The Washington times., 1909-06-10
Liquor Decision

From Philadelphia North American
The whisky branding question
seemed pretty well settled by ths up
/ holding Of the explicit provisions of
/ the national pure, food law in the
rulings Of DR.. Wiley, sustained by re-
/ peated MESA ges of President Rnose-
welt, opinions of Attorney General
| Bonaparte, and decisions of different
Federal courts.
The question was simply one of
common sense. There was to be no
prevention of or penalty for the sale
of any sort of liquor. The rulings
meant only that the purchaser vas
entitled to the privilege of learning
from the label whether he was buying
what he was paying for.
Undoctored whisky was TO be label
ed whisky" A mixture of two real
whistles was to labeled blend A
mixture of whisky with something
that is not whisky was to be labeled
compound" A concoction that
smelled and tasted like whisky, but
contained no whisky, was to be label
ed Imitation"
That was all there was to the urovi-
sions of the pure food law governing
| interstate commerce in whisky. 1t
was such simple, incontrovertible reg
ulatiOn for square dealing that every
| American who thought he knew along
what lines the Administration of vii
liam II. Taft would be conducted scoffed
at the idea that this question was not
| a closed chapter.
So We had to wonder little when
there followed not long after Presi-
| dent Tafts executive order, reopening
the whisky branding question settled
| by Attorney General Bonaparte's sue
cessive opinions and President Roose-
| velts orders giving executive effect
/ thereto.
We wonder a little more today when
we read the opinion of President Tafts
Solicitor &c leral and remember that
any good lawyer can cite for you ?. Ger
tain ruling which may be summarized
as follows
Alcohol AID whisky are, unquestion-
ably, different articles in contempla-
| ton OF law, as they are ia fact, having
different Qualities ami different values
| lOpinion CI Alphonso Taft, Attorney
General. constructing section 3449 OF in
] ternal revenue laws; see Internal Reve-
nue. Record, August y, 1876, volume 22)
The real meaning Of this reopened
controversy of course is that the CON
Spiracy 70 weaken. break down, and
nuliify the pure food laws Is vide
spread, powerful, and persistent Con
corning the workings of the conspira-
I
/ ions of any advocate OF local option.
assuredly not an argument of any Pro
/ hibltiOniSt, not even the comment OF
] liquor trade Journal allied with or sub
sldlzed by any class Of distillerS. We
| prefer to quote an upholder Of Eastern
! brewers and honest Eastern blenders
| These are extracts two years old from
the Philadelphia Retail Liquor DeSlers'
! Journal:
THE pure food laws do not forbid the
manufacture Of limitations They de-
mand only that the public shall not be
| deceived by limitations, that limitations
shall be sold as limitations, and not as
the real article.
"The pure feod laws attack not a
single thing that is honest
The pure food laws impose no re-
strictions whatever on honest bleEss of
whisky or anything else. If a blend is
an honest blend IL two whistles of
different ages are blended and no
adulterants are added to cheaper the
cost of production, then the pure food
! laws do not in the least affect the label
! OF such blend
.The harmful substitutes used by the
aduiterattng blenders are so much
cheaper than the legitimate components
of liquors that their extensive use I'M
! der immunity from prosecution actually
/ places heavy penalty on the sale Of
honest goods"
Yet today the ruling OF President
Tafts Solicitor General is that the con-
sumner is entitled to no warning Or the
label that he is not drinking pure,
straight, o-many-years-old wills
ky" provided the poisoner has rolled
one barrel OF real whisky into the front
door of the cellar from the back door
Of which he ships a hundred barrels of
a dosed, favored cheat. provided that
a modicum Of The real liquor is mixed
with mass of poison.
In the present case II is not for US
10 dispute the legal acumen Of Solicitor
General Bowers. We merely wonder
whether his judgment will be regarded
by President Taft as superior TO that
Of certain jurist whose decisions in
many other matters are precedents to-
day He was the Attorney General Of
the United States thirty-three years