The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-05
Many Saloon.Keepers Believe
They Have Been Imposed
Upon.
TOO MANY PRICES FOR THEM.
Certain Brewers Likely to Make the
Break by Recognizing the Work
mems Union.

The article published in yesterdays
| CALL regarding the war among the brew
ers produced great excitement, not only
among the members of the Brewers Pro-
! tective Association, but among hundreds
of saloon-keepers who are handling the
beer of the breweries found guilty of cut
| ting the price of the beverage. As stated
| In this paper nearly month ago, charges
were made that the California Brewery on
| Seventeenth and Douglass streets, and the
Broadway Brewery on Broadway, had
been cutting the price of beer below the
rate established by the association OF 50
per barrel net.
A special committee was appointed by
the association to investigate the charges,
and the members worked for about three
weeks before making their report. Before
! the committee was set to work Mr.. Fred
ericks of the Jackson Brewery showed that
he was convinced the charges were true by
| offering a resolution to cut the price of
| beer to 81 from IS, and teach the offenders
lesson they would not soon forget. The
majority OF the body decided that it would
| be better to await the findings OF the in
vestigating committee.
| Their report, which was made on Fri
day, caused jolly row in the asso citation.
| for the committee reported having found
| that the accused breWeries were guilty as
| charged, and they recommended that the
cut be met by bigger cut. In addition,
! the Investigators reported that the cut
rate breweries had about three prices for
their steam beer to their customers. To
! those whose patronage they were sure OF
| the price was So, the standard rate. To
| those OF whose patronage they were less
sure they sold beer for 81 barrel, and in
order to take patronage away from their
| rivals IN business they offered and sold
! beer for So so per barrel.
The first two findings caused lots of
! trouble among the brewers at the meeting,
but it was the latter finding that raised a
cloud OF dust among the saloon-keepers.
Those who are paying $5 and 81 have raised
a howl OF indignation upon learning
| through yesterdays CALL that their rivals
in the saloon business were getting beer
Tor as low a price as So 80. They con-
| sidered that such a discrimination was
an outrageous imposition upon personal
and business friendship and of character
that could not be overlooked in future
dealings.
AS might be expected, several i'm
promptu indignation meetings were held
among the saioon-keepers Yesterday, at
which there was a free comparison of
notes. From what can be learned several
brewers We're interviewed as TO prices, but
the figures given could not be obtained.
Every brewer hesitates about making the
first break, although there is a general
feeling among them that general cut will
soon be made in accordance with the
recommendation of the associations
special committee. The fact that the
National, jackson, Milwaukee and Wash
ington breweries and the San Francisco
Breweries, Limited Give in s number),
making total of nine breweries all favor
making big cut makes general break
almost unavoidable.
1t is for this break that the saloon
| keepers are waiting in order to determine
what course they will pursue with their
customers. That is, whether they Will
make bid for patronage also by reducing
| the price OF beer over the counter to two
glasses for 5 cents or hold to the present
price and take advantage of a cheaper
purchase price. There is considerable sem
tlment against the two-for-hye proposition.
| One reason is that the lawless class will
imbibe too freely and get many of the
saloons into dlsrepute. Should this
happen there is no doubt in their minds
that the Supervisors, License Collector and
the police would close many OF their
places. BY holding to the present rate
the saloon-keepers would make a golden
harvest while the beer war would be on
There is no doubt but that many would
sell at ~ cents glass and the other class
would make speciality on putting out
tempting free lunches with their 5 cents a
glass beer.
n
certainty prevails. Nearly all are pre-
pared to make a rush for business as soon
as the first sign OF general break appears,
and the action of one brewery would be
sufficient TO cause q stampede.
From what can be learned, the onlv
thing that held back the members of the
association from making a break at the
meeting on Friday was the form of the
labor union that loomed up in sight lust
as the decision was about reached The
association and its members have srent
and lost many hundred thousand dollars
IN lighting the Brewery Workmen's Union
and Its allies, the trades unions. To have
an internal tight would be to lay them
selves open to break in their ranks, by
which the Brewery Workmen's Union
would secure a foothold and compel the
| employers to recognize the union as a
body. II this should come TO pass, the
long, bitter, expensive anti-union fight
would come to naught, and the union
would come off victorious.
And this very thing is what is the most
likely to happen. All of the help in the
Philadelphia Brewery, one of the svndi-
cate are union men, and members of the
union are scattered among nearly all of the
other breweries.
Several of the brewers are in favor OF
abandoning the anti-union fight and
throw their institutions open to the union.
These contend that the fight is too expen-
slve IN the first place and in the second
place unionism is more of a bugaboo than
a reality. These further assert that a
| brewer Is safer in the hands of union men
than he is IN the hands of business rivals,
VINO, under the cover of protective assoc
citation, practice cutthroat methods for
the purpose OF depriying others OF their
patronage.
Jacob Adams, who said that he is one of
the proprietors of the Broadway Brewery,
denies that beer from his brewery has been