4:2 



leum and gasoline motors so extensively used by small manu- 

 facturing establishments in Germany. Encouraged by prizes 

 offered by the trade and by Emperor William, excellent ma- 

 chines have been invented, and the extensive exhibits of such 

 motors in the German agricultural fairs, etc., in the last three 

 or four years' show that from the standpoint of efficiency, 

 safety and cleanliness they have no need to fear the compe- 

 tition of petroleum and gasoline. Only one thing stands in 

 the way of the almost unlimited extension of the use of spirits 

 for light, heat and powder production, and that is the price, 

 which must be low enough to compete with petroleum and its 

 products. The chief difficulty in the past has been the con- 

 nection between the price of alcohol for drinking and for 

 technical purposes. If the two could be divorced, and the 

 price on the former raised very materially, so that the profit 

 on its sale would allow the saMe of "denaturirte" spirits at les^ 

 than the cost of production, the problem would be solved. 



In 1899 an organization of the producers and refiners came 

 into existence, which has the accomplishment of this very 

 thing in view, namely, the alcohol trust or the "Centrale fuer 

 Spiritus-Verwertung." This is a union of the chief dealers 

 in and refiners of spirits, and the "Verwertungs-Verbando 

 Deutcher Spiritus-Fabrikanten" joined together to secure 

 better prices for their product. For many years, as we have 

 seen, the distilling interests had been suffering from low 

 prices. Protected by a high tariff from foreign competition, 

 and aided by the low tax on a considerable portion of the 

 product, there seemed to be no reason why an organization of 

 the principal producers might not be able to control the mar- 

 ket and secure higher prices. Many efforts were made toward 

 these ends, but not until 1899 did any of the plans become f* 

 reality. Early in the year the society of the leading distillers, 

 "Verein der Spiritus-Fabrikanten," began the agitation look- 

 ing toward union of all the alcohol interests. The intellectual 

 leaders of the movement were successful, and by April 1st,. 

 75 per cent, of the agricultural distillers had been secured. 

 The remainder of the dealers and manufacturers were too- 

 Weak to resist and joined the movement, which began its ofli- 



