The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-11
A BILLION DOLLAR COMBINE.
BEER TRUST MAY BE FORMED TO
BUY ALL BREWERIES.

scheme Was Discussed at the Nation
al Convention of Brewers in De-
trOit-PrOminent Brewers Admit
That such IA Plan Is on FOOt-There
Are Something Like go Breweries
to BE Bought Up-Eastern Capital
lists Are Promoting 1t.
Indianapolis. Ind, June 1O.-The trust
mania has reached the brewers, and it
may be said that a scheme is on foot to
form trust with $100OOJOO0 capital
aud buy up all the breweries in the coun-
tTy.
i is said that the scheme, which is at
present only in its inception, received i'm
setus at the national convention of brew
ers in Detroit, when plans were discussed
secretly.
It s said that several big Indiana cap
itallsts are lending their support to the
gigantic project, among them Crawford
Fairbanks, the brewer, of Terre Haute.
Mr.. Fairbanks was seen to-day. He was
somewhat evasive, and said that six
months ago he had heard of such move
ment, but not recently. He said that no
option has been secured on his brewery.
Ilt 4lHlAS ACAAANQ tlldl IlG udQ KNOWLEDGE
Of a projected trust.
shat Admitted 1t.
Joseph c. Shat. president of the Ameri-
can Brewing Company of this city, who
returned to-day from Detroit, where he
attended the national meeting of brewers
talked in an entirely different vein. He
admitted that the subject of a brewery
trust was topic of private consideration
al the convention at which 900 leading
brewers were present. He said the mat
ter is in its infancy now.
He had calculated, he said, that some
thing more than a billion dollars capital
will be required, as there are 220 brew
cries in the country to be bought up. 1t
is understood that an option has been
placed by the trust on Mr. Shafts brew
cry and he did not deny 1t. He did not
know how many options have been Sc
cured in Indiana, and said
Guessing, l should say eight or ten
10 date
Mr. Shat declined to say who are be-
hind tne brewery trust. but replied in
response to that question: Eastern cap
itansts are promoting the trust"
The First Step Taken.
Mr.. Albert Lieber, manager of the brew |
cry syndlcate Of this city, which includes |
tle three largest breWeIies here, tonight |
confirmed the story of the formation of |
giant brewery trust.
He had just returned from Detroit. and |
after earning that the story was out,
sdId.
"A Pittsburg broker named Merkle, rep |
Iesentng the American Mailing Company, |
has JUS, closed a deal involving S92 coo OJ0 |
whereby all the Pennsylvania breweries |
We're Consolidated. This was one of the |
hrst steps in the big scheme. Options |
are now out on a number of Indiana |
bfeWeries, and the same is true of other |
a,es The principal factor in the big
scheme is Seymour Scott, a wealthy brok- |
er OF New York city, who has been work.
ilg on II for some time
scheme Is StupendOus.
The scheme is a stupendous one, and
Il Will require at least three years to per-
lect II. The American Mailing Company
Already has monopoly on all the malt
NOquced IN this country.
The dstilleries will all be bought up
and also all the 220 breweries. l should |
tay u viii require at least $1,000, 600, 900 TO
do the work
The consumer will not lose Beer will
remain at cents a glass, but taxes ana
OAer expenses will be decreased and bet
!ef beer will be placed on The market AT
NE expiration of three years / look to see
az ne malt distilleries and breweries OF !
the united States controlled by the one |
WORKING head"