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INFORMATION FOR BBIWERSAN0 OTHERS., j. IMijMPjWfc i fDr. R. N. Harper, president of the Pharmaceutical Association ot the District, recently requested the health officer to furnish him with an analysis of the various malt extracts on the market, so that the members ol the association might know which, il any, of the various makes will be prohibitedfrom sale by the retail druggists under the pharmacy license. At the healthofficer's suggestion, the Commissionersreferred the matter to the attorney for the District, for a statement of the per centageof alcohol which may be permitted in malt extracts sold bj druggists. The Commissioners’ legal adviser has informed them that the inquiry of the health officer is answered by Justice Brewer, now of the United States Supreme Court, in delivering the opinion or the Supreme Court of the State ol Kansas in the ‘Intoxicating Liquor Cases,1’ *5 Kans., 524- In *bat caseJustice Brewer, speaking for the courtsaid:“Whether anv particular compound or preparation of this class is then within or without the statute is a question of iact, to be established by the testimony and determined by a jury. The courts may not say, as a matter of law, that the presence of a certain per cent, of alcohol brings the compound within the prohibition, or that any particular in gredient does or does not destroy the intoxicating influence of the alcohol, or prevent it from ever becoming” an intox • icating beverage. Of course, fhe larger the per cent of alcohol and the more potent the other ingredients, the more probable does it fall within or without the statute; but in each case the question is one of fact, and to be settled asother questions Qf fact.”The act of Congress regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors in the District, approved March 3, 1893. explains the attorney for the District, provides “That no person shall sell, offer for sale or keep for sale or traffic, or traffic in, barter or exchange for goods in the District of Columbia, any intoxicating liquor except as hereinafter provided,” etc. The act of Congress, states the attorney, is silent on the subject upon which the health officer’s inquiry is based, and contains no definition of the term,‘ intoxicating liquor.”“According to the authorities,” savs the attorney, “intoxicating liquors are such liquors as will intoxicate or make drunk, and which are commonly used as a beverage for such purposes, whether they be spirituous, vinous or malt, distilled or fermented. Any mixture ol .such liquors which retains the intoxicating qualifies, and which may be used as a beverage and become a substitute for the ordinary intoxicatingdrinks, is usually classed under the head of intoxicating liquors.”The brewers must pay the war tax imposed upon them instead of levying it on their customers, according to a decision given by Justice Thomas C,Kadieu, in the Municipal Court ot Jamaica. The William Ulmer BrewingCompany brought suit against ConradEwald, a hotel keeper of Jamaica, for tSo, alleged to be due tor beer, Thedefendant pr oved that he was chargedbv the brewery the price ol the revenue stamps, and that he had paid such extra charges until he learned that he was not obliged to do so. Ewald said that he was willihg to pay the Ulmer Brewing Company $55.50, which, he said, was bis legitimate debt to them, but that the company insisted upon him paying the war tax on each keg of beer he purchased from them. Juoge Kadieu held that in the absence of a contract, Ewald was not obliged to pay the tax, and that because he had paid the tax for more than five or six months, it did not follow that he was liable in the true sense ol the law.War Tax and Bker Consumption.According to figures published elsewhere in the formal, the sales of malt liquors in the United States during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899, show a tailing off of 91a 192 barrels, compared with the sales for the preceding fiscal year. Intrinsically this showing is not alarming- there have been years when the comparative falling off in the annual sales of malt liquors has been much larger without exciting undue comment, but the present decrease is notably serious for the reason that it must be directly ascribed to the oppressive course pursued by :he Government towards the brew.ig industry, the second largest contributor to the Internal Revenue receipts. When the additional war tax of one dollar per barrel on malt liquors was levied in July, 1898. we predicted that it would inevitably lead to a decrease in the sales of these beverages, and tend, at the same time, to encour* age the consumption of spirits. Figures attest the truth of our prediction; the production ol malt liquors has fallen off as above stated, while the consumption of spirits, which for reasons best known to the administration and Us closest counsellor, were left out ol the war lax schedules, increased by upwards of seven per cent , t • be precise, by s.qfifi,-013 gallons. Hitherto, in years of prosperity, sales of malt liquors have invariably increased. Tf is year, in spite of the flourishing condition of business and the increased wages paid in nearly every industry, they show a decrease; the fact that the sales ol spirits show so large an increase is proof positive that the decline in the sales of beer is not due to any abnormal tendency towards abstemiousness on the part of the consumers. In all the European countries in which prosper 1 tv reflects the intelligence and liberality of the government, the encouragement of the consumption of malt liquors in place of ardent spirits is one of the legislative objects that receives careful consideration. Russia alone ol late* among the great nations, has by the imposition of an oppressive tax on brewers’ materials, shown a tendency towards retrogression in this re spect, and in ttiis flagrant violation of one of the great principles on which the promotion ot habits of temperance as a nation are founded, the vaunted exemplification of liberal, enlightened government, our United States, stands side by side with Russia —Brewers* fournai,
Newspaper Details
Washington Sentinel
Washington, Washington-DC, US
Sat, Sep 09, 1899
Page 3
Full Page
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CA, USA 01 Apr 2022
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