The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-03-18
BEER BREWERS
DECIDE TO FIGHT
DRYLAW T0END
Board of Trade Acts on Ad-
vice of Root and Guthrie
to Battle in Courts.
MAY GET INJUNCTION
Lawyers Deny Power of In
ternal Revenue Bureau
to Set Alcohol Limit.
PLAN TO KEEP BREWING
2.15 Per Cent. Product Is Aim
of Movement-Many Legal
Actions Probable.
PLAN TO KEEP BREWING

New York brewers decided yesterday
10 continue the manufacture and sale
Of beer containing 2.75 per cent. of al
cohol. They reached this conclusion,
which means a stand up fight with the
Commissioner Of Internal Revenue, af-
ter conference of leading brewers at
the Lager Brewers Board Of Trade
at 100 East Fifteenth street.
Their defiance Of the Commissioner
Is based upon an opinion rendered to
their Board of Trade by Elihu Root
and William d. Guthrie. which holds
in substance that nothing in the Pres
ident's proclamation of March or in
the law of November 21, 1918, limits
non-intoxicating beverages to one-half
of per cent. of alcohol, and that since
heer containing 2.75 per cent. Of alco-
hol can be proved to be non -intoxicat-
ing brewers may lawfully disregard
the interpretations placed by the Com
missioner upon proclamation and law
Decision Means Legal Fight.
This means a fight, as Mr.. Root and
Mr.. Guthrie plainly state to their clients,
but they advise the brewers to seek an
injunction against any attempt by the
Commissioner to conflne them to one
half per cent beer. In any event. the
organization. headed by Adolph G. Hup-
Eel. Jr.. will contest straight through
the courts what II regards as the right
Of its members to save their business
from ruin.
1t may be that the very name beer
will be discarded. and that bottles or
other containers Of the amber fluid will
hereafter be labelled malt beverage,
non-intoNlcating," though the 2.75 per
cent. will be there just the same. Many
of the members favored dropping the
descriptive term beer" and substituting
for 1t what they consider a more ac..
curate term.
The decision is another step in the
programme OF the brewers to fight to the
last ditch for the preservation of their
business. 1t will produce complications
and court actions supplementing the
suit which has been begun by the Ever
ard interests. The brewers said yester-
day that they have received so many
communications from civic assoc citations
and from returning soldiers as to indi-
cate a definite public opinion in favor of
a liberal Interpretation OF the Presidents
proclamation and OF the act OF 1918.
Text of Lawyers Opinion.
The opinion submitted by Mr.. Root
and Mr.. Guthrie is as follows:
in compliance with your request we
have considered the question OF the legal
right of brewers to manufacture and
cause to be removed for sale and con-
sumption malt liquors containing not to
exceed 2.75 per cent. of alcohol by
weight, or 3 3 per cent. by volume. under
the acts of Congress of August TO- 1917,
and November 81, 1918, and in view OF
the proclamations of the President dated
January 80 and March 4, 1919, respec-
lively. and the internal revenue regu-
lations issued as of February 6 and
March 13 respectively.
You instruct us that We NAV
assume as a matter OF fact that malt
liquors which contain not to exceed '275
per cent. of alcohol by weight. or 3.3 per
cent. by volume, are not intoxicating.
and that this can be established by the
witnesses.
There Is no provision in the act OF
Congress Of November 21. 1918, or in
the act OF August 10, 1877, which au-
thorizes the executive officer of the Gov
ernment TO determine what malt liquors
are in fact Intoxicating. nor to prescribe
any fixed test or standard for determtn-
ing when malt beverages shah be doomed
Intoxicating.
Authorization for Use of Grain,
I'VE are OF opinion that the proc
lamations OF the President dated jan
uary 80 and March 4, 1919, authorize
the use OF grain and other food products
in the production OF malt liquors which
are not in fact intoxicating and that the
act of November 2l. 1918. does not apply
to non-intox icating beers
In the regulation issued by the Com
ro1ftnHeH M Tb;rd