The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-21
Frederic Haskin's Lett
Bleeding Old J. B. to Death.

and this lerson must b. ,l
show q pei init.
Redaclng WltAlraval.
This ruling went into ~.
August, 1920. In july ~
Withdrawals Of whisky alons !,
bonded warehouses for use !. IN.
country were almost two nm.
gallons. In October. 1920. ~. n.
new ruling had been in eftect .
months. they had dropped 4 :,
than one million galions -, n
month And there is evidenc. :
still further decrease for n
ture.
( The evident fact is that in -,
fers OF liquor from one vho,s'.,
to another. some Of it went ss,..a
The bureau could not nos.Ss
keep track Of all of it.
Thus the flow of whiekv f-.- /,
bonded warehouses is dviss';.
But this warehouse liquor ia 4 ~
tied supply, which will oulv
substantial factor in the situss,.s
for q few years anyway,
A far more difficult probes !.
the law enforcement divisie. =
presented by the manufactu,s !.
ethyl alcohol for industriai ~
poses. During 1920 about ~
600 gallons Of distilled spirits ~
manufactured in the United sns~
Distilled spirits in this case -.
mostly ethyl alcohol Of hiEh ~
1t is not supposed to be beye,ss.
out 1t is the basis of every An
holtc beverage. The bootlssss.
colors 1t and fiavors it and nm :
for whisky. BY the addition uf -
tain essential oils it may BE- -.
into a gin which is hardly diifl
guishable from real gin. In A.
there are formulas for the miiissl
OF almost all liquors withe peocs
spirit, as a basis. Most Of tn, n
quors sold oyer bars Of the chem,
sort before prohibition were IN.
alphabetically made, and there 6 4
the library of congress a lara IN
erature bearing such titles q .sTha
Barkeeper's Friend" and the "A.
crets Of the Liquor Business, !" IN.
ing how to make everything fram
rye whisky to the rarest importel
liquors in the room behind the 8,
Alcohol win Go Astray,
AS long as good proof ethyl slco.
hol 10 manufactured in large ousa.
titles. therefore. 1t is hard to Dr..
vent some Of 1t from being drunt
All is purchased for some non.bey.
erage purpose. but it is Impossible
Tor any merely human organisatjop
to be sure that it is all used for
non beverage purposes. ~
The only method which has Nees
suggested for preventing the use d
this proof spirit for drinking IL tn
Of enforcing a ruling or Law TIM
all of 1t must be mixed with eome
other ingredient which will MAKE
it non-potable, before it leaves thu
distillery. 1t is understood that
some of the prohibitionists s6usht
to have the internal revenue DE-
partment make a ruling to this Il.
feet But it seems that the lav.
yers Of the bureau did not care Ia
make such a ruling. They felt thai
further legislation from congres1
was necessary. Accordingly, Il Il
understood that the prohibitionists
will seek to have congress pass I
law which will provide in effect
that ll alcohol manufactured for
Industrial use must be made poiD-
onouS before it leaves the distil-
lery. g.
Several difficulties present then
selves. For one thing. pure ethyl
alcohol is necessary for some ~.
poses. For another thing, maly
manufacturers have secret foruu-
las which they would have to u.
vulge to the government in or1ss
that the government might doctor
their alcohol in the right way.
The whole problem will proba-
bly, be put up to congress.