The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-04-10
Editorial Comment
3.75 Malt Extract
(ChicagO Trihunel

The treasury department authorized six months
experiment with malt tonic with an alcoholic corr
tent OF 3.75 per cent. Pabsts in Milwaukee and
Annheuser-Busch in st. Louis were given permits
for the manufacture of this extract. 1t was to be
obtanablc at drug stores without prescription, to
meet requirements Of convaesccncc. The treasury
department allowed it be understood that requests
from hospitals had influenced the decision to make
the tonic available
1t is not beverage. A Tribune reporter who
took dose OF it at Pabst's wrote that it had tho
appearance of black molasscs and that one wine
glass of it required chaser and that two would
have demanded an antidote. There is medical opin.
ion that it is valuable to person cropping his way
back to health, but it is nothing healthy person
would include in his scheme of making life brighter.
AS as it was made known that the two per.
mits for the making Of the malt extract had been
issued Wayne B. Wheeler, general counsel of the
Anti-Saoon league, and four other league officials
issued a statement of protest. Mr. Wheeler said
that the so-caed malt medicinal liquid could be
easily diverted to beverage purposes could be
added to near beer to make potable beer
The treasury department is evidently convinced
of the value of the tonic in convalescence and of its
worthlessness as beverage. Nevertheless the per-
mits are experimental. If the ingenuity Of the cit
izenship found way of getting real glass OF
beer out of the 1915 tonic the methods of handling
it could be modified the making Of it could be
stopped.
The drys weighed the probability that the malt
was valuable to the sick with the possibility that
it could be used beverage and instantly decided
that the latter was sufficient to determine against
it, Many grocery stores and drug stores handle GIN
ger extracts. People remember that when they were
children they got dose of Jamaica ginger when
they had stomach ache. The ginger extracts have
high 80 per cent alcoholic content, but anti
Vosteadian who took tablespoon of that alcohol
/ would be climbing tree running for the lake.
All alcoholic compounds not protested although
the Anti-Saloon league might affirm that there
would be some way of getting ginger extracts into
beverage form and therefore there should be none.
The point of view in the malt case is interesting
because of the values it establishes 1t is apparent
that the possible needs of invalids of consid
Grafton if the other question is Could person not
an invalid possibly get glass OF beer out of the
stuff could he drink it beer in spite of the pro-
tests Of outraged palate and tortured stomach?
That point CT view gives the normal person ar
understanding Of the conflict between zealots and
moderates. A democratic success is founded on
moderation and tolerance. democratic experiment
can be wrecked by the lack of these qualities. In
the Anti-Saloon league the lack is complete.
An extension Of the protest against malt extract
would prohibit the growing Of grapes, grain and
fruit. 1t would prohibit the making of commercial
alcohol with all its essential uses. The possibility
that product could be used to provide alcoholic
beverage would rule as the determining factor and
if it could be so used the United States could not
raise such produce put out such products.