AmoJc°tU,ri9i8arm'  )  Editorial.  685 
is  made  therein  for  the  withdrawal  of  alcohol  denatured  under  the 
regulations  without  any  payment  of  the  excise  tax  on  distilled 
spirits.  There  are  some  other  manufacturers,  however,  such  as  those 
who  manufacture  pharmaceuticals,  flavoring  extracts,  perfumery  and 
toilet  articles,  who,  from  the  very  nature  of  their  products,  must 
have  pure  alcohol  as  a  solvent  because  of  the  very  necessity  to  pre- 
serve the  standard  and  purity  of  their  products.  These  equally 
important  industries  have  been  discriminated  against  and  denied  by 
Congressional  enactments  and  the  Treasury  Department  regulations 
the  privilege  of  using  tax  free  alcohol  that  has  been  extended  to 
the  other  favored  industries. 
It  is  fair  to  assert  that  no  other  industry  has  such  a  strong 
appeal  for  freedom  from  taxation  as  the  industry  that  supplies 
medicines  to  the  needy  and  sick  of  the  nation  ;  yet,  because  this  in- 
dustry must  necessarily  have  pure  alcohol  as  a  solvent,  it  is  bur- 
dened with  an  excessive  tax,  which  must  ultimately  be  borne  by  the 
consumers  of  the  medicines  produced.  To  the  pharmacists  and 
chemical  manufacturers,  who  produce  the  necessary  medicines,  al- 
cohol as  a  solvent  has  no  further  consideration  than  has  water  or 
glycerin  as  a  solvent  where  such  is  essential  to  the  production  of 
their  products. 
It  will  be  recognized  that  the  tax  on  distilled  spirits  has  always 
been  viewed  by  Congress  rather  as  a  question  of  revenue  than  as 
a  means  of  producing  prohibition.  The  moral  or  prohibition  argu- 
ment does  not  enter  at  all  into  the  question  now  under  considera- 
tion. A  manufacturer  who  prepares  a  lacquer  to  preserve  our 
ornaments  or  the  varnish  or  paint  to  adorn  and  preserve  our  homes 
can  have  tax-free  alcohol,  but  the  pharmaceutical  manufacturer  who 
prepares  medicines  to  preserve  the  human  body  as  a  suitable  habita- 
tion for  the  soul,  is  denied  this  same  privilege.  A  tax  on  the  water 
used  as  a  solvent  would  be  quite  as  justifiable  as  a  tax  on  the  alcohol 
used  for  the  same  purpose. 
G.  M.  B. 
