Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-15
GATHERING BOTTLES
How the Local. Brewers Protect
Their Property.
A CLEARING HOUSE ESTABLISHED
Prosecuting Offenders Who Refuse
to Return Bottles.
A UNIQUE INSTITUTION

One of the most unique institutions In
Washington is the exchange or clearing
house of the Bottlers' Protective Union.
located at No. 81S AZ street southwest.
The stockholders are the companies owning
the breweries in the District and the Port
ner brewery at Alexandria. At this inst-
tuition, which gives employment TO a, large
force Of men. beer bottles are handled in
htuch the same way as are notes, drafts
and checks by the different banks. 1t
would be nearly, If not entirely. impracu-
cal for the breweries to do singly what
| they are eminently successful In doing by
| the operations of their clearing house.
The two greatest features of the work
| OF this peculiar institution are the collec-
ton OF bottles from every part Of the Dis
| trict and Alexandra and their distribution
from the one central point, and the sup
preston of the illegal traffic in lager beer
| bottles. which up to the time of the or
sanization Of the clearing house was car
REQ on, 1t Is alleged. to a great extent. and
wnicn resulted each year In losses to IN
dlvidual brewers of thousands of dollars
from this source alone. So satisfactory
| nave been the results attained through the
operations of the union that the latter
! the former.
II Is known to the great majority OF per-
sons VINO are at all conversant with the
peer trade that every brewery has its trade
mark blown or cast in the bottles and, en-
many OF them there Is also stamped the
additional warning: This bottle must not
be sold' In the hundreds of thousands of
not'ies which are annually distributed over
.ie blstrlct from the brewerieS many are
OF course, lost, but many more are hidden
away or purposely concealed. So great a
nuisance had this become to the brewers
mat some years ago Congress- at the re-
those tnfQraSfa6
which absolutely forbds the use, except
~ ~ inc owners. OF any trade-marked bot
ties. Notwithstanding this, there are. 1t is
known, so many violations of the law that
the union keeps In Its employ a detective
10 prosecute violators, and In every IN
stance where conviction results the full
pe nts OF the law have thus far. been
ineteo out by the court.
Former Heavy Expenses.
before the opening Of the clearing
house each OF the breweries was COM
PEELED to keep at least one or two wagons
running 1or the purpose Of gathering up
the bottles belonging to 1t, and as this
not only required the services of a man
TOT each wagon. but several horses to draw
Inem the Item was one of much expense
Not only was this the case In respect To-
saioons supplied. but also as to private
houses. very often 1t was some time after
each delivery before bottles were emntie5
OF their contents. This required in some
instances several returns of the man who
dehvered the bottles. and this occupied
great deal of time, all of which was an
Item OF expense to the brewers
but there was worse evil than this to
sohtehu with, Tor IN great many in
stances when the cases were returned a
number OF bottles were missing. Often
WheE this occurred the driver would take
tne case away without saying anything
apout the shortage. At a house. where
this occurred several times In succession
1t was usually found that the miss,nc bot
ties had either been sold or were being
used for different purpose from that for
Mhlch they We're delivered to the customer
Inc next thing to take place was that the
oriHer would report the loss and a search
Has made by the brewer interested. for a
recovery OF his property. To accomplish
.ris ne had 10 go to law, which Invariably
entailed much expense, and even then
there was the risk that the brewer would
lose his case. Not infrequentIy, however.
the ofhcers Of the law would find large
brewer in the District, in saloons or pri
vate houses. and these after the usual te-
dious court proceedings would be turned
over to their respective owners
Now when the driver of the wagon
makes his collection Of bottles he takes all.
no matter how many kin Is he may pick eup.
TO the clearing house, where they are as
sorted and placed IN boxes provided by the
different brewery proprietors whose,teams
call at intervals to get them. Generally
once week is frequent enough for this
and usually one wagon from each brewery
Is able to haul all the bottles which fall
to its respective share. Thus there is a
great saving In this item alone.
The Ownersliip of n Bottle
The most important work Of the associa
ton Is Its protective feature The law of
Congress above referred to provides that a
heavy fine shall be placed on every person
having bottles with a trade mark uDon
them other than the firm which owns il.
Such bottles are never sold by the brew
cries. In no Instance does a brewer part
ownership with trade-marked bottles. Only
the beer in them is sold. and this with the
express understanding that the bottles are
to be returned.
Before the passage of the law and the or
ganization OF the clearing house Junk deal
ers and families could not be prosecuted
for buying and using these bottles. and
there were numerous evils which arose
Irem that source. Sometimes families
would put catsup in them Junk dealers
bought them and sold them in some in
stances to persons who conducted small
bottling establishments, and there were in
stances IN which the proprietors would put
an inferior grade of beer into the bottles
which bore the name Of some famous brew
er. In these days. after the law has been
n ost vigorously applied, honest junk deal
ers and small bottlers would no more touch
bottle which has a trade mark upon 1t
ran they would q venomous reptile
A special officer, Mr.. Charles E. Flinders |
VINO mas had many years experience as q |
detective, is employed by the association to |
look after all violations of the law. Mr. |
Flinders has secured the return of much |
valuable property of this kind and a few |
months ago he. with his assistant, discov-
cred in a warehouse in Anacostia a great |
quantity of bottles belonging to the Brew |
ers' Association, all of which were turned |
over to their rightful owners.
In most instances MIR. Flinders accom- |
plishes his purpose when he goes after lost |
bottles without trouble, but there have |
been occasions when he was attacked by |
those for whom he had warrants, and then |
a fight ensued. Eventually, however, Mr..
Flinders gained his end, and the person or
persons who attacked him were arrested |
and fined in theiPoliee Court.
Brewers. Fine Themselves.
By mutual understanding the brewers
have made the, law apply to themselves.
and about once month an agent of the
association goes through each of the va
rious breweries and .inspects all the bot
ties. In every case where the inspector
finds bottles belonging to another brewery
than the one he is inspecting the brewer
willingly pays the fines without the neces-
sity Of a prosecution. 1t is generally sup
posed that most missing bottles are in the