The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-21

-'ioJs AA' tsoNAS AltilileSf WHO WAS CoH-
 ducting the inquiry for the committee.
 also undertook to show from documents
 produced by officers of the United States
 Brewers association connection between
 that organization, and the German Amer ican alliance. The charter of the alliance
 was revoked recently by Congress. Major Humes put into the record lists | of candidates for public office, which, he said, were to be supported by the brewers association and the alliance and also q statement which he asserted was prepared for C. J, Hexamer of Philadel4 phia, former president of the alliance.
 at the office of the brewers associa- tion. The statement, Major Humes de-
 clared, was German propaganda.
 ONLY TWO EXAMINED Only two wituesses-Hugh F. Fox of i New York, secretary of the Brewers Ma tional organizations and John Gardner l of Philadelphia. former chairman of the
 organization committee, were examined 1 today, .'.f't.s.'-tsss*4tf lf l tcN was questioned at length regard I ing the war waged by brewers on antag- onistic firms and 'indfviduais:s' Some of the firms named were the John Mana-
 maker company, the Cadillac. Packard l National and Rec automobile companies, the H. J. Heinz company, the Goodrich Tire company, the American Rolling l Mills Middletown O.. the Fox Type writer company, the Maryland and Balti- more Casualty company, the Proctor Ss l Gamble Company, the Grasseli Chemical 1 company of Cleveland, Oho some sub l sdiary companies of the Standard OH company, the United States Steel cofpo-
 ration, the s. kresgie- company. the Red l Raven Water company. the American | Sheet and Tin Plate company. the Re-
 public Rubber company and the Della ware, Lackawanna and Western railroad.
 DENIES BLACKLISTING
 Fox denied that any of the firms named had been blacklisted, saying that the
 associations purpose merely was tohgive l preference to those who were friends"
 Later he told the committee that he
 would be willing to assume that all the ] documents relating to the firms which Major Humes put into the record were | taken from the files of the association
 Major Humes told the, committee that l the firms were listed by the brewers
 association because of their attitude against the use of liquor by their em- ployes or because of the activity of ifl- d.vdual members of the firms and in \ some instances of employees against the l liquor business. M
 The inquiry into political activity be. | gan when John Gardiner was called to the stand The witness said he might have seen lists of candidates Ut differ. ent times from 1911 to 1914, which the | association indorsed at times, including Iowa, Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana and
 one candidate for Congress from Illinois, but he could not recall the details. He
 admitted thtat the associations organiza- l tion committee was active in wet ana dry fights in several states in those years and said that in that time it spent l between $4c00O0 and s500,00o doing all 1t l cgtimately could to arouse public sen- tlment in our favor"
 MADE NO CONTRIBUTIONS l nn. .1nA1 atad f,saf tta fxfa
 made no contribution to political cam l paign committees and at first denied that it had indorsed any set of candi- dates.
 f Haven't you seen these lists of candi-
 dates to be supported by the brewers
 association and the German American al-
 liance that were sent out each year9"
 asked Major iHunies
 well, maybe I have seen them. tta
 witness replied but I do not recall them"
 | Records of the brewers association read I by Major Humes showed that in 1914 the Pennsylvania state association collected
 S294, IA for political activity in that st;lte 1 and that In the following year. sl96,15i
 was collected for the same purpose. Gard ] ner said he did not think the amounts i were as high as that, that the associa- | ton had raised various amounts, each
 brewery being assessed on the amopnt of it's output. Tn the wet and tdry"
 campaign in Nebraska, several years ago. | he said, the assessment was 80 cents fbr
 each barrel of beer brewed The fight
 was lost the witness added.
 NO MINUTES KEPT | In reply to question: the witness said
 the Pennsylvania state association adopt ed the policy of destroying check stubs and canceled checks each month, after 1 It's bank accounts were balanced. No
 minutes of it's meetings were kept l f"Wasnt 1t because the activity of tho l Pennsylvania state association was en-
 urely political that you thought it best
 to adopt this policy?' ?'' asked Major | Humes. 4
 l The witness denied this. stating that labor disputes which he wished to keep l from the public led to the adoption Of ] the policy. tsf t It was while Secretary Fox was on 1 the stand that Major Humes' read the statement said to have been prepared l by the former nreaiucnt or the Ger
 man American alliance. Copies of ths statement which was a declaration of l the alliances position on the European war before the United States became | q belligerent, were sent to C. ". Fei- genspan, of Newark. N. J., who aided l in financing the purchase of the Wash ington Times, and the Montgomery. ,Ala.3 Advertiser. and who then was chairman of the publications commit | 1 CONDEMNED DESTRUCTION 1 Hexamer's statement condemned as sabotage the destruction of American 1 factories engaged in producing war ma terials for the allies and also com demned the sinking of the ships carry ling munitions. Those responsible for such should be. punished. Hexamer said. hu, he added tnat they ald not believe they were committed at the instiga- 1 tion of Germany or Austria. This indicates that some literary in- lelined person in the ofrice of the United States Brewers association was writing German propaganda, doesn't it?" asked
 Major Humes.
 | II do not recall anything about it." MT. Fox replied.
 Mir Feigenspan was then chairman I of the publications committee at the time this article was written and sent Ito him, was he not?'
 l Yes" Fox replied, and he added: "That bears an indication that some one prepared it in the office of our asso ciation-"
 | German propaganda" he continued, twas by common consent discussed very little with us. I do .lot know whether
 that was because am an English