COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 293 
COMMITTEE ON GLUCOSE. 1882 
The request for the appointment of a committee of the 
Academy on the vexed question of glucose was received from the 
Commissioner of Internal Revenue a few days after the request 
for a committee on methyl alcohol. In a letter addressed to 
President Rogers, dated April 27, 1882, the Commissioner 
remarks: 
“There is now pending before Congress a bill (H. R. 3170) ‘ to tax and regu- 
late the manufacture and sale of glucose,’ which bill proposes to so amend the 
internal-revenue laws as to impose a special tax upon the manufacturers of, and 
dealers in, glucose, and to levy a tax on the article in its solid, liquid, and semi- 
liquid form. 
“Tn view of this, I have respectfully to request the appointment of a committee 
of the Academy to examine as to the composition, nature, and properties of the 
article commercially known as glucose, or grape sugar. 
“This office desires to be informed as to the saccharine quality of this product 
as compared with cane sugar or molasses, and also especially as to its deleterious 
effects when used as an article of food or drink, or as a constituent element of such 
articles. 
“Numerous specimens of the article in question are in the possession of this, 
office which will be placed at the disposal of the Academy. 
“ Any expense necessarily incurred in conducting this inquiry will be paid upon 
the presentation of a properly prepared bill for that purpose.” 1*+ 
In accordance with the request contained in this letter the 
President, Wm. B. Rogers, appointed the following committee 
to consider the question at issue: Ira Remsen, C. F. Chandler, 
G. F. Barker. The committee reported on September 18, 1882. 
The magnitude of the starch-sugar industry in the United 
States will be appreciated from the consideration of some 
statistics taken from the report of the committee of the Academy 
and from other sources. In 1882 there were 32 glucose and 
starch-sugar factories in the country with an estimated capacity 
of 43,000 bushels of corn a day. In 1884 there were 29 factories 
capable of utilizing 40,000 bushels a day. In 1902 the factories 
had been reduced by combination to five which, however, used 
175,000 bushels of corn a day. The combined capital of four of 
™ Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1883, p. 66. 
