The Washington times., 1917-05-07
Brewers Protest Stop Order
Declare Their Use of Grain Does Not Interior,
With the Food Supply of
the Nation.

gardsd as q serious item In the con-
sSrvAtlon Of the food supply.
Pabst Quotes Revenue Figures.
Colonel PRbst dwelt on the subject
Of revenue and food conservation a.
related to the brewing industry.
He said the output of beer for the
year ending June 80, 1915, was $685.
624 barrels. At the present tax rate
OF $3.50 per barrel the Government
received q revenue Of Ss7,9e4. 500. Al
lowing for the shrinkage Of State.
that have gone dry" the internal
revenue department.. he said, esti'
mates the sales Of beer for the next
fiscal year at Do.oOo,Ooo barrels.
To make this quantity of beer would
would require approximately $1,000
900 bushels OF grain. He said that
the by-products represented . salvage
OF IS per. cent
harley Not staple Food.
ignoring entirely the food value Of
the beer itself. It will be seen from
these figures" said he, shat the &C
tual amount OF grain which will be
used up In the brewing process IL
about 37.700. 900 bushels. This Is less
than threeouarters of / per cent Of
the. grain produced In the United
States. Moreover, barley IL not q
staple human food, either here or
that 10 not good enough for mating
purposes II sold for fodder.
He said that the area Of land I'M
der cultivation to barley in 1915 was
thirty-ninO one-hundredtks of l per
cent of the total agricultural land.
Figures were presented to show
that the Government would receive
about sass In revenue for every
bushel Of grain actually consumed.
Colonel Pabst further stressed the
fact that while the amount OF bar
ley and grain used in beer, and the
land area utilized are too small to
be q factor In the food conservation
program, all the machinery OF the
maltsters and brewers and all the
channels OF trade are so set for the
next output would bring wittde-
spread disaster"
Says Drinker Gets Food.
The point was also made that the
food value Of barley used in brewing
Is absorbed by the consumer OF beer,
and II he did not get Il in beer he
would have to replace It with other
food
Mr.. Lehman devoted much atten-
ton to the manner in which Euro
pean countries and Canada handled
the liquor and brewing industries.
He made the point that in most of the
European countries beer containing
az or az per cent OF alcohol Is treat
ed as q temperance drink.
In Denmark" he said, no tax is i'm
posed on beer containing less than ~
Per cent Of alcohol" He sought to show
that the same theory Is held in other
countries. such as Sweden and Norway.
He pointed out that In Canada. most Of
the provinces which were regarded as
dry" permit the brewing Of beer not
over ~ per cent proof
Most of the European continental
countries" said Mr.. Lehman. would
no more class their present beer a. an
intoxicant than they would class coffee
as harmful because Of the caffeine Il
contains-"
Neeessity Not Here Yet.
In referring to the possibility Of
cutting down the alcohol content OF
beer, Mr.. Grain said: 1T may be-
come necessary for the Government TO
say to the brewers: You ought to
make q curtailment Of the alcoholic
content I do not think that period
has arrived, but as the war goes on
II may become necessary"
The brewers sought to emphasize
the fact that they stand willing to
adhere to any regulations the Govern
ment believes necessary.