Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-02-12
COURT DEFINES D[[R
DECISION OF AJusTus" BREW OF
WIDE EFFECT IN
IOWA.
IT'S BEER UNDER THE LAW
ALTHo MOUNTAINEERING
Supreme Court. Ruling Settles Dis
puted Notwithstanding corre-
spondence Over Rail Commissions
Coal and Corn Car orders-Wade
Discusses Democratic Prospects.
special to rimes-Republican

Special to Times-Republican.
Des Moines, Feb. 12.-The argument
Of the Iowa supreme court in deciding
the famous case Of Sawyer VS.. Botti,
from Woodbury. county. is of general
application and really touches on one
phase of the prohibtory law which had
not before been considered. The case
arose over the sale of so-called "Justus
Beer" made at a brewery by fermenta-
ton of malt but with the process stop
ped early so that there was in the stuff
only half of ! per cent of alcohol in
stead of the three and half in good
beer. Regarding what is beer the
court said
"The term beer seems to be recOg-
nized in the dictionaries as having two
meanings, first, fermented liquor,
made from matted grain, and secon3,
| fermented extract of roots or other
parts or products of various plants. BY
adding the general description malt Ii
quor the legislature clearly designated
the sense in which the term beer is
employed in the statute. With ref
erence to anything called beer which is
not made from matted grain, the ques-
ton will merely be whether or not it IS
intoxicating liquor, but if it is made
from matted grain, that is, if it is a
matted liquor, it's sale is prohibited
without regard to its quality as an in
toxicant The manufacturer can not
bring malt liquor within the class OF
liquors not prohibited by the statute
by giving it some name other than that
of beer, much less can he do SO by
adding a qualifying descriptive term
to the word beer used in the name. We
reach the conclusion without the sight
est doubt that the beverage in ques-
ton, being a liquor manufactured from
matted grain by a process involving
fermentation no matter how slight the
fermentation may be. and irrespective
of the amount of alcohol which it
actually contains and also without re-
gard to whether it is in fact intoxi-
eating. is within the statutory descrip-
ton of liquors the sale of which is pro-
hibited It is conceded that the process
of manufacture of justus beer is the
same as that Of lager beer, save that
the fermentation is arrested at an
earlier stage, and therefore less alcohol
is contained in the product. We think
that such liquor is "beer" within the
statutory definition, but whether so or
not, it is unquestionably a malt liquor.
ss*
A little correspondence between the
railroad commission and w. c. Cheyne,
of Oakland, in regard to the coal and
corn controversy shows how easily
the commission, and the railroad man
ayers, get into trouble by trying to
please everybody. Mr.. Cheyne related
q terrible story Of hardship because of
no coal and how the sidings along the
railroads are congested with coal
trains, then referred to the corn pref
erence suggestion of the board, add
ing:
1--WE that are without coal have just
as much voice in the affairs of this
state as the Iowa Grain Dealers AS
ISOLATION and we are a - sight more
numerous"
This called for some explanation and
Secretary Lewis gave il. He reclted
the numerous coal complaints of jan
uary and the coal order, then the fact
that delegations Of grain men came
to ask for cars for corn and the re-
sultant corn order, and then
"The commissioners will have to do
what they think is right. They can not
please every one, and 1T would seem
from the newspapers that they have
pleased nobody The grain men and the
farmers complained bitterly to the
commissioners because of their coal Or
der. Notwithstanding it was clearly
proven that families and institutions
were suffering. Your letter is but
sample of the encoura cement this
board receives while it endeavors to do
1NHyf 1n MI
"Your letter is also another sample
of the difficulty this board experiences
in handling complaints. You state you
are out of coal, but you give no car
number of coal that is missing or on
the way. You do not state where any
of this coal has been ordered that
NAV be on the way, nor when ordered,
nor to whom consigned. There is no
information whatever in your letter
that would enable this board to trace
any delayed shipm ants for you, and
YOU must know that business must be
done in business way; that this COM
mission has no coal mines and no rail-
roads, and we must simply use the
best efforts that we have to compel
railroad companies to handle shlp-
ments promptly. We can not 90 TINS
without knowing something about the
shipments, when and where the SNIP
ments were made and to whom con-
signed, by what railroad and in case
of missing car, the car initials ana
numbers"
"In the end all the trouble into
which the administration has got Itself
at Washington. will be to the advan-
tage of the democrats" said ex-Con-
gresham Wade. member or the demo-
cratic national committee.
"The people will find out just what
we have been telling them long
time" he said, that the democratic
party is the only really progressive
party. The republican progressives
will not be able to accomplish any