New-York tribune., 1919-07-23
Cafe Men in Panic:
No,V Losing Hope

Fear that 2.75 per cent beer, now
practically the sole remaining sup
port OF the saloon business, soon will
go the way of hard liquors seized
many New York cafe proprietors yes
terday when they heard that the House
of Representative had passed the pro-
hibition enforcement bill.
The measure expressly defines an in
toXlcatlng beverage as containing more
than one-half of one per cent Of alco-
hol 1t bans not only denatured beer
and the lghtest of light wines. but
also innumerable varieties of imita-
ton cocktails, sherry, port, bitters and
other specialties.
"lt puts an end to everything" said
the proprietor Of West Forty second
Street cafe. "Of course, it is not law
yet and | believe there is a chance
that it never will be. But if it goes into
effect it will mean close up for US"
William Nolk, who conducts Volk'
Hotel and cafe at Forty second Street
and Third Avenue, said:
"Despite our beer sales we have been
losing an average of hundreds of dol
lars a day since July |. | have been
waiting for something favorable to
happen. Now, if we can't sell 275 beer
it's all off. | believe the President Will
veto the bill"
Beer Sales Are Heavy
Several saloon keepers declared their
beer sales, always heavy in the sum
mer season, alone had enabled them
to remain in business following the
So-called near beer" at 10 and IS
cents class thay sold yio11oJ rOOI
profit and as result the beer trade
had been more profitable this summer
than ever before.
ut has made up for the losses we
have sustained on the hard stuff, said
saloon keeper at Fifty-ninth Street
and Park Avenue. 1--WE expected tire
beer sales to drop off in the fall, and
what we were going to do then was
the problem. Now, if we can't even sell
beer it means close up before the sun,
mer is over. Few of us think it will
come to that. Beer of the 275 variety
has won place for itself with the pub
lie. Every one knows it is not intoxi-
eating, and I don't think it wll be
called SO in the end by the authorities. "
Replying to views expressed by GER
tain city magistrates to the effect that
q man IS not drunk iness he falls
down, Andrew h. Wood, assistant
state superintendent Of the Anti
Saloon League, yesterday defined an
intoxicated person as "one who is so
far under the influence of liquor that
his passions are visibly excited or his
judgment impairod.'
In Sufficient Quantities
Mr. Wood maintained that 2.75 per
cent beer would, if consumed in sutfi
cient quantities, produce such results.
"lntoXication is matter of fact,
and therefore must be determined BY
scientific test he said This already
has been done in laboratories and hos
pitfalls, with the result that accredited
scientists say any amount Of alcohol,
no matter how small, is Intoxicating
that it s a poison, the effects of which
are characterized from the earliest to
the latest stages by progressive mar
cotization impairins self-control and
self-crticism.
Being fiat on their backs as re-
suit of alcohol is not generally the
condition of men when they beat their
wives, abuse their children or create
other disorders. This generally oc-
ours when they are getting to this
stage or recovering from it. According
to the city judges, man would have
. to be As heavily shot as the competitor
Of Mark Twain's frog before he could
40 accounted Jr,,rl-