The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-05-02
WHAT IS WHISKY?
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIN
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

| - 49, - -
Let the label tell the truth" says
President Roosevelt, and the Department
of Agriculture is rapidly preparing to
make that feature of the pure-food law
effective. Authorizations OF whisky in the
United States must now be sold under
their true oolors and be made to conform
10 the new food and drugs act. The Fed
eral authority extekds. OF course, only to
whisky made for. or sold IN, interstate
commerce. II was President Grants let
no guilty man escape that broke up the
whisky ring" Grant went after frauds
upon the Federal revenue President
RoOsevelts 'iet the label tell invokes
the pure-food laws 10 force dealers in
adulterated or compounded liquors 10 tell
the truth about the product they offer for
sale.
THE American people are drinking
labels, said the United States Bureau Of
Chemistry a few years ago. A few peo-
pie here and there. bibulously or med
icinally inclined. sat up and took notice,
and then settled back to drinking labels
again. The late Gen. Lew Wallace. au-
thor Of Ben Hur. always seeking for in
formation, wrote TO Dr. H W. Wiley.
chief Of the Bureau Of Chemistry, for an
explanation of the phrase: THE American
people are drinking labels" Dr. Wiley
replied that over s. per cent of
the sO-called whisky on the American
market was not really whisky, and that
less than 2 per cent of the whisky sold
appeared under the green guarantee
stamp Of the government as affixed over
the cOrks of the bottles under operation
Of the bottled-in-bond law The letter TO
Gen. Wallace got into the newspapers.
DR.. Wiley had touched an intimate mys-
terry in the businesses of a big industry.
Protests poured into Washington and the
Secretary OF Agriculture and the Presi-
dent were asked 20 dismiss that govern
ment chemist who had dared 10 comment
upon the secrets Of a great interest.
In reply the Department Of Agriculture
collected and analysed 200 samples OF
whisky, the tests sustaining the Bureau
of Chemistry. DR.. Wiley went before a
committee Of Congress and with supplies
of neutral spirits" or ethyl alcohol,
chemicals, and coloring matter, he showed
the Congressman how the trick was
turned. Meanwhile, Senator McCumber
was leading the fight for the pure-food
bill IN the Senate. He showed instances
where the profits on adulterated whisky
We're so large that the "rectifier' could
throw IN with every sale OF a few cases
a sofa for the family parIor or a cuckoo
clock 10 anuse the children. On the floor
OF the Senate he declared: a quarter of
q hundred different kinds of liquors. with
az many different prices. come from the
same tank" IN discussing how this neu-
trail spirits was used.
Il remained for Representative a. O.
Stanley. of Kentucky. TO achieve the dra-
matte climax in the debate on the bill in
the House. He made his way down to
the forum under Speaker Cannon's desk
and held aloft a druggists graduate filed
with white pure neutral spirits Placing
II on a desk. he took from his pocket
some walls Of Essences Of rye and bour-
bon." and a small vial Of coloring mat
ter With the skill OF a Hermann. OF a
Kellar. he converted the neutral spirits
into fourteen-year-old whisky. and defied
any expert" in the House 10 tell the
ullLEIElLE UtLNEEA IL anu AllD 5EAQlArs
1T il the kind Of so-called whisky which
the pure-food bill aims to stop" said
Mr. Stanley. ct is this sort, made out
OF this new alcohol, that win eat the
very vltals out of a coyote; It will make
a bowling deryish out OF an anchOTite,
Il viii make rabbit walk right up and
spit IN d bull dogs eye The result OF
these. and many more, speeches and
demonstrations was that the liquor clause
was included in the pure-food act.
President Roosevelt, in indorsing At
torney General Bonaparte's construction
of the pure-food law, says that straight
whisky distilled as whisky and of one
age, should be labeled whisky, that mix
lures Of two or more straight WHISTLES Of
different ages should be labeled as a
blend" that neutral spirits mixed with
whisky, when there is enough real whisky
20 make a difference in the nature Of the
mixture, should be labeled as a com
pound, and, finally tsat imitation
whisky should be labeled as SUCH This
means that neutral spirits cannot now be
sold as whisky unless 1t is plainly label
ed a compound or an Imitation" A
blend" must not contain neutral spirits.
The same ruling applied to rum, gin,
brandy, and other liquors, as well as TO
whisky,
What is this neutral spirit, or ethyl
alcohol? Il originated with one Adam-not
he Of the Garden OF Eden and original
sin, but an obscure citizen Of Niemes,
who first conceived the idea OF fractional
distiIIaton. II was an Irishmans Wit
that perfected the process, and the real
father OF the neutral spirit trade was
Aneas Coffee. OF Dublin. English. Ger
man. and American talent has long since
opened the flOOdgates for this liquid In
reporting upon its character. a Congress
siOnal committee said fourteen years ago:
Neutral or cologne spirits possessing the
same alcoholic strength as whisky, and
being susceptible 10 the most delicate
flavor and color. can easily, and with
little expense, be given the odOr and ap-
peaTance OF aged whisky. With this alc0-
hole basis, bourbon and rye WHISTLES,
cOgnac brandy, Jamaica rum, gin, cor
dials. &C. are produced from the same
tank by the use Of oils, essences. and
coloring mixtures.
When Senator Burrows, of Michigan,
was a member Of the House he succeed
ed in getting through a resolution to in
vestigate the whisky trust MI Bynum,
OF Indiana, was chairman OF the commit
Tee The investigation scarcely opened up
before the committees attention was di-
reeted TO the startling testimony concern
ing the aduIteration OF liquors. The com
mittee was greatly entertained and in
structed by a witness who demonstrated