Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1904-08-17
BUNG, THE BREWER.
ONE OF THE GREAT MEN or THE
ENGLAND OF TODAY.

Politics and In the Police Court
What the "ConsoIidatfon of Inter-
ests'' Has Done For Him.
MIR. Bung, the brewer" is familiar
parsonage TO the English man and wo-
man from youth upward, says an Eng.
lish correspondent of the New York
Evening Post. lie is one of the lead
ing personages in well known child's
, game of cards, us is "AIr. Bones, the
, butcher" And when the English boy
a and girl reach manhood and woman
hood Mr.. Bung. the brewer, still pur-
. sues them. He ranks with the parsOn
: and the noncOnfOrmist. the landlord
and the trade unionist rs one of the
great forces in English public life.
AS though the indentured Chinaman
and the conscience tortured" free
churchnlan had not brought trouble
enough TO the Balfour ministry, Mr.
Bung. the brewer. is also ON their
track. He is being sOrely pressed by
reforming magistrates. These magis.
trates have had the audacity to re-
fuse all new licenses for the sale of
intoxicating liquors. They have also
raised all manner of objections to the
transfer of licenses from one brewers
nominee TO another, and they have |
even had the browning impudence to |
cut down the number of licensed liquor |
houses where they thought they eX.
ceedcd the needs Of the locality. In
anguish of spirit Mr. Bung has rush
ell to bis friends in power, but the
magistrates have demonstrated that
! they mean 10 have something to say
about any curtailment of their powers,
and so measures for the relief Of Mr..
Bung have been postponed. His case,
he is told. is under consideration by
the cabinet, and he does not like the
message. What he will do about it re-
mains to be seen.
He is certainly well pleased with
himself, is Mr.. Bung. Said the Licens-
ing World, his favorite organ, in the
course OF Il recent editorial "Never
was our premier industry more -four
ishing, never was the trade such a
power in the land as it is at the pres
ent day. Ii is not too much to say that
the prosperity Of the liquor industry is
inscparable from that of the nation IT. {
self. The one advances in sympathy 1
with the other, and while this lasts I
there is 10 more prospect of national
decay than there is of the substitution (
of Il republic for our time hOnOred and Z
firmly established monarchy" Could d
pen make Out Il more magnificent GER
tiliCa;e Of character and power?
And well may Mr. Bung be so
pleased with himself. The Daily News 9
has been gathering together some
striking facts about him, and it finds
that upon turning their businesses into h
limited liability companies in recent :,
years 23d brewing firms received $685. a
100000 as purchase price. They re- a
,civcj ii from the public, of course, n
md 50 did Il double deal They filled -
heir own pockets and. as they hoped, -,
widened the area Of infu- a.
nee opposed to legislation against the 81
estriclion Of liquor -,
The aggregate capital of English =,
rcwcry companies reaches the stupen- =,
Gus sum of S1,0lj,OO0,OO0. and the an s ~
uai profit is $73.OOOOO0. But it ap- ." -
ears that out of 800 brewery and dis ~
lllery companies not more than 100 -
ave offered their ordinary shares to 81
ne public, so that the dividends have ="
one in the ilain to the original brew ON
rs. who had already received heavy po
urchase price on their undertaking.
nd it is these brewers that hold the az
censeS of most of the public houses of -
ngland. WI
The free" house Of the old type
lat is, of prerailway days - when ou
nine host" smilingly dispensed hos les
talities TO The hungry coach folk as III
ey came past-"mine host" who was as
own master and took pride in his ei
lousc.' pleasant and often useful us
'ure in every village a friend of the au'
lSJn ana lhe SqIir2-that character tau
5 almos; disauorared from ENGLAND all!
Tie brewer and the brewing COM \
NY half fro2e him out and then 10
ught him out. and in his place is Il sur
I'd manager. ;!c, hand and foot to eve
rsc brewers and distillers. whose OF
ar!cd servant Lie is.
II is notorious" said Sir William
ircourt. when chancellor of the ex. II
'quer In 1891. that this trade is to
ling more and more into fewer wit
nds, with greater capital and i'm BEEF
wed methods Of economical manu- aga
'ture. which leave Il larger margin racy
prOiit TEAM WAS attainable by the over
aller brewers 1t was falling then: ones
las fully fallen now. and Mr.. Bung ton
I political power which no ministry road
IS to Offend they
1t has been my i'll fortune to spend to tC
week ut Clerkenwell IA criminal mC:D
TT in tic heart Of one Of London's estii
st crowded industrial centers-and be
again has the truth come home to mile
that drink is still the curse of Eng the
l. us II Is also of Scotland. 1t fills has
JaiIs ana warehouses; and is as in til
erful recruiting sergeant as ever here
'as Tor the classes OF the INDECENT roads
the criminal. Men, women and look,
5. into the dock they marched
'ged with wOunding and stealing T.
worse crimes. and in four cases SOr
OF five 1t cropped up in the evidence maca
they had had drop or were in Amer
h. ragua
oDody seemed surprised; it was gle h
Did ta.e, and away they went to prese
e their three or six or nine or more with
Ills III JAN Magistrates and pOpul
es and social investigators have
ited the tale time out of memory.
that potent thing. politics. is in One
'u' ana the wheels OF parliament are n
REFORM move with aggravating roads,
ness. But inasmuch as they must cars
nain lnfQrn lonfr IL