7 88 MAIZE 



CHAP. For every Reichsmark of revenue sacrificed by exempting 



xvn - de-natured spirits from taxation, the empire and its people have 



profited tenfold by the stimulus which has thereby been given 



to agriculture and the industrial arts " ( Wright, Span, and 



Chamberlain, I). 



By de-natured alcohol is meant alcohol which has been 

 rendered unpalatable by the addition of some poison or other 

 dangerous or unpleasant substance which renders it unfit to 

 drink. This is done with the object of rendering the spirit so 

 objectionable that if allowed by Government to be manufac- 

 tured and sold duty free, for industrial purposes, it shall not 

 be used as a beverage and thus defraud the Government of 

 legitimate revenue. To be effective such treatment must not 

 render the alcohol unfit for use in the arts and manufactures, 

 and at the same time it must be of such a nature that the 

 objectionable matter , cannot be readily removed by dis- 

 tilling. 



The substances used for this purpose include wood alcohol, 

 benzol, benzine, ether, camphor, petro-naphtha, caustic soda, 

 castor oil, oil of nicotine, ammonium iodide, sulphuric acid, 

 pyridine, cadmium iodide, etc., which render the alcohol dan- 

 gerous, or at least undrinkable, while not impairing its value 

 for industrial purposes. 



The following account of the manufacture of de-natured 

 alcohol in Peoria, Illinois, U.S.A., is taken from Harpers 

 Weekly, and appeared in the Natal Agricultural Journal 

 (Anon., 6) : — 



" Maize explains Peoria ; in a waj- . . . it is thedistilleries, 

 seventeen all told, that have made Peoria famous. It is the 

 centre of spirit manufacture, for it is, or has been until the 

 last few years, the very heart and geographical middle of the 

 Corn-belt, and the other grains are not so far distant as to 

 involve an excessive haul. This is the economy of manufac- 

 ture, to be near the raw materials. 



" One of the biggest and most thoroughly equipped of the 

 great distilling establishments of Peoria was the Atlas — a sky- 

 scraping collection of brick buildings in the outskirts of the 

 town, with a row of mighty steel stacks towering up into 

 the sky. 



" When the knowledge of what Germany and the other 



