^ebir^Sr-}       Report  on  Alcohol  Legislation.  113 
gallon  of  94  per  cent  alcohol  the  Government  now  collects  $2.07  tax.  In  other 
words,  tax  is  six  times  that  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  article  at  the  present 
time. 
This  committee  would  especially  direct  attention  to  the  fact,  that,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  isolated  articles,  this  recent  increase  in  the  burden  of  taxa- 
tion, amounting  to  38  cents  per  gallon  on  alcohol,  has  been  entirely  borne  by  the 
retail  pharmacists.  The  manufacturers  and  wholesale  dealers  have  advanced 
the  price  of  most  products  from  4  to  S  cents  per  pint,  yet  the  retailer  has  been 
unable  to  distribute  this  advance  on  his  sales  in  small  amount  and  obtains  for 
his  goods  no  more  than  he  did  prior  to  this  change  in  tax. 
Since  1862  manufacturers  have  claimed  that  it  was  a  very  unwise  and  unjust 
policy  of  the  Government  to  single  out  a  large,  very  respectable  and  honorable 
class  of  manufacturers,  engaged  in  most  instances,  in  preparing  products  nec- 
essary for  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  nation,  to  bear  unusual  and  burden- 
some taxation. 
Alcohol  is  to  the  druggist  a  raw  material,  and  is  as  indispensable  to  the  man- 
ufacturer of  pharmaceutical  and  chemical  products  as  iron  is  to  the  manufac- 
turer of  steel.  Alcohol  is,  to  this  class  of  manufacturers,  as  essential  as  cotton, 
iron,  silk  and  fuel  are  to  other  industries. 
Steel  is  the  basis  for  many  manufactures,  yet  the  Government  would  not 
think  of  taxing  these  manufacturers  so  much  per  ton  on  the  iron  consumed, 
because  certain  manufacturers  make  therefrom  fire-arms,  with  which  evil- 
disposed  persons  might  commit  assault,  murder  or  suicide.  Why,  then,  should 
such  manufacturers  as  pharmacists  and  chemists,  who  use  alcohol  only  in  their 
legitimate  operations,  be  subjected  to  this  enormous  tax  on  their  materials  ? 
Are  we  not  engaged  in  an  honorable  and  necessary  calling  and  as  much  deserv- 
ing of  encouragement  by  the  Government  as  others?  We  certainly  should  not 
be  discriminated  against  unfairly  by  tax-laws. 
While  admitting  that  the  alcohol  consumed  as  a  beverage  may  be  a  legitimate 
article  of  taxation,  this  attempt  to  tax  people  into  temperance,  after  a  trial  of 
more  than  thirty  years,  has  proven  to  be  a  signal  failure.  While  there  may  be 
moral  reasons  for  retaining  this  tax  on  beverages,  neither  morality  nor  revenue 
necessity  should  compel  this  enlightened  nation  to  assume  a  position,  of  which 
a  writer  says  :  "  The  nation  is  robbing  the  sick  far  greater  than  the  drunkard." 
Several  acts,  aiming  to  grant  to  manufacturers  the  relief  from  the  alcohol 
tax,  have,  at  different  times,  been  proposed  to  Congress,  but,  until  the  enact- 
ment of  the  present  customs  law,  failed  of  passage.  Notable  was  the  act  offered 
in  the  Senate  in  1S88,  which  provided  for  the  use,  by  manufacturers,  of  alcohol 
on  which  the  tax  had  not  been  paid.  This  provision  necessitated  even*  manu- 
facturer establishing  a  bonded  warehouse  on  his  plant,  from  which  the  alcohol 
could  be  drawn  only  under  the  supervision  of  a  revenue  inspector.  All  such 
alcohol  could  only  be  received  under  the  regulations  covering  the  withdrawal 
of  spirits  from  one  bonded  warehouse  to  another.  The  expense  attached  to 
such  a  plan  would  prohibit  any  but  the  larger  manufacturers  from  adopting  it, 
and  it  is  questionable  if  the  manufacturers  of  America  would  submit  to  the 
mortification  of  conducting  their  operations  under  the  surveillance  of  an  official 
inspector.  This  proposed  Act  of  iSSS  appears  still  to  be  lingering  in  the  minds 
of  some  of  those  who  are  discussing  the  subject  at  the  present  time. 
Your  committee  are  not  ready  to  admit  that  by  the  increase  of  tax  on  alcohol 
