STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 271 



of the machinery and house and land whereon it is located, for the 

 slightest technical violation of its stringent provisions, which are so con- 

 flicting as to be be} r ond the simple comprehension of the humble distiller ; 

 and, whereas, the law, by its system of rewards to informers and officials 

 in cases of seizure and sale, acts practically as a bounty upon injustice 

 and petty tyranny, inasmuch as the officer making the seizure is the 

 interpreter of the law, and passes upon the legality of his own acts, from 

 which there is no appeal, except at a ruinous expense and loss of time; 

 and, whereas, the ruling now imposed by the Commissioner of Internal 

 Revenue regarding a capacity and per diem tax is ruinous and inap- 

 plicable to the fruit distiller, and prevents the working of light and 

 inferior wines into brandy, and if persisted in, will effectually destroy 

 and close the fruit interest of California; therefore, be it 



Resolved by the Senate, the Assembl}' concurring, that our Senators 

 in Congress be instructed and our Representative* requested to lay the 

 facts stated in the preceding preamble before that body, and use their 

 utmost endeavors for the repeal of the said law, or such a modification 

 of it as will exempt fruit distillers from its provisions, as applied to malt 

 and grain distillers. 



Resolved, That his Excellency Governor Haight be requested to furnish 

 a copy of the foregoing resolution to each of our Senators and Repre- 

 sentatives in Congress. 



WILSON, Chairman. 



