The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1907-05-30
Whiskey.
Norfolk yirginian Pilot.

materially affect the well-being OF the
masses of the people is not stranger
than the Indifference with which the
same masses look upon evils which
are both patent and potent agencies
of mischief. Make speech at coun-
try eros ,-road about the extortlon
of railroad rates, the extent to which
the coal companies plumber the con
sumers, the rascalities of the insur-
ance system, of the ex cessive charges
for school books, and you can enlist
the active hatred OF such abuses In
the minds OF men who neither travel
nor make shipments. who cut their
own fuel, who never took out a life
or fire policy, and who have no chill
dren. But tell the same audience,
and demonstrate the fact beyond
possibility of contradiction, that the
-four of which their bread is made
abounds in hurtful elements, or that
sixty per cent OF of the cost OF clothes
they wear goes into the pockets OF
the manufacturer by help of aprefer-
entail government tax, or show them
that what they buy and drink as
whiskey is nothing. but an aggrega-
ton of ethyl alcohol and favoring
essences, poisonous to both mind
and body,-and what follows? List
less attention, failure to impress,
sad your audience disperses, never
to give second thought to the tar
iff which is consuming their substance
never to question the character of
their daily bread, but mainly stop
ping by some groggery on the home
ward way to quaff drugged bumper
to the destruction of those ills which
do not really touch their lives.
'Iet the label tell the TRUTH" says
President Roosevelt. What is the
import of this applied to the liquor
business of the country? The chem
ical bureau of the Agricultural de-
partment finds from analysis of two
thousand samples of the various de-
cOctiOns on the market as whiskey
that 80 per cent. has no entitlement
to the name The agitation of this
subject is not new. 1t began during
Clevelal,d's first administration. The
trade protested then as now; but de-
MED then, as it cannot now, the
wholesale practice OF adulteratiOn.
Then came a time in the debate in
the House of Representatives, when
Mr.. Stanley. Of Kentucky, in behalf
of the bill for reform achieved a dra-
matte climax. Mr.. Haskins tells us
in his report of that striking episode
that the Kentucky Congressman
"made his way down to the forum
under the Speaker Cannon's desk
and held aloft a druggists graduate
filled with white pure neutral spirits.
Placing it on a desk, he took from
his pocket some walls of essences of
rye and bourbon and IL small vial
of coloring matter. With the skill
OF u Hermann or a Keller he con-
verted the neutral spirits into IA
year-Old whiskey and defied any sex
pert in the House to tell the differ
ence between it and the genuine. 1T
is the kind of so-called whiskey
which the pure-food bill aims to stop,
said Mr.. Stanley. 1t is this sort,
made out of this new alcohol, that
will eat the very vitals out OF a coy
ote; it will make Il bowling dervish
out of all ancliOrite; it will make a
rabbit walk right up and spit i'll a
bull dogs eye
That settled the fate of the amend
ment to the pure food bill The stuff
which the trade had been selling and
the public drinking was so described
by a Congressional committee four
teen years ago:
Neutral or cologne spirits possessing
| the same alcohol strength as whiskey
and being susceptible to the most deli,
cate flavor and color, can easily, and
| with little expense, be given the OdoI
and appearance of aged whiskey. With
| the alcoholic basis, Bourbon and rye
whsikies. coniac brandies. Jamaica rum
gin, cordials, etc. are produced from the
| same tank, by the use of oils, essences
and cOlOring mixtures
Yet for fourteen years the hundreds
of thousands of indulgers in intoxi-
cants in this country have scarcely
showed a flicker of interest in the
subject, and the period of time
| was necessary to extOrt from Con.
gress IL law compelling those who
offered such blended counterfits for
sale to brand them as such, SO that
at least the purchaser should be ad
vised of the nature of the thing he
was to put into his mouth to steaI
away his health and brain. Now the
Government is doing his part. The
Acknowledgement has construed the
law SO as to make it efficient, If the
public cares to avail itself of the pro
lection provided. The President has
ordered the law to be administered
in conformity with the construction
of the law department.. The class
which is the militant array against
enforcement of the act is entitled tc
no consideration from any class O
imbibers. The clever mixers have
been no respecters of persons. The
same trick has been played upon the
clubman in his luxurious apart
ment as on the longshoreman in the
dive on the levee or negro in thu
blind tiger. The Scotch whiskey 0
the delettante, the old Bourbon O
the Southern connoisseuer, the Lon
don dock of the Norfolk Judge o
iulips, each and all have been subjec
to the same manipulation. The ba
sis of the nickel dram was the sam,
as that OF the high-priced high-bal
or cocktail, the only difference con
sisting in the fiavoring matter uset
for the more dainty palate
| Cnsidering that a large portion O
humanity will drink spurious liquors
Government has few functions NOR
important than to see that 9TH
labels shall tell the truth" If the lay
can't control the appetite OF man fo1
stimulants, at least it should guar'
his indulgence against the gree
which substitutes liquid fire for tn
slower and certain poison of homes
Installations of the grains and fruits
| Cures Eczema ffchin0 hunorS pin,