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Inc. Seton Porter joined his brother Henry Hobart's famed
firm of consulting engineers, Sanderson & Porter, a few years
after he was graduated from Yale in 1905. A partner since 1913, he took
on National Distillers after the 1924 reorganization. Tennis keeps him
thin and looking younger than his 51 years. Mrs. Porter's bathroom in
their Park Avenue apartment is widely known among decorators for its
black & white marble floor, jade ceiling and mirror framed in black
glass rising from the edge of the tub. President Porter's chief
competitors will not be U. S. whiskey makers but Canadians and
Britain's great whiskey trust, Distillers Co. Ltd., whence come the
most famed brands of Scotch—Black & White, Haig & Haig,
Johnnie Walker, Gold Label, White Horse. The six leading Canadian
companies are flirting with the idea of a whiskey trust, but so far
Hiram Walker has found the terms unattractive. U. S. whiskey production
(rye and bourbon) was on the decline before the War. From 1910 to
1917 (last normal year) it dropped from 82,000,000 gallons to 57,000,000.
But whiskey was still far & away the U. S. Drink. In 1917
rum production was 2,800,000 gallons, gin 5,700,000, brandy 8,200.000.
*Last week U. S. Industrial Alcohol wrote down its plant
& equipment (carried at $29,000,000) to $1. Commercial Solvents
did the same in 1930. Reason: to eliminate depreciation charges,
boost profits.
