STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 215 



procure good qualities at fair prices. There is, throughout the East, a pre- 

 vailing opinion among intelligent people that our industry should be 

 encouraged as a means to stay the tendency to the abuse of distilled 

 spirits. 



Our immediate obstacles are : 



First — Want of commercial relations directly with the consumers. 



Second — Exorbitant profits charged by the retailers, whereby wine is 

 caused to be considered a rare luxury, beyond the reach of any but the 

 rich. 



Third — Ignorance of the public as to where and how to procure pure 

 wines at fair prices. 



Fourth — Ruinous competition by the trade with spurious wines. 



Fifth — Revenue laws which obstruct exportation, prevent proper matur- 

 ing of brandies, and discriminate against original distillers in favor of com- 

 pounders. 



Sixth — Excessive demands of prohibition and local option movements, 

 which make no discrimination between pure fermented beverages and dis- 

 tilled and spurious compounds. 



All these difficulties may be overcome as we progress; but in view of 

 immediate necessities, when our production suddenly enlarges, we must 

 have free scope for exportation, and freedom for holding brandy in bond, 

 without tax, until ready for sale; also equalization of burdens of taxation — 

 brandy, costing more to produce, should be taxed less than whisky. 



The public must be generally informed on true temperance issues : 



(a) Forcing distillers to pay taxes before nominal demand takes them 

 on the market, forces the sale of new spirits and causes extra exertions to 

 procure consumers, thereby seriously injuring the public welfare. 



(b) Forbidding distillers to break up their packages in bond, forces all 

 the trade in small lots into the hands of wholesale dealers and compound- 

 ers (called rectifiers), whereby the stamp of the distiller, guaranteeing 

 purity and age, is lost. Distillers should be able to send out their goods 

 in any size packages, under distillers' stamps. 



(c) Saloons should be regulated; very low licenses for beer and wines; 

 high licenses and restriction as to number of saloons — per capita of popu- 

 lation — for the sale of spirits, and restriction in such places to the sale of 

 pure distilled goods, purchased under distillers' stamps, at least three 

 years old. This would cut off the adulterated goods made from new alco- 

 hol, and protect the consumer, who, in the saloon, is at the mercy of the 

 barkeeper. 



(d) It should be popularly known that the grievous harm traceable to 

 intemperance comes from the abuse of distilled spirits and adulterations, 

 not from pure fermented drinks — beer and wine. All these questions have 

 a direct bearing on our prosperity and respectability. 



Viticulture is the pride of all civilized countries which can successfully 

 encourage it, Whenever it assumes sufficient importance to satisfy all 

 home demands, intemperance is not a subject for public solicitude. 



With the suppression of adulterations, and proper control of saloons, 

 California may be said to be safe in future from the demon alcoholism. 

 The excess of her products will in time redeem other States, aided by intel- 

 ligent development of viticulture when practicable in other States. Our 

 products will diminish the drain on our wealth through importation, and 

 add to our strength through exportation. 



Beer in the saloons is an ally of temperance, and does not conflict with 

 wine at the table. 



