Evening star., 1905-11-11
Petition From the Brewers.

A petition was presented to President
Roosevelt today that is sure to attract
national attention. 1t from fifty-one
of the great brewing concerns of the
United States, and relates to the proposi-
. tion to admit Oklahoma and Indian Terri
tory to statehood with a prohibition re-
quirement, on the ground that the presence
of Indians in the territory demands such a
/ course. The petition does not touch upon
the feature Of the case that Is now most
interesting Oklahoma people-the desire Of
the people to settle this matter by their
own vote, inasmuch they are as ia
miliar with the needs of the Indians as
anybody else.
The petition of the brewing interests was
presented by Albert Lieber president OF
the Indianapolis Brewing Company and a
member of the federal relations committee
of the United States Brewing Association
He was accompanied to the White House
by Representative Overstreet of Indianapo-
lis. In presenting the petition Mr.. Leber
called the attention of the President to the
fact that the brewing industry ranks fourth
OF all the great industries of the United
States in point of capitalization and i'm
portance, and declared that Il had so long
been the object of Misrepresentation and
abuse that 1t was considered advisable 20
make an appeal to the chief executive
He said that the signatures showed that
the companies signing were the largest in
the country, including the Anheuser- Busch
Schlitz Pabst and Robert Portner of Alex
andria.
The petition reads: What we want to ask
is that If the wise men OF the country guild
ed by yourself. find prohibition require
ment proper it shall not extend to beer and
ale that contain less than " per cent of
alcohol. The fact is that nearly all of t
is below per cent and most of it around
3 II per cent. Any chemist in the country
may examine any sample of American beer
nd will ha inS a,,f1t
The beverage contains from four to ten
times less alcohol than large number of
the largely advertised and much used pat
ent medicines throughout the country
which receive the unstinted recommended
tions of men and women of standing and
which are sold throughout the Indian Ter
ritory without molestation. We are sure
that no man who has given serious study
to the question will rank beer among the
strictly alcoholic drinks. Drunkenness can
only follow its most gluttonouS USE and 1t
is today the principal factor in turning the
United States into the leading temperance
nation of the world If the Indian is per
mitted mild drinks like beer he Will not
seek intoxicating ones, nor viii he kill
himself with the drug habit. He will not
find it necessary to debase his manhood
sneaking around in the dark, seeking an
Illicit place to get a stimulant. No serious
harm will befall him, as beer is free from
drugs or injurious ingredients"
Labor Leaders Received.
Greetings were presented to President
Roosevelt today by representative labor
leaders of Great Britain and the United
States William Moses and David Gilmore,
delegates of the British Trades Union Con-
gress. appeared for the British unions. Ac-
companying them were James Wilson. gen.
erat president OF the Pattern Makers
League of North America; James l.. Ger
non of the same organization; Oscar L. Tho
net. a member of the New York assembly
from Kings county; T. L. Costigan and
Frederick c. Berwick. All of them are on
their way to Pittsburg to attend the general
convention of the American Federation of
Labor.
Prof Booker Washington Here.
Prof. Booker Washington of Tuskegee,
Ala, called at the White House this after
noon and had short talk with the Presi-
dent.
The President Will Not Go.
The report that the President will go to
New York next Tuesday for the purpose OF
visiting the British naval officers on the
flagship Drake was denied at the White
House today The President does not ex-
pect to leave Washington for any purpose
before the convening of Congress.