The question of special de-naturants is one of great importance to the manufacturer, and should be carefully studied. The distiller who succeeds on a large scale will be he who is most expert in preparing alcohol specially de-natured to suit the requirements of the various arts. Germany has done most in this line, and the German practice should be carefully studied.
Parts IV and V of the Rules relate to that portion of the De-Naturing Act, referred to in Section 2 thereof—the recovering, restoring and re-de-naturing of alcohol used by manufacturers employing processes in which the formerly de-natured spirits are? expressed, or evaporated. This not being within the plan of this book, the rules relating thereto are not quoted.
Those desirous of acquiring full information as to the rules regulating the operation of distilleries for the manufacture of alcohol and de-natured spirits can procure the same by applying either to the collectors of Internal Revenue for their respective districts or to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Washington, D. C.
Proposed Changes in the De-Naturing Act.
The De-naturing Act as passed and the regulations thereunder are undoubtedly too complicated in their character to remain very long in the Statute Books. There has already arisen a cry for simpler regulations which shall place the manufacture of de-natured alcohol on a plane with the practice in Germany, France and other countries which have carried the manufacture and use of alcohol, for industrial purposes to a very high plane. Both in England and America the Excise and Internal Revenue regulations have been of very troublesome character, and the production of spirits has been so carefully guarded, watched and checked that the distiller aside from the high tax he has had to pay has been greatly hampered. In Germany and France, however, things are different. There the manufacture of Industrial Alcohol from farm products has been encouraged and as a consequence the regulations are of very much simpler character. In Germany the number of agricultural or co-operative stills is very large and these stills are practically free from the constant supervision of internal revenue officials.
Until the wash passes into the still there is practically no Governmental supervision except as to the proper gauging of the vats and to the proper sealing of all joints or pipes leading from the vats to the still. From that point onward, however, to the final receiver every vessel is locked and sealed and no access to the spirit can be obtained by the distiller. The quantity of spirit distilled and its quality is ascertained by the Revenue Officer from this final receiver and on this spirit so found is computed the vat tax and the distillery tax which have to be paid by the distiller. There are none of the cumbersome regulations regarding the warehouses, storehouses, storekeepers, etc., which are found in our own revenue laws. To provide security against abstraction of wash in the fermenting tanks, reliance is placed upon frequent but uncertain visitations.
There is no question but that in the fulness of time our own laws and regulations will be very much simplified for all industrial plants. An attempt has been made to so simplify the laws by Act of Congress No. 230, approved March 2, 1907 and taking effect on September 1, 1907, the text of which is appended, and undoubtedly other acts will follow as the country becomes more and more sensible of the benefits to be derived from free industrial alcohol. The text of the act is as follows:
[Public—No. 230.]