Denaturized Alcohol

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 20, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 24.

Denaturized Alcohol

Alcohol is extensively used in the arts and in the manufacture of various articles, but the internal revenue tax is so high that for some industries the price is almost prohibitive. Another serious objection to its general use is the extensive habit of using it as a beverage and the disastrous consequences where men become addicted to its use. But alcohol may be rendered so obnoxious to the taste and to the stomach as to utterly prevent its being used as a beverage or as a “medicine.” When so rendered by certain admixtures it is called “denaturized alcohol.” A bill is now before the United States Senate (having passed the lower house) which provides that such alcohol be exempted from the ordinary alcohol tax. It is evidently a good measure, in the interest of honest industry, and this opinion is emphasized by the persistent and very bitter opposition of certain monopoly interests. To the credit of the lower house, notwithstanding the pressure from monopoly sources, only seven members voted against it.