13 



raw grain spirits is iniu-li purer than that made from potatoes, 

 and the direct retail of grain alcohol for drinking purposes is 

 often carried on by distillers, the profits of which enable many 

 small grain distillers to maintain an existence, while raw 

 potato spirits is unfit for consumption without refining. So, 

 with increased competition and higher taxes, the small potato 

 distillers were forced to the ground, and only the larger ones 

 have been able to maintain themselves. 



The amount of potatoes used in the entire monarchy in- 

 creased very greatly, being four times as much in 1887 as in 

 1831, or 6,607,582 and 24,530,451 double centners respect- 

 ively. During the same period the increase in the quantity 

 of grain was very much less, or from 2,170,522 to 3,108,701 

 d. c. 1 



From the character of the tax on alcohol, the statistics of 

 the amount of spirits produced in Prussia during the period 

 under consideration must remain mere estimates, and are at 

 best very uncertain, as they depend upon the quantity taken 

 as the average amount of spirits produced from a certain vol- 

 ume of mash. This, we know, varied greatly with the thick- 

 ness of the mash, and the distilling apparatus, and was always 

 uncertain. Dieterici 2 estimated the products in the eight old 

 Prussian provinces at 171 mil. liters of 50 per cent, spirits 

 for 1831, and at 224.5 mil. liters for 1839. In 1842, a low, 

 careful estimate was 228 mil. liters, or a decrease from former 

 years as a result of the potato rot. Then, too, the powerful 

 temperance movement of the period had reacted on produc- 

 tion, so we find the estimates decreasing, that for 1845 being 

 201 mil. liters. In 1838, the tax was raised from 62 to 72 

 marks for 100 hectoliters, and the assumed yield of alcohol 

 from a quart of mash raised from 2 to 2.5 per cent., which for 

 a short time lowered the product. In 1847, distilling was 

 partially forbidden to lower the price of potatoes. Unfavor- 

 able crops and high prices for materials continued to lessen 

 the amount of alcohol produced, though favored by im- 



1. From Jahrb. fuer Amtliche Statistik. etc., 1876 and Monatshefte, 1887. 



2. C. F. W. Dieterici, Statist. Uebersicht der Wichtigsten Gegenstaende des 

 Verkehrs u. Verbrauches im. preuss. Staat 1839, p. 223; 1842, p. 332; 1845, p. 365. 



