‘ Enforcement Food and Drugs Act 23
all rulings in coniiict herewith, are hereby revoked.
. FRANKLIN MAoVnAGH,
` g Secretary of the T reasury. _
J AMES WII.SON_.
· Secretary of Agriculture.
CHARLES NAGEL,
_ Secretary of Commerce and Labor.
HVVASHINGTON, D. C., February 16, 1910." -
These regulations are not in accord with those promulgated t ~
and enforced by President Roosevelt; nor are they, in my judg-
_ ment, in accord with President Taft’s decision, for he explicitly
states:
"Those who make whisky of ‘rectified,’ ‘redis-
tilled’ or ‘neutral spirits’ cannot complain if, in order T
to prevent further frauds, they are required to use a
brand which will show exactly the kind of whisky they
are selling. For that reason it seems to me fair to re-
quire them to brand their product as ‘Whisky made
· from redistilled spirits,’ or ‘Whisky made from neu-
tral spirits,’ as the case may be." ’
The regulations as now adopted do not require such label-
ing, and it would appear, under Paragraph 1, of the regula-
tions as now adopted, that new neutral spirits, or, in fact, new
commercial alcohol, may be colored to imitate the character-‘
iatics of genuine aged whisky and sold as "whisky."
The regulations lay stress upon the difference between neu-
tral spirits madefrom grain and neutral spirits made from
other sources, an immaterial difference, but the real ques-
tion of the pronounced difference between neutral spirits
on the one hand, and aged whisky, possessing the congencric
qualities from the sound grain and proper aging on the other,
seems to be ignored.
From the above and other reasons, the regulations as now
adopted by the Federal Government are not, in my opinion, in
harmony with the true intent of the Kentucky law.
I believe that the fundamental principles enunciated by the
Committee from the Association of Official Agricultural Chem-
ists and the Association of State and National Food and Dairy
Departments, by Attorney General Bonaparte, President Roose-
velt and the United States District Courts represent the closest
approach to the material facts that has yet been made.
The hearings before the joint committee of which I am a