New-York tribune., 1919-05-20
Swiss Visitor 10 Anti-Sasoon
League Convention Here
Says Low Percentage Is
lust as ID anger rous
Americans Deny Point
Testimony in Suit Says That
drunkenness Would Be
Impossible on New Scale

American and foreign authorities
flash on the question whether 2.75 per
o.nt beer. which the brewers want to
uanufacture in spite of prohibition, is
an intoxicating beverage, according to
statements made yesterday by DR..
Robert Hercod, of Lauzanne, Switzer-
land. Dr.. Hercod is in this country
f. attend the nineteenth annual con-
,..ntiop of the Anti Saloon League of
America at Washington beginning
June 4.
@po YOU think 275 per cent beer is
;rtoxicating?" Dr.. Hercod was asked.
Certainly. if taken in sufficient
quantities" he replied. And the fact
that such beer contains low percent
ace OF alcohol will cause people to
drink more than they might otherwise,
knowing that it Will take longer to be
affected
Cites Belgium as Example
Or. Hercod represents the lnterna-
kional Temperance Bureau of Europe,
gaud is the editor of several scientific
magazines devoted TO temperance.
NJ you want an example of what
lbeer With low percentage Of alcohol
! will do he continued, look at Bel
GUM. The beer sold there contained
from to 2la per cent alcohol. Prior
to the war Belgium was noted for alco-
holism because of the enormous guam
titles OF beer consumed. Making the
alcohol content lower in no way de-
creased the evils cf drink, but rather
increased them
Numerous statements testifying eX-
acsly opposite to those of Dr.. Hercod
were made public yesterday in the pub
l5hed testimony in the case of The
Jacob Hoffman Brewing Company VS..
Richard J. McElligott ct al in motion
for preliminary injunction argued
last week in the Southern District of
New York by Elihu Root, William D.
Guthrie and William L. Marbury, coun-
SCI for the complainant.
Testimony of Professor
According to the testimony of Ho-
bart A, Hare. professor of therapeutics
at the Jefferson Medical College, Phila-
delpha beer containing only 2.75 per
cent alcohol is not Intoxicating under
the legal definition of the term. Mr.
Hare stated that when liquid con-
tainng small percentage OF alcohol
is consumed. the alcohol may be de-
liVered so slowly to those parts of the
oedy which utilize or oxidize it that
will never be present in sufficient
quantity to produce any of the effects
o. alcohol which has escaped oxlda-
ton.
similar statements that beer of 2.75
per cent alcohol strength would not
in'oxlcate when taken in quantities
mat the human stomach can ordinarily
hoid were made by DR.. Smith Elv Jel-
,lHe' Of the New York Post t-Graduate
hospital and Medical School. and John
Aafshall, professor of chemistry and
,,o'Alooiogy in the Medical School Of the
University OF Pennsylvania.
Would Need Three Quarts
according to Mr.. Marshall, expert
nea's show that the quantity of beer
'0n'aihing 2.75 per cent alcohol re-
CURED t, produce an intoxicated condi-
10a would be more than three quarts.
quantity manifestly beyond the ca
paclfy Of the human stomach and a
quantity IN excess Of the amount that
q. - practically drunk by an ordinary man
IN thirty minutes"
similar testimony from employers
whose workmen have been in the HABIT
IS. =. a5'nkins large quantities of war
'Sssl was also introduced in the suit
-. 'splcal example was the statement
~ staten Island brewing COMPANY
fuperlntendent, with 100 men under his
Supervision. " -" ''' MS
,sa ane'r work is so dangerous that the
a1psllh'endent ,ra's has reason, under the
,Sa4 uv.Anehs compensation act. to see
wa. aa. none Of them is injured. His men
b.a'. s's allowed to drink all the ~war
d. d., 'ney desired, and although some
CO.. as many as twelve glasses in the
n..il n.tszs Of few hours he did not
II. s.'Ss &C. single case Of drunkenness in