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EDITORIAL. 
Strehl ;  Cor.  Sec'y.,  Thomas  Whitfield  ;  Trustees,  Henry  Biroth,  W.  F. 
Blocki,  H.  D.  Garrison,  Albert  E.  Ebert,  N.  Gray  Bartlett. 
The  Tax  on  Alcohol. — Many  efforts  have  been  made  to  reach  the 
understanding  of  Congress  in  reference  to  the  great  burthen  of  this 
tax  on  legitimate  manufacturers  requiring  Alcohol,  and  the  disastrous 
inroads  it  has  caused  on  public  morals  by  presenting  a  temptation  too 
strong  for  resistance  by  the  officials  to  whose  care  the  revenue  laws  rela- 
tive to  whiskey  are  committed.  The  following  memorial  is  a  new  effort 
and  explains  itself. 
To  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  : 
The  Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange,  composed  of  the  Druggists,  Manu- 
facturing Chemists  and  Pharmaceutists,  Perfumers,  and  others,  beg  leave 
to  lay  before  your  Honorable  bodies  a  brief  statement. 
The  manufacture  of  chemicals  is  probably  larger  in  Philadelphia  and 
its  vicinity  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the  United  States.  Many  processes 
of  this  manufacture  depend  mainly  upon  Alcohol  as  a  material,  or  as  a 
medium;  so  that  the  useful  consumption  of  Distilled  Spirits  is  perhaps 
more  fully  represented  in  our  Association  than  in  any  other  single  organi- 
zation of  this  country.  The  amount  of  this  consumption  for  industrial 
purposes,  in  Philadelphia,  is  estimated  to  be,  under  favorable  circum- 
stances, about  twenty  thousand  barrels  of  proof  spirit  annually. 
On  March  21st,  1867,  when  the  evasion  of  the  $2  tax  had  become  com- 
mon and  safe,  the  Drug  Exchange  took  the  following  action  : 
"  Whereas,  The  Amendatory  Tax  Law  passed  by  Congress  at  its  last 
session,  contains  this  clause  : — 
"Sec.  21.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  any  Distilled 
Spirits  so  found,  elsewhere  than  in  a  Bonded  Wharehouse,  shall  be  sold 
or  offered  for  sale  at  a  less  price  than  the  tax  imposed  by  law  thereon, 
such  selling  or  offering  for  sale  as  aforesaid  shall  be  taken  and  deemed 
as  prima  facice  evidence  that  said  spirits  have  not  been  removed  from  a 
Bonded  Warehouse  according  to  law,  and  that  the  tax  imposed  upon  the 
same  has  not  been  paid,  and  the  same  shall,  without  further  evidence,  be 
liable  to  seizure  and  forfeiture. 
"And  Whereas,  We  are  anxious  to  maintain  and  vindicate  our  charac- 
ter as  law-abiding  citizens,  however  easy  or  profitable  the  violation  of  the 
law  might  be  ; 
Cl  And  Whereas,  In  such  adherence  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  law, 
we  are  liable,  through  dishonorable  competition,  to  the  loss  of  all  that 
part  of  our  business  which  depends  upon  the  use  or  sale  of  distilled 
spirits  :  Therefore 
"  Resolved,  That  we,  members  of  the  Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange, — 
Druggists,  Manufacturing  Chemists,  Perfumers  and  Brokers, — will  not 
buy,  offer,  or  sell  distilled  spirits,  or  alcohol,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
at  a  less  price  than  the  Government  Tax,  either  by  a  *et  price,  or  by  any 
commission,  drawback,  return,  or  any  counterbalancing  advantage 
whereby  the  spirit  of  the  law  may  be  violated,  or  its  intention  defeated. 
u  Resolved,  That  for  our  own  protection,  and  for  the  assistance  of  the 
Government,  we  will  endeavor  by  every  honorable  means  to  discounte- 
nance and  discourage  any  evasion  of  the  law,  and  to  prevent  the  recur- 
rence of  any  such  violations  which  may  come  to  our  knowledge." 
These  resolutions  were  signed  by  a  large  portion  of  the  Drug  and  Man- 
ufacturing interest,  and  were  faithfully  adhered  to,  through  constant 
temptation  and  most  trying  loss. 
Meantime,  all  manufacturers  and  dealers  in  whose  business  the  article 
