Washington sentinel., 1898-12-10
Brewers ProtestIng-Waut War Tax
Taken on.

YORK. PreSldent -. W. DSl ShSAj
OF Philadelphia, presided.
In his opening address President
Bergner, in speaking about the
war tax ot 81 a barrel on beer,
said that "this heavy burden has
affected the brewers business ma
terially, and threatens it with de-
struction. The production has
been greatly reduced also, for
instance, tax was paid for the first
four months Of the fiscal year Of
1897, on Is,4aS, ,463 barrels. In
the same period this year tax was
paid on I3,8a7479, a decrease OF
1,6oo, ,984 barrels. Not only was
the output lessened, but the profits
curtailed.
"These conditions must have
their sequence, the mixing OF in
ferior beer. We sincerely believe
the present war tax, following the
depression OF the last few years,
threatens the very foundation OF
our business. Under these con-
dItions the poor man who uses
beer as food has to curtail his
supply or else use inferior quality" "
Mr.. Thomann, Secretary Of the
Brewers Association, then read
statement, proposed on behalf OF
the Trustees. He said;
the additional war tax upon
malt liquors was imposed at time
when the brewing industry, stag
gering under an almost unbeara
BILE burden OF Federal, State, and
munici al taxes, had already be-
gun to decline, yielding the field
thus wrested from it under an un-
Just fiscal system, to untaxed do
mestic wines, untaxed alcoholic
cider, and to lightly taxed ardent
spiri's. Instead Of an average an
nual increase in the total prOduc-
ton Of almost one million barrels,
as in former periods, the official
records showed a considerable de-
crease during the last FIVE years.
To place additional tax burdens
upon the industry in spite Of this
indisputable evidence Of a very
marked retrogressive movement
might have been Justihable as an
extreme war measure, if the law
making power had first completely
exhausted all available revenue
sources, by taxing every other in
dustry and calling in the same pro
portion as brewing had been taxed
since the war OF the rebellion.
"1his was not done; in fact.
comparing the internal revenue
system Of I86z.66, which en-
braced every industry and calling
and also included within its COM
pass an income tax, with the
system OF 1897, one cannot evade
the conclusion that not one-third
Of the available revenue sources
have been utilized TO meet the
extraordinary expenditures of the
then pending war And it is an
equally striking fact that OF all the
beverages which constitute the
bulk Of the liquor traffic, beer only
the mildest and most harmless
drink, a necessary and healthful
part of the great mass of the peO-
ple's daily diet--was selected for
an increase OF the tax to double
its original war rate; while strong
ly alcoholic elders and domestic
wines were left untaxed and the
tax upon distilled liquors remained
unchanged. In all the discus.
sions upon the subject not a sim
gle tenable reason or justification
has been assigned for this singu-
larly inequitable adjustment Of tax
burdens" ="
Continuing, Mr.. Thomann said
that "there was no reason or justice
in the brewers being made the
fiscal scapegoat of the distil ers
and that the time had come when
it should cease. Once before the
excessive taxation had nearly
destroyed the brewing industry,
and in Europe at least a lesson
had been learned with the result
that in nearly all countries Of the
continent beer was either not taxed
at all or very lightly so, In Eng
land the taxation was borne by
distillers and brewers in some sort
OF equitable proportion. Neither
from a fiscal, an economical, nor
a moral point OF view could the
present excessive and dispropor-
tionate TAXATION be justified"
Strong resolutions we're then
adopted asking the repeal OF the
war tax, since the war was over.
Evidently the brewers did not take
much stock in the Annexation Jobs,
which will cost hundreds Of mil