8 BULLETIN 182, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
forced into the distilleries, thereby increasing the production of 
alcohol. This was made the more possible because the improved 
methods of cultivation were yielding potatoes richer in starch and 
the improvements in technology were causing a large yield of alcohol. 
In 1897-98, 79,252,500 gallons (300,000,000 liters) of alcohol were 
produced, while in 1901-2 not less than 112,010,200 gallons (424,- 
000,000 liters) were manufactured. Owing to the decrease in the 
potato harvests during the next few years, the production of alcohol | 
dropped somewhat, but it reached its zenith in 1905-6 with a produc- 
tion of 115,444,475 gallons (487,000,000 liters). | 
For several years after the enactment of the law of 1887, the | 
pecuniary success of the alcohol distilleries was not great. The price | 
per gallon had dropped about 10 cents as compared with the prices — 
obtained before 1887. The “ Kontingent” did not afford a sufficient — 
substitute for this reduction in price, since the large majority of | 
distillers, at least in North Germany, were compelled to produce a 
considerable quantity of alcohol paying the higher tax rate of the | 
“ Ueberkontingent.” To this must be added the fact that the dis- | 
tillers did not realize the actual average price for the year, but one | 
considerably below the average. The prices of alcohol were fixed 
by the Chamber of Commerce of Berlin and were so regulated that 
they were relatively low during those months in which the alcohol 
was in the hands of the distiller, but they were raised as soon as the 
producers had disposed of their products. The result, therefore, 
was that the dealers and not the producers enjoyed the greatest 
pecuniary benefits from the manufacture of alcohol. 
COOPERATION IN MARKETING. 
It was soon recognized that relief would result only from a cooper- 
ative disposal of the alcohol produced. The basis for a cooperative 
union had been laid with the establishment and assignment of alco- 
hol production under the lower rate of taxation (Kontingentirung). 
While attempts in this direction were made at once, they did not 
result in the desired success. In spite of the greatest efforts, a com- 
plete union of the entire industry did not immediately result. A 
number of provincial sale associations (Verkaufsgenossenschaften) , 
cooperative organizations for the sale of alcohol, were organized, 
some of which still exist and constitute, as it were, the centers of 
crystallization about which the present large organization has de- 
veloped for the disposal of the alcohol produced in Germany. 
Tt was only with the third attempt, at a time when the position 
of the alcohol market had become untenable, not only for the 
agricultural distilleries (Brenner), but also for the distilleries and 
rectifiers in the cities (Spiritusfabrikanten), that these efforts were 
crowned with striking success. | 
