The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-29
Local Brewers Expect to Make
a Big Cut Within a Few
Weeks.
MALT HOUSES IN THE FIGHT,
Possibilities of a Combination Being
Made Against the English
Syndicate.

citation is still an interesting topic of con-
versation, not only among the brewers,
but among the saloon-keepers and all con-
sumers of the malt beverage. The battle
will not begin until after the new year
when the special com mittee will make its
report as to whether certain brewers of the
association have been guilty of violating
their pledge, and have been selling beer at
| less than the price agreed upon-$5 per
| barrel. This special committee was ap-
pointed to make an investigation as a
means of delaying the open rupture until
after the holidays.
| AS early as the 18th inst. Mr.. Frederick,
| the president, proposed to cut the price of
beer to 81 per barrel as means of dis
| ciplinng the offending brewers who were
| said to be the managers of the California
and Broadway breweries.
! Away back Of the trouble that now APP
pears on the surface are two other features
that figure with great Importance in the
present difficulties, and one has great
| bearing upon the other. When the
| English syndicate purchased many of the
| principal breweries in this locality it be-
| gan operations by closing down old and
well-established institutions. By so doing
| thrown out of employment.
| In the Pacific fifteen men lost their jobs
| ana like number were dropped from the
| Oakland. The East Oakland dropped
| about ten men. Ore crew of about ten
men is kept in the Brooklyn and Hofburg
| breweries which alternate in running, so
that the men in those breweries lost their
positions.
| AT the time OF the purchase nearly all
the breweries were making their own malt.
| These malt departments were closed and
| the synd icate brewers now obtain their
malt from the Fredericksburg brewery OF
| San Jose, where malt is made by auto
matte machinery and not over ten men
are employed. BY this move fully seventy
men lost their stuationsOakland5 5, Wieand
25 to So, United States r. Chicago II, Will
| lows 5, Pacific and Hofburg 5. In this
way over $50 brewery workmen and malt
sters were thrown out of employment. As
might be expected there was a rush to the
outside, or commission lighthouses, for
| places. AT that time maltsters were earn
| ing from S18 to $25 per week and overtime
was allowed for With large number of
| idle workers hunting for places the malt
| houses began to cut the wages paiu to the
workmen, until now $40 and $l2 per week
OF seven days and no allowance for over
| time is the best that the workmen earn.
! Only one maithouse, that of Krug e. Zim-
to the old wages paid 20 their maltsters.
The figure that the malthouses have cut
! in this beer war is of much .importance.
| These houses are: Charles Bach, 535 Sac
ramento street; Krng & Zimmermann, 40s
| Shotwel street; Bauer d Schweitzer, 41S
Chestnut street; Herman Zweig, 610 Bran.
| nan street.
With this great reduction in wages the
lighthouses have been able to increase
their profits from $500 to $500 per mcnth
| according to the mum Der of men employed
Then came keen rivalry for business and
| a corresponding cut in the price of malt to
1 the brewers. Previous to this cut malt
! that now sells for 81 go per 100 pounds
| then sold for from 81 IS to 81 95, and barley
| is no cheaper now Than it was then. Say
| ing that the brewers use seventy-five
/ pounds OF malt to a barrel at the present
1 price, they can sell for 40 to 50 cents less
| than those brewers in the association who
make their own malt and pay the regular
wages of SIS to $25 a week. as many of
them are doing.
The temptation was too great and they
! broke away, if the charges made are true.
| What makes the situation more mpli-
Gated is the fact that all of the lighthouses
are members of the Brewers Protective
Association. A Thoughtful consideration
| of the, foregoing facts will show many
| diversified interests grouped under the
lie
1 brewers who make their own malt and
| pay the standard wages to their maltsters
! will not remain in an association where
lighthouses are selling their product to
rival brewers at prices that will permit of
a big cut in the price of beer and where
| this advantage has not been overlooked in
| the scramble for trade
"This fact Of ITSELF" said brewer yes
terday, sis sufficient to split the assocla-
| ton wide open and start general beer
| war. 1t may appear that the brewers who
make their own malt would not stand any
chance against cheap malt and brewers
| who are inclined to cut prices. They
would not but for the fact that the cut
rate breweries have not enough capital
back of them to stand long siege. Does
not this accout for Mr.. Fredericks' move
in the association to reduce the price of
! beer to 81 per barrel? The charge was
that the Dreweries complained of had cut
| from S. to So so. In order to meet that
| cut we would have to go down to So in
order to get below them in their cost of
production at the low price they pay for
| malt"
There is still another rock in the brew
| cry trouble that the association is likely
to split upon, even if all the other difficult
ties were Strengthened out. 1t is the Eng
| lsh syndicate known as the San Fran
cisco Breweries (Limited). The brewers