SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK -PART VIII. 915 



Which accompanies the public aununcement of the dividends of the 

 Standard Oil company. In other words, free alcohol as an open compet- 

 itor of the products of this company is calculated to cause a decline 

 in oil values that will be entertaining to say the least. 



The bill provides that free alcohol does not carry with it a license 

 to indulge in the original intoxicant as a beverage. It contemplates 

 that ample protection shall be provided along this line by demanding 

 that it shall contain an obnoxious substance which will cause the indul- 

 gent but indiscreet imbiber to ascend the "golden stairs" at a speed 

 which medical science will find difficult to arrest. Denaturized alcohol 

 does not mean a medium for producing a state of hilarity but is for 

 commercial purposes only. The mixing of some obnoxious and poisonous 

 fluid with the original affords ample protection to the government and 

 at once produces an undrinkable article. 



It is not difficult to point out the far reaching effects which the 

 removal of the tax will have upon the industries of this country, and 

 it is equally simple to produce proofs to show that free alcohol is based 

 upon sound economic principles. As matters now stand in this coun- 

 try, alcohol for beverages and industrial alcohol are subject to a tax 

 of over $2.00 per gallon. Industrial alcohol, according to the depart- 

 ment of agriculture, could be sold profitably, were there no tax on it, 

 for about 15 cents per gallon; and under the increased demand that 

 v.'ould be sure to follow, it is possible it could be sold profitably for 10 

 cents a gallon. 



VALUABLE AS INDUSTRIAL MATERIAL. 



The fact that the United States is the only important manufactur- 

 ing and commercial country in the world which makes no distinction 

 between alcohol as a beverage and high proof alcohol used in the arts 

 and manufactures, is due chiefly to the popular lack of knowledge as to 

 the value of alcohol as an industrial material. 



Alcohol is absolutely necessary in the organic and chemical indus- 

 try, and in the manufacture of the great majority of such chemicals 

 large quantities must be used. Owing to cheap alcohol the German 

 manufacturers in these lines have developed their industries so that 

 they are the foremost in the world, and have secured almost the entire 

 trade in neutral markets. Not only this, but they sell large q.uanti- 

 ties in this country, the advantage resulting from cheap alcohol being 

 sufficient to enable their products to be sold here in spite of our pro- 

 tective tariff. The total manufacture of fine chemicals in this country 

 is valued at less than $5,000,000 while the value of these articles exported 

 by Germany exceeds $50,000,000. 



It is important to note that ethyl, or grain alcohol, is the only 

 domestic material essential to many important manufacturing processes, 

 and highly valuable for general, industrial purposes, which is subject 

 to an internal revenue taxation. All other domestic articles on which 

 an internal revenue is imposed are finished products which enter into 

 consumption on payment of the tax, and are not used as an industrial 

 material bv manufacturers. 



