-
ton, and the French chamber Of deputies
has now pending before 1t a law providing
for the gradual abolition OF the trade.
1t provides that the manufacture of the
liqueur shall cease within one year after the
passage of the act, and that the govern
ment shall indemnify the manufacturers for
the value of the plants and the property
which will thus cease to be productive. 1t
liqueur shall be prohibited at the end of
one year, and that it shall not be sold
either at retail wholesale after three
years. Millions of dollars Of capital are
invested in the business in France but not
so much as formerly. Several orders of
monks were engaged in making 1t until
their expulsion from the republic, when
the supply from the monasteries ceased,
and the trade has passed entirely out of
the hands of the church. There Is deter
mined resistance to the passage of the law
by manufacturers dealers and consumers,
but public sentiment is very strong, and it
Is believed that when the advocates Of the
measure have an opportunity to present
the facts concerning the effect Of the trade
upon the health and morals of the people
a majority of the chamber will declare
in favor of abolishing it.
In Switzerland the greater part of the
worlds supply has been produced, chiefly
in the valley of the Rhone. Neuchatel has
been the center of the trade, and the noun
tainsides of the Canton have been COW
cred with wormwood plantations. Until
few years ago the entire product was
shipped to France and Belgium, but the
Swiss people have been gradually acquiring
the habit, and 1t has extended SO far as to
create alarm. An earnest agitation was
provoked several years ago by the brutal
murder of woman and her children by
their husband and father under the inf1u-
ence of the liqueur, and the medical au-
thorties were unanimous that its excessive
use almost invariably produced homicidal
tendencies. Public sentiment was aroused,
and two of the Cantons have absolutely
prohibited the manufacture and sale 1t
Is proposed to enact federal law
applying to all the other cantons but this
will require an amendment to the constitu-
ton of Switzerland, which resembles that
of the United States in securing state SOW
ereignty over such local affairs. The feel
ing in Switzerland, however, has become
so strong that it is believed that a con-
stitutional amendment may be easily
adopted.