New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-11
GOOD WH[SKEY AGED.
BLENDS RANK POISONS.
SO DR.. Wiley Says-Rectifers Can
Only Initiate Mature.
LFrom The Tribune Bureau.I


whiskeys, for they coagulate the protoplasms in
the human cells and bring on old age at a gal
lop. Stick to straight whiskey for there is moth
ing harmful in the real article; but be certain
that you get what you pay for, and not some
mixture Of raw alcoholic spirits fresh from the
still which will poison your system and madden
your BRAIN
This in brief. is the advice Of DR.. Harvey w.
Wiley, chief chemist of the Agricultural Depart
ment who has probably devoted more study to the
subject of liquors and their adulteradons than
any other man now before the public. Dr. Wiley
was summoned to appear before the House Com
mittee on Agriculture the other day, and after
discussing the provisions of the Pure Food law
and it's enforcement at some length he gave the
members few pointers about the great Ameri-
can distilled beverage. One of the most startling
statements made by DR.. Wiley that he does
not believe any of the whiskey sold over the bars
OF saloons is pure.
EVEN the famous bottled in bond whiskey is
adulterated." said DIR. Wiley, FOR the saloon
keeper buys one case Of It ana then continues to
fill UP the bottles from his dernijohn in the cell
lar Most of tho whiskey got over the bars is
simply neutral alcohol"
When asked by Representative Cocks, of the
Long Island IN. y district, for an accurate and
scientific description OF whiskey. DR.. Wiley gave
the following definition;
"Whiskey is a distillate from the fermented
mash of malt and it contains all the congenerlc
products formed with ethyl alcohol during the
fermentation that are volatile at the ordinary
temperatures of distllation-'
Most of the whiskey sold at retal.' he said,
Should not even be called blended whiskey,
for 1t is the antithesis of straight whiskey. IL
should, therefore, be called crooked whiskey,
Tor it is imitation. 1t is nothing whatever
except neutral spirits. colored and Favored. I
think that drink like this is a poison. pure and
simple. 1t coagulates the protoplasms in the
cells and brings old age.
LAS long as man can keep his cells limpid
and keep his protoplasms limpId. he will never
grow old. Alcohol absolutely coagulates the
protoplasm the moment it touches 1t. but the
alcohol that IS in whiskey or brandy rum. is
so mingled by natures operations that it is
entirely different proposition. For instance. you
take ordinary field corn and put sugar in Il,
more than sweet corn has and it does not taste
like sweet corn. II is not sweet corn. Nature
has a way Of combining the elements In foods
which man cannot initiate. and therefore. when
nature produces twenty different substances,
she does every time a whiskey is fermented,
and all twenty OF them come over in the still.
alcohol among them. then you put these natural
elements away to become mellow. to marry cas-
the disuler says. which takes years to ac-
compsh-it is a long drawn out ceremony
you make beverage which is tonic and whole
some and healthful and non poisonous. There
Is all the difference in the world between a
drink OF straight alcohol and drink OF
whiskey. brandy rum.
81 mado an experiment which was more con-
vincing than I had expected. l took a twelve
year-old whiskey that was mellow and rich and
fragrant and l put It in still and distilled
half OF It over and I was careful 10 lose Moth
ing and 1 poured it back in the bottle. and had
chemically the same thing as before l redis-
titled II. but that whiskey not lit TO drink
A divorce had taken place. and 1t would take
another twelve years to make another marriage.
Raw whiskies are not 1T to drink They are
not married 1t takes them at leas, four
years and. better. eight years In the wood.
Meanwhile leakage and storage increase the ex-
peuse. and at the end OF eight years that whis-
key is worth many times over what it was
when IL was first distilled. on the other hand
spirits are never as good as the day they We're
made The minute you put spirits in a barrel
they begin To degenerate. Nearly all the whis-
key is sold as soon as II is made. II is sold
10 the people who handle II, the iobbers. The
distiller very seldom owns his whskey The
reCtfers are the ones who adulterate the whis-
key. The law puts premium upon adultera-
tion. II is under the law that all the adultera-
tion is done. 1t costs 90 cents barrel To bottle
the straight whskey in bond. It costs the rec
tiher. the aduterator, nothing to do the same
thing under the same supervision. The old law
governing the distilling business was passed
when the amount OF mixing and rectifcation
| done very small indeed Then everything
was whiskey. But now IL Is all rectincaton and
no whiskey."
DR. Wiley told the congressman that the
manufacture of good and bad. straight and
crooked whiskey differed from the start In the
| first place the spirit makers the poorest
grade OF corn that they can find on the market
| The whiskey manufacturer buys tho best corn
and the highest grade of rye that money will
| bring. DR.. Wiley said that alcohol bears about
! the same relation to whskey that starch does
to -four and that distilled water does mineral
water No amount of chemical skill
| vert starch into flour nor neutral spirits into
| whiskey. The result is bound 10 be nothing
but an imitation, dangerous TO health
Doctor asked one of the Congressman.
| when you see a man drunk. you tell what
| kind of whistey he got drunk on?'
My experience with drunken men is very linz
| tied" replied DIR. Wiley with a smile. but I
| have the evidence of experts which show be-
| yond question that when Il man gets drunk on
| spirits he is crazy drunk, and when he gets
| drunk on whiskey IS is a jolly good fellow. 1
| think have indisputabe evidence of that
Does that not depend upon the temperament
| Of the individual?" asked another one of the
| Representatives.
1T may be, because I suppose. a real gentle
| man would not drink spirits" replied the
chemist
| DR. Wiley closed his testimony upon the sub
| ject of whistey by telling the Congressional In
vestigators that the only way 10 avoid the risk
| Of poisonous drinks sold over the bars was TO
keep out Of the saloons. cor live in prohibition
| state"