New-York tribune., 1918-01-18
Close the Breweries
The Saving in Coal, Food and Labor
That Would Result
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

10 inc Editor OF Inc Tribune.
Sir: Your editorial suggestion that Goa
can be saved by closing the brcwcrics should
meet with the hearty approval of all those
people who have been suffering from lack of
coal. You have shown something Of the
quantities of coal consumed by the brewer
les. coal enough to relieve much of the short
age now so ncutcly felt by many industries
and by many homes.
Congress has given power to the President
to stop the manufacture of beer during the
war; so there is Il way to divert the brewery
coal elsewhere if people want so to do. The
houscholdcrs suffering from cold, and the
manufacturers and theatre managers whose
business is threatened with closing down
should start campaign Of letters and tclc-
grams to tho President protesting against
the discrimination in favor of the brewcrics
in the matter of coal, and demanding that
the brcwerics be closed arranged by Con-
grcss. Beer is not Il product essential to
the we'll being of the nation, but exactly the
reverse.
Were Brcwcres Favored?
That brcwerics favored by the Federal
Fuel Administration is charged by the Anti
Saloon League. They cite this incident as
evidence. A Philadelphia coal company,
which had contract to supply coal to a
Camden. NJ j., brewery for year (they
name the brcwery), and had also contract
to supply coal to the Baldwin Locomotive
Works, which employs $4,000 to 10000 men
making locomotives and munitions, asked
the Fuel Administration at Washington for
permission to cancel the contract with the
brewery, as it was impossi ibc to supply both
it and the locomotive works. The Fuel Ad-
ministration percmptoriy refused pcrmis-
sion to cancel the brewery contract. The
brewery must have coal, no matter what hap
pcncd to the munitions factory.
On October %, 1917 more than one thou
sand coal operators met in Pittsburgh 1t
was stated at this meeting that considerably
more coal could be mined if there were
tivemllc "dry" zone around every coal mine,
but nothing has been done to take advan-
tagc of this suggestion. A Methodist minis
ter living in the coal regions of Pcnnsyl-
vania recently wrote to "rhc Christian Adj
vocate" of New York of the "brewcry
beers oaked crime cursed Schuylkill regions
with their saloons galore lie said, "If you
want more coal shut the saloons" Liquor
agents tell the miners that the dust in the
mine only be overcome by beer and
whiskey, and the miners believe this COM
mercia lie.
If the brewerics closed 5000 trains
day would be released to carry coal and food
and other supplies badly needed. MIR. K. D.
Leach, assistant fuel administrator of Ohio,
gives these figures Of 5000 trains day
cupled In carrying raw materials to brew
cries. He does not give the number Of
trains carrying the beer over the country.
TO release these trains for the use of legti-
mate and necessary business should be de-
manded of the government authorities
The Food Saving
Tbo foo do. IN of
beer is something the women of the nation
should make outcry against Why not ask
| Uncle Sam to sign a conservation card on
| the beer question:? The United States Bu-
reau OF Crop Estimates gives figures for the
year ending June 80, 1917, showing that 61.
755,979 bushels of barley, 125, ,632, ,269 pounds
of rice, 666,401,619 pounds of corn OF cereal
inc, 63,2l3,69S pounds of grape sugar or
maltese, G557 ,26O gallons of glucose, 193,-
263,64O pounds Of grits, and large quantities
of "other materials" were used in the manu-
facture of beer in the United States. The
amount of barley thus destroyed would.
according to Dr. Aonzo L. Taylor, of the
United States Food instraton, supply
bread enough for our army many times
over, more than enough for all Belgium.
Barley is not commonly used for bread, but
makes excellent bread mixed with wheat
-four. One of the most popular breakfast
/ lOOuS III America IS maze OIL Il mixture OIL
wheat and barley -four, twice baked, then
ground small. SO | was told at the factory
where it is made Whole barley, soaked for
twenty-four hours, then cooked like rice, is
very delicious and nourshng cereal. Bar
ley can be fed to chickens and to animals,
and should be conserved for such use Farm
ers are killing their chickens and cattle
because grain is so high priced and scarce
Why should the brewery be given permis-
sion to destroy food and use coal at such a
time as this? Nearly all the big breweres
are owned by Germans, some Of whom have
been shown to be far from loyal to America.
To close the brcweries will relieve the
shortage of labor now acute in many in
dustries. A large army of men would be re-
leased for useful labor who are now en-
ployed in making drink that Injuries the
body, lowers resistance to disease, and ma
terially reduces working efficiency as shown
by many scientific tests. Alertness, steadi-
ness, strength, endurance all reduced by
even the very small percentages of alcohol
contained in beer
! In the great struggle for liberty in which
we arc now engaged should cast aside
every hndrance Food, coal, labor money
are all needed if are to win the war. A
government that implores us to buy Liberty
Bonds and Thrift Savings Stamps should
shut off harmful business that takes APP
proXimately billion of dollars a year out
of the pockets of the people.
MARTHA NJ. ALLEN.
Forest Hills, N. Y, Jan. IS, 1918.