662  Non-Alcoholic  Pure  Flavors.  {Am'^r\gjiTm 
NON-ALCOHOLIC  PURE  FLAVORS.1 
By  R.  O.  Brooks,  B.Sc, 
CONSULTING   FOOD   AND   DRUG   CHEMIST,    NEW   YORK    CITY    (FORMERLY  STATE 
CHEMIST,  NEW  JERSEY  AND  PENNSYLVANIA). 
About  ten  years  ago,  as  your  first  "  official  chemist,"  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  reading  a  paper  before  one  of  your  first  conventions, 
held  in  this  city. 
At  that  time  I  appeared  as  an  amateur  prophet  and  after  de- 
scribing the  then  recent  genesis  of  the  "Circular  No.  19"  flavoring 
standards,  I  predicted  that  they  had  come  to  stay  for  quite  a  while, 
that  State  food  inspection  laws  and  officials  would  adopt  them  in 
toto  and  that  the  Federal  authorities  would  generally  follow  them 
when  inspecting  extracts  and  flavors. 
Since  then,  by  yearly  articles  in  your  official  organ  I  have  tried 
to  keep  the  trade  posted  as  to  the  new  developments  in  the  legal 
chemistry  of  flavorings,  Now  I  am  making  a  second  appearance 
before  you  and  while  not  claiming  to  be  even  an  amateur  prophet, 
yet  I  feel  that  it  may  be  worth  while  to  look  ahead  a  little,  again. 
As  prophets  are  always  unrecognized  in  their  own  country,  or  at 
least  seldom  taken  seriously,  I  am  confident  that  nothing  that  I  say 
will  cause  you  any  worry. 
Now  as  to  some  war  conditions  affecting  your  business  and  more 
particularly  some  unfair  and  unwise  advantages  that  are  being 
taken  of  war  conditions,  possibly  at  the  expense,  partly;  of  Teutonic 
paymasters.  As  you  know,  the  cost  of  pure  alcohol  in  any  form 
has  always  been  absurdly  high  and  at  the  same  time,  just  now,  pro- 
hibition is  one  of  the  orders  of  the  day. 
I  do  not  want  to  predict  that  the  sale  of  alcoholic  flavorings 
will  be  interdicted  in  all  or  even  many  of  our  states,  yet  such  a  thing 
is  possible  and  with  the  continued  outcry  against  the  conversion  of 
foodstuffs  into  alcohol  it  is  possible  that  sooner  or  later  only  the 
alcohol  from  wood-sugar  fermentation  will  be  available. 
If  prohibition  has  come  to  stay,  it  is  now  the  psychological 
moment  to  take  advantage  of  its  crusade  among  the  women  and  to 
1  Read  at  Ninth  Annual  Convention  of  Flavoring  Extract  Manufacturers' 
Association  of  the  United  States.  Reprinted  from  the  Simmons's  Spice  Mill, 
July,  191 8. 
