The Washington times., 1916-01-29
A BY.PRODUcT OF THE
SHEPPARD BILL

n bHsFkODOSI VI tuE
SHEPPARD BILL
Whether or'no one believes in pro-
hibition-even in the sort Of armor-
plated prohibition provided for the
District by the pending Sheppard
bill-there can be but one sentiment
here concerning. the probable effect
of the proposed law on the business
of the Corby Company. This is one
Of the largest industrial concerns in
the District and in the perfectly
legitimate business Of manufactur-
ing yeast it employs a large num-
Der of residents of the District and
sells its products all over the coun-
try in competition with other con-
Germs.
In the manufacture Of yeast the
principal by-product is. pure grain
alcohol. 1T is impossible to make
yeast without making at the same
time this pure grain alcohol and it is
the income from the alcohol and
other by-products which enables
yeast manufacturers to sell yeast at
the present prevailing low prices
and, in turn, enables bakers to make
at a profit the regulation ive-cent
loaf Of bread. Any increase in the
cost of yeast certainly will be re-
fiected in the size or price of the
loaf of bread.
Under the pending Sheppard law
the production of pure grain alcohol
is absolutely prohibited in the Dis
trict. There is no differentiation in
the bill between alcohol for beverage
purposes and alcohol for commercial
purposes; for the purpose of the au-
thor Of the bill all grain alcohol
looks alike and none may be manu-
factured in the District. But, recog-
nizing that there is need for medici-
nal, for scientific, and for other
commercial purposes of pure grain
alcohol the bill permits certain guam
titles to be imported under very
rigid restrictions.
In other words the bill penalties
one of the largest local industries to
the extent of forbidding the manu-
facture Of a legitimate product
which the citizens Of the District
then will be forced to buy from con-
Germs outside Of the District. There
could be nothing more unfair than
that to the 200 or more employees of
the Corby Company, practically all
of whom are residents of the Dis
trict, or to the stockholders of the
company, who are local people and
have spent their money and are
spending their money here.
The Corby Company officials de-
clare that not one ounce of the al
cohol they manufacture is used or
will be used for beverage purposes;
that the contracts for the sale of this
by-product provide, in accordance
with the temperance sentiments of
the heads of the concern, that the
alcohol must be used only for
medicinal, scientific, and commercial
purposes. Much of the alcohol is
used here in the local hospitals and
Government departments. To de-
nature it, as the proposed law per-
mits, would be, according to the Of
ficials of the concern, to make it
largely unavailable for hospital and
scientific purposes and so greatly
decrease its value as to seriously
threaten the company's income and
make it less possible to compete with
other yeast concerns.
Some of the people back of the
pending Sheppard bill are frank
enough to say that the Corby, Com
pany will have to move out Of the
District if it wants to continue its
business should the bill become a
law. But that does not seem to The
Times to be a fair or decent attitude
toward one of the Districts very few
industries. The bill is drastic enough
in its other provisions without going
to the possible extent of throwing
out of work. considerable number
of employees of a perfectly legiti.
mate enterprise.
|