The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-29
AMERICA MAKES MORE CHAMP ACNE Falling Off in ImportationS is
 Reported
IS OFF 165,612 QUARTS
United States Produces Annually More Than Two Million Bottles of Genuine Champagne Wine.
 New York Leads.

into the United States recently noted
 by the bureau of statistics of the depart
 ment of commerce and labor. appears to
 be due, in part at least, to the fact that
 more than two million bottles of genuine
 "chamragne" wine is now annually pro
 duced in the United States. The impor-
 tations of champagne in the calendar
 year 1906 fell S1, ,444 quarts below the i'm
 ports of 1905, while for the nine months
 ending with March, 1907, the falling off
 was 5,6l2 quarts compared with the cor
 responding months of the preceding year;
 and the single month of March, l9O1
 showed a decrease of 31, ,92O quarts com
 pared with March, 1906.
 While a comparison of these figures of
 the recent imports of champagne with those of 1905 only Is of itself somewhat
 misleading, owing to the fact that 1905
 showed an abnormally large importation
 of champagne. a study of the general figures of importation shows clearly that
 the importatlons of champagne are not
 keeping pace with the imports of other
 classes of merchandise, nor are they in proportion to the growth of population
 or of other conditions which might be ex- pected to lead to large importatins of this article usually classed with luxuries.
 comparison of the figures of 1906 with
 those of several years earlier shows that the champagne importations of 1906 were
 but 27 per cent greater than those Of the year 1900 while the importation Of all articles classed as luxuries in 1906 was practically 55 per cent greater than that or 1900, and of general merchandise an in- crease of 60 per cent, indicating that i'm portation of champagne has not Kept pace with that of other luxuries or the great group of articles forming the total imports into the United States In the pe- riod from 1900 to 1906
 The Falling Off. This falling off in the importation of | champagne, which was referred to In a
 statement prepared by the bureau or l statistics some weeks ago, has led to a
 considerable correspondence between the | bureau and a large number of persons l engaged in the importation and sale or | foreign champagne, or in the production | and sale of American wine Of this char acter This correspondence seems to | clearly indicate that the manufacture
 of genuine champagne" wine in the | United States has quadrupled in the last | decade, that the product now exceeds l two million bottles per annum, including l in this class only the wine fermented In
 the bottle and not that charged with car | bonic acid gas by artificial methods, and l that this increase in home production is
 the principal cause of the slow growth | in importation The class of wine ordi- | narily designed as champagne, which l obtains It's name from the fact that 1t is l chiefly produced in that section of France | formerly known as the province of Cham | pagne, has as one O it's special char | acteristics the fact that its fermentation l in the bottle in which 1t reaches the con | sumer results in the absorption by the l wine of the carbonic-acid gas generated | in the fermentation, the wine thus be- l coming effervescent when the removal of
 the pressure permits the gas to become | disengaged
 The correspondence between the bureau l of statistics and the wine importers, | dealers, and producers in the United 1 States indicates that the number of Amer | ican producers of champagne has quad | rupled in recent years and that the quan- | tty produced has more than quadrupled
 within a decade While the census does
 not separate its record of wine production
 into the various classes the opinion of the wine manufacturers as gathered from | correspondence by the bureau of statis- | tics, indicates that the present produc-
 ton of champagne fermented in the bottle | is, as above indicated, more than two | million bottles per annum, while certain | 1 ject very careful attention estimate the | number as high as three million bottles of | the genuine article. In addition to this, | large quantities of sparkling wines, which | are rendered effervescent by being arti- | fcially charged with carbonic-acid gas, are also put upon the market; but these | are not included in the estimate of up-
 ward of two million bottles of genuine | "champagne" wine annually produced in | the United States.
 New York State.
 New York state is by far the largest | producer of American champagne, the
 industry in that state being chiefly in | Orange county, in the southeastern part | of the state, and Steuben county, in the l western section of the state consensus | of estimates by the producers and dealers 1 indicates that probably two-thirds of the | American champagnes of the genuine, | or fermented in the bottle variety, is
 produced In New York state the other | one-third being produced chiefly in north | ern Ohio, Missouri and CalIornia. The | area in which conditions are suited to the 1 production of champagne is estimated as | sufficiently large to render possible an | enormous increase in production, the | growth being at present limited by the | fact that large sums of capital are re- 1 ouired for its successful and profitable | production.
 One marked characteristic Of the large | number of letters received by the bu- reau of statistics upon this subject Is an
 almost uniform expression of opinion by | experts, whether engaged In importation | or otherwise that the American product | compares favorably with that produced | in other countries and is steadily improv-
 ing in quality with the increased experi-
 ence of American producers.
 l The conclusion of the bureau of statis- | tics from this study of champagne pro- | ducton in the United States is that the | quantity of genuine. fermented In the bot | tie champagne wine produced in this l country at present Is nearly one-half as | great as the importation of wine of the | same general class; or. in other words, | that about one-third of the genuine cham | pagne wine now consumed in this coun- | try Is of domestic production and the pro- | portion which the home product forms
 of the total is rapidly increasing.
 Former Officer Convicted. Huntsville, April 2S.-(Special)-J. H.