The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-18
FREE LUNCH MAY co.
SALOON MEN PERTURBED OVER
RISING PRICES OF PRO-
VISIONS .
BREWERS MAY HAVE TO PAY
Price of Beer May Come Down OF
Cash contributions Be
Made-Outlook.
Ominous

Unless the brewers come to our rescue
and see fit to make up at least a part
of the extra cost by corresponding re-
duction in the price Of beer, l am afraid
the saloonlIeepers of st. Paul will have
to give up the serving of elaborate free
lunches" said President Rohrbeck of the
Retail Liquor Dealers association, last
night.
THE lunch / serve just costs me IS a
day more than it did two months ago and
in order to protect myself from bank
ruptcy, I nave been compelled to charge
extra for what my patrons eat. l haven't
reduced the size of the menu, but 1
simply charge fifteen cents, which en-
titles every customer to two beers and
all he wants to eat. am playing even
now, but when the consumption of meat
and potatoes becomes heavy / expect to
see a dead loss. I estimate that l am
putting up 40 per cent more for the ma
terial that enters into a lunch than 1
did two months ago. What the winter
will bring, 1 have only the word of the
commission people for. They say it will
be double"
Mr.. Rohrbeck's plant is only one of
many and to the thousands who daily call
for tub of suds" and proceed to re-
plenish the inner man by vigorous at
tack on huge .roaSts of beef pots of
baked beans and the hundred and one
delicacies, that each saioonkeeper prides
himself on favor.ng his patrons with the
future cannot be one but of unalloyed
grief. During the summer potatoes and
the ever present huge roast of beef are
retired for edibles more in season and
this fact Is responsible to a degree for
the failure on the part of many saloonists
to take the initiative in either doing away
with the lunch as an adjunct to their
business altogether, or else curtailing it
in extent and variety.
Potatoes and meat7have now with some
families reached an almost prohibitive
price and to what extent they will figure
in the free lunch problem when the win
ter season rolls around is to be imagined.
If commission men are to be believed,
potatoes and meat wiz be for the rich
only, and to consider them a part of
saloon free lunch is almost ridiculous
Henry Schade, who sets out a daily
lunch admits that provisions have taken
skyward prices but does not anticipate
a jump that will necessitate the elimina-
ton of the free lunch altogether. He
says it costs more today to tickle the
palate Of a customer. but there is a de-
mand and those who pay, the bill must
be looked after.
William Twombly, the Wabasha street
saloonkeeper does not take such an
ominous view of the situation as some
Of his brethren. For some things l pay
little more than did, say year ago.
said Mr.. Twombly, "but am not thinking
of exacting a price for what 1 serve or
curtailing the amount. You can say for
me as long as beer Is sold, there will be
free lunch. The two are inseparable and
there will always be someone to try and
beat his competitors by giving a more
elaborate service"
Despite Mr. Twombly's view of the
situation, the prevailing opinion among
saloonists is that the elaborate lunch
will have to go or else be curtailed to the
extent that the man who takes BIS glass
Of beer will have to content himself with
a piece of bread and cheese or some other
equally reasonable accompaniment"