The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1926-12-30
j. 5. WILL stop
POISON RUN
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Of any law would De complete.
The Secretary Feels that II Is 4
question as to what extent the law
can be enforced.
According to the Secretary, the
Treasury Is endeavoring to bring
about the most complete enforce
rnent possible.
| Mellon explained that the whole
purpose OF the denaturing process
| n to make available tax-free alcohol
/ for the arts and industries and TO
prevent its Redistribution BY the boot
| logger To attain this objective n
strong denaturant IL necessary.
Deaths Always Occur
He pointed out that there never
has been q holiday season In which
deaths from the consumption OF
alcohol did not occur. Bad liquor
and alcoholic poisoning existed even
before prohibition Iii tl1e,view Of the
Treasury, the use OF alcoholic com
pounds and excessive consumption
OF bootleg stuff were responsible for
more deaths than was poisoned in.
dustrial alcohol.
Bootleggers were said to be turn
Ing to Industrial alcohol az virtually
the only source Of supply left The
Government, 1t was explained. has
stopped largely the smuggling Of
foreign LIQUOR and has checked leaks
of good whisky from the distiiler1eS.
New denaturing formulas are
under Investigation by DR.. j. M
Doran and William ", Under. chief
chemists Of the, prohibition unit.
While the Federal law provides
for wood alcohol as q basic de-
maturing element, Doran explained
that It's use is optional.
wood alcohol is the most salts
factory denaturaht so far dtscov.
cred" Doran said. 'tThe Government
il investigating denaturants seeking
to discover an element more difficult
to remove from alcohol by redistilla-
ton.
Law Requires Denaturant
"If a nonpoisonous element is
found more suited to the purpose
than wood alcohol it will be used.
Doran explained that the law Of
June e, 1907, inauguratinG the &C.
maturing process, stipulated that
alcohol may be removed from ware"
houses tax.free for use in industries
and arts provided II il mixed with
ethyl wood alcohol or other de-
maturing materials"
The law provides that the de-
maturing process shall destroy its
character as beverage AND renoer
it unfit for liquid medicinal pur1
poses" The character and quantity
OF the denaturfng material SHAH De
prescribed by the Treasury,
Wood alcohol is used In but IiVe
OF the present seventy formulas
for denaturing, according TO LAnoer'
Not a Deadly Poison
Chemists insisted that per cent
wood alcohol does not create q
deadly poison unless used continual
~ over long period. A beverage
with this and other denaturants,
however, was held injurious 70
health.
During the year wood alcohol was
used in the denaturing of $4,000, 900
gallons of alcohol, while the output
denatured by other processes
amounted to about 40.0O0.000 GAL
Ions.
Effective January /, formula No.
S, for completely denatured alcohol,
will be altered to contain instead
Of 2 per cent wood alcohol.
Used a. Base
Doran said that this increase will
not materially affect the poisonous
character OF the alcohol but has
been stipulated to form a better
base for other denaturing elements.
Other formulas, containing wood
alcohol. carry from to 10 per
cent of this product. but are issued
in comparatively small quantities.
By international News Service
NEW YORK, Dec. 30.--Eight
a dditional deaths attributed to poison
liquor today brought New York's
toll from holiday drinking up to "a.
With this record casualty list for
the metropolitan districts came fig.
ures from many parts of the nation
showing an astounding number of
deaths from poison alcohol for the
first fifty-one weeks of the year.
The staggering total for the coun-
try, in reports available up to to,
day, is 1907. Admittedly tho figure
actually is much larger, as an exact
total of the caSua les cannot no |