AGRICULTURAL ALCOHOL IN GERMANY. 9 



ORGANIZATION OF THE CENTRAL ASSOCIATION. 



In 1899 there was organized the Society of German Distillers for 

 the Disposal of Alcohol (Yerwertungsband deutscher Spiritusfab- 

 rikanten), which included not only practically all of the agricultural 

 distilleries, but the most important of the city distilleries and refiners 

 as well. The members of this new organization entered upon a pre- 

 liminary contract for nine years with the Central Association for the 

 Disposal of Alcohol (Zentrale fiir Spiritusverwerthung) , which also 

 was a new corporation, with limited liabilities, to which belonged 

 almost all the rectifiers of alcohol. The members of the Distillers' 

 Society (Verwertungsverband) pledged themselves to turn over to 

 the Central Association for the purpose of disposal all of the alco- 

 hol manufactured by them. The Central Association in turn prom- 

 ised to dispose of the alcohol in the best manner possible, for a cer- 

 tain compensation which the members received primarily for the 

 rectification of the alcohol thus obtained. The essential feature of 

 the new cooperative organization was that the cooperating agricul- 

 tural distillers would receive the full year's value for their product 

 and that fluctuations in the price would no longer result exclusively 

 to the benefit of the dealers. 



On September 15, 1899, the new cooperative arrangement went 

 into force. A limitation of the production of alcohol by contract was 

 not contemplated. The peculiar nature of the agricultural distilla- 

 tion industry (Brennereigewerbe) did not lend itself readily to such 

 a limitation. Besides, the position of those distillers who remained 

 outside of the arrangement would have been strengthened, since these 

 distillers would not have been subject to such a limitation. It there- 

 fore became apparent from the very beginning that the Society of 

 Distillers would soon have to face the disposal of large quantities of 

 alcohol, and that this disposal could not be sought in an increase of 

 the amount of spirit used for drinking purposes. 



The future of the distilling industry, therefore, lay first of all in 

 the increased use of alcohol for technical purposes, and especially for 

 those purposes to which petroleum was applied. The Central Asso- 

 ciation from the very beginning of its organization regarded the 

 increase in this demand as its prime object. A special department, 

 the technical section of the Central Association (technischc Ab- 

 teibing dcr Zentrale fiir Spiritusverwerthung), Avas o-oatod, ha\'ing 

 manifold duties. It was to test existing api)aratus Avhich h-.xd been 

 constructed for developing heat, light, and power from alcohol ; to 

 establish stores in which such apparatus uiiglit be offered foi- salci to 

 the |uiblic; to start a litei'ary cauipaigri foi- the application of ah-ohol 

 to household needs; to send outfits to cxliiljilioiis: imd In ofgimi/c a 

 retail trade in deruitur-fd alfohoj. (Ims assuring (lie piihlic that the; 



74027" I'.iill. 182— 1.^> 2 



