Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-05-18
Scientific Detectives
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

tern town VINO delivered IL secretly 10
the factory.
Another difficulty encountered by
the government is the plotting done
by the seller of distilled liquors to
escape the taxes When whisky Is
100 per cent Of the laboratory standard
Of strength and quality, it pays tax
of $1.10 gallon; when ITO per cent 1t
pays $1.21 gallon and so on. In.
spectors are kept in the field, provided
with instruments for testing various
grades of WHISTLES, and report the
slightest inaccuracy between the quail.
ity and the amount of taxes. A close
check Is kept on each distillery. 1t
must give full account of all the
grain it uses, the amount used In each
fermenter; the time the grain goes In
that fermenter and the time 1t comes
out, and the amount of spirits made
from It, The product of the grain ".
ing in the fermenting tubs Is called
distilled beer, and 1t is the strength of
this which must be kept track OF by
the government Inspector. In spite of
these precautions, four distilleries in
southern city couple Of years ago
succe eded in cheating the government
of the tax on hundred gallons Of
whisky out OF every two hundred gal.
Ions distilled daily. The fraud was
discovered, however and the taxes
paid.
Butter is also a subject of expert
mentation in the detective work OF the
laboratory. 1t is tested first to see II
it really is butter, and then to deter
mine the amount of water contained IN
| it If 1t contains Is per cent or over
of water, it is called adulterated. and
pays tax Of ten cents pound. mir
teen per cent is the usual water con-
tent. but as one manufacturer told DR.
Adams, his product was l5.97--just
three-hundredths outside of the peni-
Tertiary. II in every hundred pounds
Of butter a manufacturer can sell two
pounds of water, it NAV be seen that
he is making considerable profit on the
production.
In testing butter the laboratory ex-
perts first place it in weighed dish
on scales so sensitive that the human
breath moves them and SO accurate
that the slightest difference Is Instant
~ perceptible. Afterwards the butter
is heated in an electrical oven until the
water content is eliminated. Then It
is weighed again, the weight OF the
water being deducted.
Perhaps the most interesting work
of the laboratory is the testing OF GER
tain medicines and beverages to deter
mine if they contain narcotics. fh1s
is done by the means of chemical re-
agents. For example, one OF the chem
isis suspects the presence OF heroln IN
certain patent medicine. He puts
crop of the liquid on a small ob!ong
piece Of glass and adds a drop OF plat.
mum chloride which is the chemlcal
reaeent used to detect this drug. II
heroin is present the two liquids I'M
mediately coalesce into what shows as
mass of yellow crystals under the
| microscope. This test Is infallible, ana
is the means Of keeping many spurious
| products of the market.
| Hence it becomes increasingly nse-
lass for the would be crook to spend
lot of money in avoiding taxation when
| in the end he has to pay 1t anyway
There is no evading the microscope OF
the narcotics laboratory, nor the de-
tective abilities of its experts VINO by
constant work in this direction can
recognize the smell Of opium In pass
ing through building. can taste cleo.
+. margarine however we'll disguised anu
know by. glancing at the color OF a dis
| titled product what Is its strength and
quality The annual income Of the gov
eminent from the tax on distilled liq-
nors alone is about hundred and for
tv.fiye million dollars. Thus 1t may be
seen that the work done by the labora-
tory in checking up the various tax
having industries is highly important: