Omaha daily bee., 1917-09-01
Three Quit Business.

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Three Quit Business.
Clarke Bros. & Co. will 60 out of
business. and Woolner's Distilling
company and the Corning D.stilling
company will close down. All three
are Peoria institutions The Great
Western distillery will continue to
operate at small fraction of its nor
NAL capacity, while the Atlas distilA
lery will continue as usual, as it is not
atpresent producing beverage liquors.
Both the Great Western and Atlas
plants are part of the so-called
whisky trust" They will continue
to grind corn for spirits to be used for
commercial purposes under present
plans.
Reports that the plants will be con-
verted into cereal mills are denied by
dlstlllery managers.
The, Peoria distilleries manufacture
some alcohol for scientific and COM
mercial purposes" w. E. Hull, gen.
eral manager for Clarke Bros. & Co.,
said, "but whisky is the main product.
A distillery of large capacity cannot
operate on small scale at profit.
There haven't been enough war orders
from the United States, or the allies
to keep more than one of the distil-
leries busy and no new ones are in
prospect. Hence the distilleries must
close"
On August %, Robert D. Clarke,
vice president and principal stock
holder in Clarke Bros. & Co., an
nounced the company's distillery for
sale.
Prepare to Liquidate.
"We are preparing to liquidate in
the shortest possible time," Mr..
Clarke said, "We have reduced our
capital stock and in order to liquidate
in the easiest way, have formed five
smaller corporations, each to take
over some part OF the business and
each capitalized at $200,000."'
Should the government require
large amounts of alcohol for powder
manufacture the distilleries will i'm
mediately reopen, but the owners
are not expecting any government
contracts. Orders from the allies have
dropped off in the last two years.
For several months the distilleries
have been running at full capacity and
using more than $4,000 bushels of
corn daily, so much interest centers
in the effect of closing of the big
plants will have on the corn market.
Farmers of central Illinois probably
will feel the effect of the closing more
than others, for Peoria's market has
been an outlet for them for all their
soft corn, which distillers readily
bought up and which is not very use
full for purposes other than making
whisky. Distillers say the farmers will
suffer a dead loss on this corn.
Labor in No Danger.
Labor does not appear to be in any
particular danger as result or the
coming shutdown, although more
than 1900 men are employed in the
distilleries. Older employees will be
retained by the two distilleries which
will continue to operate and some
may be kept to lcok after the upkeep
Of plants that will be closed. Even
if ninety per cent of the men en-
ployed in the whiskymaking indus
try here lose their jobs, there will still
be room for them in other big plants
here. Companies which manufacture
farm machines and tractors are ad-
vertising for men and concern which
has government contracts tor cater
pillar engines, is planning extensions
which will absorb every man forced
out of position by the closing of the
distilleries.
Government gaugers and store-keep-
ers probably will suffer most keenly.
More than 100 of them are employed
at the distilleries and many Of, these
have been in the work twenty years
or more. A few are to go into other
branches of government work, but
most of them expect to seek other
Jobs or else remain idle while the dis
tilleries are closed.
The local coal situation may be re-
lieved by closing of the big plants
which consume on an average of L.
900 tons of coal a day, most of which
is supplied by lAcal mines.
United States Big Loser.
In money Uncle Sam probably will
be the biggest loser, for he will be out
some S30000000 a year in internal
revenue taxes. Some idea of what
the distilleries have been paying and
the amount of whisky they have
been making may be obtained from
the following revenue figures for the
hoast FIVE years, ending June 80, 1917.