Miscellaneous. 375 



the supervision of this department must be manufactured at 'reg- 

 ular' distilleries. 



"For your information, however, I will state that there is 

 nothing mysterious or complicated about a 'regular' distillery, and 

 that the manufacture of distilled spirits at a 'regular' distillery 

 is probably simpler than the 'manufacture of cheese.' " 



Instructions are then given in the letter for the guidance of 

 the farmer who wants to make alcohol in his "back yard." He 

 will be required to give bond, the effect of which is to prevent him 

 from defrauding the government of the tax on any distilled spirits 

 produced by him. 



The farmer will be required to establish a distillery ware- 

 house, and to tax-pay or denature, just as he may wish, the alcohol 

 produced by him. All of this will be done under government sup- 

 ervision, but the government pays for this supervision. The manu- 

 facturer of alcohol does not bear one cent of it. 



"If you will take the trouble to investigate," writes the In- 

 ternal Revenue Commissioner, "you will find that the laws and 

 regulations relating to the manufacture of denatured alcohol is 

 simply a business proposition, so far as the American farmer is 

 concerned, and he will not be greatly deterred from entering into 

 the business by what you are pleased to term 'ridiculous red tape 

 of the regulations and instructions.' " 



Guy E. Mitchell, 



Washington, D. C. 

 — Prairie Farmer. 



BUYING AND CONSIGNING. 



Many a dealer is selling fruits and vegetables without re- 

 gard to value or cost. His chief aim is to "do business," and whether 

 he sells his own or another's goods, if he can do a big business, all 

 his earthly longings are satisfied. It used to be thought the right 

 thing to try to sell goods of this character at a fair profit, and as 

 it was known that the chances of loss were greater on perishable 

 goods, an effort was made to obtain a safe margin. But that was 

 a good while ago, and under customs which are not now considered 

 up-to-date. These merchants now cut and slash the prices as 

 they gently hum, "Competition is the life of trade," There ought 

 to be some way for the authorities to save such fruit and produce 

 men from themselves. 



