# Prohibition Bureau test still in the Treasury laboratory, Harris & Ewing (about 1927)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/loc-2016888657-prohibition-bureau-test-still-treasury-1927/

Harris & Ewing photograph of G.F. Beyer, chief chemist of the Prohibition Unit, with a small copper still set up in the laboratory atop the Treasury building. A copy is stored here.

The Library of Congress opens the long Harris & Ewing caption with "'Uncle Sam has turned distiller'." The caption says the Prohibition Bureau set up a miniature "commercial" still in the laboratory atop the U.S. Treasury building in Washington to test formulae for a non-poisonous denaturant for alcohol, and names G.F. Beyer, chief chemist of the Prohibition Unit, as the man shown.

The Library dates the item "[1927 or 1928]." The scene is a government laboratory test. It is not a seizure or a criminal operation, and it is filed here as part of the Prohibition-era context.

## Sources

- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division: https://www.loc.gov/item/2016888657/