30 | XX | THE HOUSE OF PERNOD AND SONS | XX | XX |
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minimum toxic power"; and finally that of Girard which gives an assent by
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saying that "brandy from wine is harmless in moderate amounts ".
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To fill the hole dug into the budget by the reduction of taxes on
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drinks known as healthy, the surtax on alcohol would not serve, they
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dreamed up a special tax on spirits, absinthe in particular, naturally with
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much insistence on the dangers presented to the public health by the abuse
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of that drink. But in the anathemas that certain speakers launched with glee
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against it, we never found anything to belie the conclusions at which we
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arrived after a calm and reasoned examination of the question; we met no
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argument able to convince us of the toxic effects of the essences contained
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in a well-made absinthe, taken in the doses which we indicated and which
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are precise.
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One rose with vehemence against the shameful products too often
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sold for consumption under the name of absinthe: the fact was brought out
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that many make these products themselves by cold mixing unrectified
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industrial alcohol with essences which are true poisons, so that the
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consumer suffers a double poisoning by bad alcohol and by the essences.
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All decent people will share the indignation raised by the revelations
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made in House of Commons regarding the intrigues of these culprits;
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everyone will applaud the severe measurements the Government has
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decided to take to ensure the hygienic control of drinks and to put a stop to
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the systematic poisoning of the French consumer.
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But it is necessary to take care not to confuse the products of an
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infamous industry with absinthe such as is carefully distilled in the factory
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of Pernod & Sons, using spirits distilled from wines chosen from among
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the best of Languedoc and Roussillon, and aromatic plants of the best
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quality. There is between them the same difference as between wine made
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from fresh grapes, pure juice of the vine, and the degenerate drink made
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under the name of wine in certain warehouses for the use of the Parisian
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population.
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(Translated by "Artemis" for your pleasure.) |