Show I I W WOOD OD Alt ALCOHOL H l MIGHT REMAIN Chemists Fail to Find Substitute to Use as Denaturant I IBy By JOSEPH S. S I United Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON Fe Feb b 4 4 Wood alcohol may always be used by the government as a denaturant for Industrial alcohol treasury officials believe I Secretary of the Treasury Mellon Is ready and wIlling to remove the deadly fluid from tax free alcohol the minute a- a satisfactory substitute substitute tute is discovered by chemIsts chemIsts- but after atter two years o 0 research work nothing to take its place has been found The prohibition law requires Industrial industrial In- In alcohol to be denatured so that It will be unfit for bever beverage ge purposes Federal contend wood alcohol Is the only known substance answerIng the purpose IS BLACK SHEEP Wood alcohol they point out is isa isa a member of the alcohol family It is however the black sheep of the family Iv h cause It Is It can can be I added to grain alcohol without causing inconvenIence to legitimate mil manufacturers and Industry I Wood alcohol boils boBs at a point I very near the point of purE alcohol and it Is difficult bootleggers rs to remove the denaturant tie tie- Rum vendors have discovered discovered dis- dis covered thIs and except In a very few instances they never bother with wood alcohol fluids authorities said Then too analytical chemistry has advanced to such a stage stace that modern chemists can usually tal take e apart what they put together Industrial Industrial In- In alcohol however cannot he be taken from the pure once they are mixed but other dena denaturants de- de na are easily eliminated Long before prohibitIon In 1903 there was a wood alcohol poisoning Epidemic In the United States with 54 deaths and 74 severe cases of Illness from consuming the potion PROCESS FAILED Two physicians physicians announced that by a simple process the poison in inwood inwood wood alcohol could be eliminated Several manufacturer of flavoring extracts took the doctors at their word and after treating the fluid used it In their products The death toll toIl mounted until it was as discovered that poison could not be removed from wood alcohol A Alcohol plants turned out gallons of denatured alcohol In 1926 Only a portion of this output output out out- put however was completely denatured denatured de- de natured Commercial alcohol with no poisonous In ingredients went to many forms of industry Bootleggers officials said do not attempt to make diversions of completely corn com denatured alcohol but concentrate concentrate con con- on n plants where the alcohol alcohol alco- alco hol Is only partly denatured Before ary of the Treasury Andrews Andrew took over the leadership in prohibition enforcement enforcement enforce enforce- ment work diversIon of Industrial alcohol into bootleg bootie channels channel totaled more than gallons annually it was estimated Today this has been cut to a mere by his alcohol Investigation squad SEEK SUBSTITUTE Uncle Sam has not given up the effort to remove all poison polson from in- in Austria alcohol but his objective In-I In Is not nearIng success Industrial laboratories the public health servIce service ser ser- vIce and the entire corps of federal chemists are searching for a wood Some officials contend that It is ismore ismore more humanitarian to poison polson the alcohol to allow It to go o to the bootleggers in great quantities and have a nationwide epidemic of alcohol al- al cohol coho poisoning from th raw prod prod- All agree aglee however that It would woud be a good thing to eliminate all allwood allwood wood alcohol and other from denaturing But they see no way of doIng It at the present time |