The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-08
SIGNAL VICTORY
 FUR D|ST|LLERS Solicitor General Defines Good
 and Bad Whisky DECISION IS NOT FINAL According to MT. Bowers the coloring Matter In Whisky Does Not Af-
 feet It's Value As a Com
 mercial Product.
DECISION IS NOT FINAL

| Washington, June 7.--Lloyd w Bowers, Solicitor General of the United States, today submitted to President Taft his opinion as to what the term whisky means in law.
 | In effect Solicitor General Bowers holds after discussing at great length what the term whisky" meant at the time of the passage of the pure food law. that the public does not consider that added col bring or flavoring matter can make whis- ky out of what otherwise is not whisky ] Whisky is regadred generally and natu- rally as having flavor and properties ] of its own. He says;
 There is no more reason for saying alcohol becomes whisky because colored and favored like some true whisky than for saying alcohol becomes brandy be- cause colored or favored like some bran I dy. On the other hand, the mere addi- tion of harmless eoloring or havoring matter to what is previously whisky does not destroy its whisky character unless such addition unduly dilutes or otherwise affects the essential properties of the whisky.
 Whisky having been in all it's history extensively and variously colored and fla vored by addition of extraneous matter, such coloring and favoring cannot be considered illegitimate or incompatible with the name whisky. The United States pure food law also provides in terms that the addition of harmless col bring and havoring ingredients used for the purpose of coloring and fiavoring only is consistent with the term blend, and therefore, of course, may be done without creating compound article. Mixing of Drinks.
 One of the most important matters in practical view is whether a mixture of an admitted whisky with neutral spirits or alcohol may be called whisky" said MT. Bowers.
 Such mixtures have been made most extensively for long period and have become most popular form of beverage in the Unitel States and England. It is even true, as l understand the testimony, that larger quantity of these mixtures than of straight whisky has been con- sumed during the last 20 years or more"
 The mixture of whisky with alcohol or neutral spirits is entitled to the name whisky, MT. Bowers holds, provided the mixture retains a substantial amount of by-products in proportion to the volume of the mixture, giving distinct flavor and properties. He says the addition of alco- hol to whisky is not the introduction of foreign substance, but is merely an enlargement of the proportion of one proper constituent. It is merely a dilu- tion as the addition of water is The di- lution by alcohol lessens only the congo | neric strength. Unmistakably the reduc- tion of the stronger straight whisky by the addition of alcohol to an identity with the weaker straight whisky does not de- prive the mixed article of the name of whisky. Continuing, MT. Bowers says:
 Under a DelusIon. So long as the mixed article varies only in respect of being stronger or weaker without losing distinctive havors and properties in substantial degree, and consequently the article has not been all tered in it's essential nature, 1t cannot be said that the public has given the name whisky to the article in reference to its character or under delusion concern ing the things to which the name whisky has been applied. Even compound ar
 
 things wholly foreign each to the other, may through uniform application to 1t by the public of a single distinctive name ! acquire the full right to that name. In | such case the established distinctive name properly describes the compound article, and the pure food act, that in the case of mixtures of compounds which may be now or from time to time hereafter [ known as articles of food under their own l disfjnrffUa nd iy f,,,t+ +io,, of or offered for sale under the distinc- | tive name of another article' | The use of such name shall not be a misbranding.
 l Not an Imitation.
 Whisky, mixed with alcohol, cannot be an imitation of other whisky, while | it still retains the requisite amount of bi- | products of the distillation from grain but 1t is identical with unmixed whisky | under the description which I have given of it. And mixed whisky remains identi- cal in constitution and character which another article properly called whisky | cannot in its own use of name of whisky be said to be using the distinctive name | of the other identical article"
 Solicitor General Bowers holds that the name whisky has no different scope, whether 1t be used as a drug or as a | beverage He also holds that the con- tention that whisky may be made from molasses is incorrect
 While the opinion of MT Bower is not final, and may be overturned by a subse- quent proceedings, 1t is distinctively a victory for the contention of the blended whisky distillers, and it is a reversal of the position heretofore taken by the de- pertinent of agriculture. The opinion Is very voluminous, consisting of thousands of pages of testimony and a resume of
 
 General Bowers.
 President Taft authorized the opinion of Solicitor General Bowers to be made public, but annexed no opinion himself | because 1t was his desire to hear further testimony taken from what Is known as