The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-03
Foreign Nations Take Steps to Protect Jamaica Rum, Port Wine, Cognac Brandy and Other World
 Famous Liquors.
BY FREDERIC j. HAskIN.


 1t is the genuine distilled whisky. A great proportion of that whisky sent abroad Is of the neutral spirit variety, and here after will have to be labelled a "com- pound' or an imitation" This feature of the ruling will have an effect beyond that of merely designating the true char acter of the alleged whisky, as customs duties make discrminations between the genuine and the artificial.
 The late John Hay, while secretary of state, took up the question of whisky adulteration with the government of Japan. In the exchange of diplomatic correspondence he wrote a veritable clas- sic on what is whisky" Japan has law levying a tariff tax of 30 per cent ad valorem on genuine whisky and of 240 per cent ad valorem on the arthcially prepared whisky, Five thousand barrels of sure enough American whisky lay on the wharves of Yokahama. Strangely enough 1t had been shipped from Cali fornla. Although the school question was then undreamed of, Japanese officers locked horns with the California trader on the tariff. Japan demanded the 24O per cent. The trader declined to pay over 50 per cent, claiming his whisky was the pure article Secretary Hay and Min
 
 Mikado's customs commission the justice of the Calfornlans claim, setting forth 1 in minute detail how the Japanese analyst eould tell the difference between the . senuine whisky of the western world to be taxed at 50 per cent, and the synthetic 1 stimulation thereof to be taxed at 2i0 per cent. Mir Hay answered the question what Is whisky?" by explaining how real whisky was made and that a mixture of alcohol, fiavoring and caramel colorlng was not whisky at all. Japan was con- vinced that the whisky in question was real whisky and the Californian won his point. But the Mlkado's government has enacted a law providing that liquors of continental origin will not be received from England but must come directly to Japan from their original source Thus does Japan protect itself against adulter- ations.
 Horace Greeley and Alexander H. stephens were once co-editors of an ency- clopedia. After describing the character istics oa straight whisky, as the pure ar ticle iA nov termed by MT. Bonaparte, this encyclopedia explains that very large proportion of the whisky consun.Sd In this country is artifcially prepared" It then gives a recipe for making "cognac brandy which calls for forty gallons of proof spirits. one gallon of peach flavor oile put Ol wine vinegar, one pound Of glycerlne. and little oil of cognac and one gallon of brandy with enough cara mel to color to suit This encyclopedia Is known as Johnsons. Not that or rare Ben who spelled it "Jonson," nor that of Dr. Samuel, the great Photographer, but of plain United States Johnson. But if extra -Boswellian tradition be be- lieved, the great Doctor Johnson con- temned not the flowing bowl, the pewter mug nor the clinking glass. Look today into the dusty windows of his time favorite Cheshire Cheese at the little brown jugs of Irish poteenl There is a fable that the old song about the little brown Jug was born at a moment when poet looked in at these windows with | thick blanket of London fog hanging heavy on his good resolutions. Notwith- standing the air of romance and the halo of historic interest, 1t remains a fact that it is exceedingly difficult to get a drink of genuine whisky in the pubs of 1 London.
 The Scotch and Irish whiskies sold there 1 are seldom pure and most often are mix lures and compounds of neutral spirits | There are floating in the markets of Lon | don today, as well as throughout the United Kingdom, all over Europe Amer l ica and the Orient, bottles of so-called l Scotch whisky, consecrated and dedicated | to His Majesty Edward VII bearing l heather bloom, and all the stage settings | of the land of Robbie Burns and Walter | Scott; and yet in many cases there Is 1 hardly a drop in bottle that bears any l geographical relation whatever to the l land of Scotland It Is often nothing more than ethyl alcohol, favored and colored l to simulate the smoky taste of the rare l genuine article. However if one knows, 1t is possible to get genuine Scotch whisky, 1 just as it is possible to get pure American whisky, despite the muptiplication of imi- tations.
 1 The fight against fraudulent labels in l England is being waged with warmth | and earnestness. In a case decided by l Magistrate Fordham of London, still un- I der appeal, the court said; "Adulteration by the addition of patent still spirit (ethyI l alcohoD has been gradually increasing l for year. until the so-called blenders have dared to concoct and place upon the mar | ket and sell retailers, raw new patent still spirit with mere dash of Scotch or Irish. It is time this fraud upon the public in the matter of the sale of whisky was stopped
 One may sit in front of the Cafe de la I Paix in the heart of Paris-that spot which Booth Tarkington dubbed the cen- ter of the universe-and point at half 1 dozen places where American whisky ] is supposed to be vended to ease the | nostalgia of rAmericaine, who yielding to | the curse of the wandering foot, finds l himself in the great French capital with | out an interpreter. Yet one might walk the streets of Paris for days without l finding bottle of American whisky bear ing the green stamp over the cork in | proof of it's purity and age. That Ameri- | can whisky for sale there was not made | in France. It came from the United | States, all right but the trouble was be- fore it left the American shores. Of course there are some good brands of American whisky to be found in Paris. but much of it is of the kind that from now on will have to be labelled "a com pound or "an imitation"
 Yet France has taken great lead in Europe in protecting her own domestic
 liquors from adulteraton and imitation. the adulteration of brandy grew to enorm- ous proportions before the year 1902 Then France enacted a law by which the famous brandies of Cognac and others In the department of the Charente. and the province of the Gironde. may be bottled in bond in its integrity at the distillery. after it has been duly aged in govern ment bonded warehouse. A certificate of purity. a white label, then goes with the product as a guarantee.
 When Kingston was visited by the re- cent earthquake there was In process of '