246 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



such instruments as applied to distilleries, or that the new com- 

 mittee would merely renew the recommendation of the com- 

 mittee of the Academy, or that to enact the second section of the 

 resolution, which prohibited the Treasury Department from 

 attaching any more meters to distilleries until the Commission 

 reported, would open the door to greater frauds. Those who 

 favored the resolution pointed out that the Tice meter had 

 proved effective as far as tried, but that other devices had been 

 brought forward after the adoption of the former had been 

 decided upon, which while operating on the same principle, 

 might give more accurate results, or operating on other prin- 

 ciples might give a better indication of the amount of spirits 

 produced or producible. They considered that the inventors of 

 these devices were entitled to a hearing and that the distillers 

 should not be compelled to pay for the Tice meters while it was 

 still uncertain whether they might not be soon discarded for 

 more effective ones. In the end the resolution prevailed and 

 was approved. 



Upon the passage of this resolution, the manufacturer whose 

 meters had been adopted by the Treasury Department, I. P. 

 Tice, discharged his employees and closed his manufactory. 

 The report of the new commission was submitted in March, 

 1868, and was again favorable to the Tice meter, which the com- 

 mittee of the Academy had already recommended. No action 

 was taken thereon, however, until July 20, 1868, when the Com- 

 missioner of Internal Revenue was authorized to adopt and pre- 

 scribe for use such meters as he should deem necessary. He once 

 more adopted the Tice meter, and Mr. Tice was persuaded to 

 reopen his manufactory and construct the instruments required. 

 Though he employed some 125 workmen to construct the meters 

 and others to attach them to the distilleries, only eleven were so 

 equipped in November, 1868. The distillers resisted the use of 

 the meters as far as possible, and some closed their distilleries to 

 prevent the application of the instruments." 



The matter had progressed thus far when the Commissioner 

 of Internal Revenue began to entertain suspicions as to the 



57 Rep. Comm. Int. Rev. for 1868, pp. xx, xxi. 



