The Cordova daily times., 1923-02-02
ENGLISH BEER
 DRINKING CUT
 BY HIGH PRICE

| LONDON, Feb. 2.-High taxes, low wages and unemployment are making Great Britain temperate.
 Statistics issued by the Brewers 1 Society show that in the last four years consumption Of beer in England i has decreased 50 per cent. This has not resulted from any growth of tee l totalist sentiment among King Georges subjects, but is due entirely to the fact that the average Briton cannot afford to drink as much beer as he formerly consumed.
 In 1918 England poured 36,OOO,0OO barrels of beer down it's thirsty gull let's. In 1920 the consumption had decreased by 100000 barrels to 26,- OOO, ,OO0. and in 1921 a further drop ot 1 8 .OOO,000 barrels is recorded, with a total consumption for that year ofI 23 ,OOO OOO barrels. The year just closed, however, almost gave the brew CTS heart failure for the sturdy Eng lishmen-and women-curtailed their consumption of the brew to 1S,000,0OO barrels.
 Taxes Multiplied Perhaps the main answer to the ouestion is found in the fact that, con- pared with pre-war taxation, the duty on beer is thirteen times as great as it was before the Germans started the big scrap. The brewers, generous hearted souls though they may be, do not feel that they should pay this thlr- teen-fold increase in taxes out or their own pockets. They have added few shillings to the cost of each par rel of beer to the consumer, and the thirsty Coc1ney finds himselm unable to ouench his thirst with the ire ouency or the volume that was ms wont.
 The fact that more than 100000 persons are out of work in England i has been an undOubted contributing factor to the decline in beer cOnsump- tion. The added fact that wages paid worlmen have not increased as rapid lv as the cost of necessities of life IS another element mitigating against the prosperity of the brewers.
 Beer Still High
 Cheaper materials, except hops, have not decreased the manufacturing cost sufficiently to warrant the brew CTS reducing the price of their product.
 A more or less anomalous situation has arisen out of the beer dilemma. The object of the Government in i'm posing heavy taxes on intoxicants was l to increase the revenue of the realm. It has worked just the other way.
 In 1920 the Governments revenue from the beer tax was 123,O0O,OOO pounds. The estimated revenue for 1922 is 9O.0O0,O0O pounds, or drop of 33 ,OO0, ,OOO pounds in two years. And the brewers say that the Chancellor ot the Exchequer may not get his 9O,o0O,' co pounds for 1922, as that is an es- 1 timated figure only.
 The brewers declare that Brltons will not get back to pre-War beer basis until the Government reduces the duties on beer. 'Prohibition by dearness," they declare, is an imposi- tion upon the people that must be rectified by legislation.
 Accordingly there is now in prog ress a vigorous campaign for the re- duction of the beer tax, and it is re- ported the movement has found favor with an increasing number of mem hers of Parliament. It is not unlikely that before statistics for 1923 become available the tariff on the amber brew will have been reduced, and Britons once more will be hitting their pre-war stride in the consumption of beer.