tillers, and boundry taxes were raised by the several divisions 

 of the monarchy. In all there were 67 different tariffs ex- 

 isting. 1 Under the Stein-Hardenburg ministry steps were 

 taken to free the industry from some of these claims. First, 

 the ancient monopoly rights of production and sale (Brannt- 

 weinzwang), held by guilds and individuals, were largely an- 

 nulled by the edict of October 28, 1810. Then the edicts of 

 October 27th and November 20th of the same year taxed all 

 distilleries,, city and country, alike. 2 The form of the lew 

 was the still tax, controlled through a tax on materials, viz., 

 a tax according to the capacity of the worm. This position of 

 equality with the city distilleries, the heavier burden, and the 

 novelty of indirect taxation, resulted in such complaints from 

 the country distillers that the raising of the tax was soon sus- 

 pended, except as one on materials. Another attempt at a 

 still tax was made by the edict of September 7, 1811, which 

 retained the tax in its earlier form and height for the cities, 

 but lowered it seventy-five per cent, for the country. The ad- 

 dition of territory through the wars of 1813-15 had introduced 

 new complications into the tax system, and in 1819 (Febru- 

 ary 8th) the still tax was extended over all parts of Prussia. 3 

 After 1811 the complaints of the farmers over the new form 

 of taxation largely ceased, as the industry had gone to work to 

 produce as much alcohol as possible in a short time ; or in the 

 twenty-four hours taken by the law as the standard distilling 

 period, to produce more alcohol than the law assumed, thus 

 saving tax. During the second decade of the century distill- 

 ing, developed with great rapidity. This was largely the re- 

 sult of the low prices for agricultural products which followed 

 the Napoleonic wars. Alcohol remained high t in price and 

 distillation was considered the best means of utilizing the 

 grain. So large numbers of land-owners erected stills. 

 There were in Prussia in 1812, 19,203 such plants; in 1816, 

 24,092; and in 1820, 35,364. 4 



1. Conrad's " Handwoerterbuch der Staatswiseenschaften ;" 1st ed., vol. ii. 

 p. 557. 



2. Wolf's Branntweinsteuer, p. 49. 



3. Wolf, pre. cit., p. 53. 



4. Meitzen, "Boden u. landwirtschaftliche Verhaeltnisae, Etc.;" vol. ii.,p. 

 392. 



