1911 Beverages de luxe

of the abridged word in any public document in Barbadoes ap- pears to have been in an act passed in 1668 to prevent the sale of both brandy and rum in the tippling houses near the most frequented highways or roads of the island. The word "Rum," however, occurs in certain orders of the Government and coun- cil of Jamaica as early as 1661. As to the exact date of the beginning of this industry in the United States, Rum appears to have been manufactured in New England before 1687, as "New England Rum" sold in that year at ls. 6d. per gallon, which is practically to-day's wholesale price for New Rum, not including the internai revenue tax. In the old days of this country many of the best men of the town of Boston, in addition to being great ship owners, were distillers of New England Rum, those two industries being put down in the history of the times as two of the most important in Boston, and the commodity itself was not only used as a staple for family consumption and as a cheering adjunct to officiai and social events, as the laying of corner stones of pub- lic buildings and the building of churches, but was early used as one of the great instruments in assisting to civilize and christianize our black brothers in Africa. During ail of the time since, the distillation of Rum has been confined almost entirely to New England, ail the Rum made in this country, in faet, having corne to bear the distinctive name, "New England Rum," as being différent from the imported article. The Rum of domestic use to-day, which has been aged for many years in the wood, is very différent from the "hot, hellish, and terrible liquor" above referred to. Much care is taken by those distillers making a specialty of ûne old Rum in the sélec- tion of their molasses, the fermentation and distillation, as well as in the sélection of the barrel and storage in which it is kept. Both as an art and an industry, the business of distilling Rum has remained, as a sort of heirloom, through successive généra- tions in some of our oldest and most respectable New England families, who have taken pride and pains in bringing it up to the highest attainable standard of perfection. The gênerai tendency noticeable in other lines of business, too numerous to specify individually, toward consolidation, or at least towards fewer and larger manufacturing plants, has applied as well to the manufacture of New England Rum, and while in 1753 there were sixty-three distilleries in Massachu- setts, and fifty years ago perhaps thirty small distilleries scat- tered along the New England coast from New Haven to Port- land, there are to-day but eight in the United States, ail but one of those being located in New England, and only two outside of Massachusetts. While, during the past thirty years, there has been an in- crease of about 125 per cent, in the production of distilled