The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-20
BEER COST LOOMS AS REAL POLITICAL MENACE IN BRITAIN
Six Pence Glass of Beverage Disturber to Bonar Law
 Government

LONDON, March 19.--Beer and trsnquilIty--a queer combina ton but real one in the government of Mir. Bonar Law.
 The connection between these ap- parently irreconcilable quantities will be made strikingly eviden: when Stanley Baldwin, chancellor of the excheQuer, introduces the annual budget in the House of Commons next month.
 Mir. Bonar Law came into office on a policy of tranquility, now as fa- nous subject in England as the much-vaunted normalcy became in the United States.
 Tranquility, just like normalcy. carried with 1t strong promise of economy in public expenditure and reduction in taxation. The conser- vative governments economy pledge will meet it's first real test with the introduction of the budget.
 Now the six-penny glass of beer comes along and challenges tram quility. There is one item to which more concern than any other in de- manding that his burden be appre- ciably frightened. That item Is beer. It is food to the working man. It means more in his life than a re- duction on the income tax, and the government has got to do something about 1t. Particularly has chancellor it.
 Demands Lower Beer Tax.
 In demanding a reduction in tax ation. the Englishman first demands a reduction in his beer tax. The tax on beer. reckoncd on the barrel basis, has been increased 13 fold since the war. Proletarian beer, mild ale as it is known in the trade, sells over the bar today for six pence pint-say 12 cents at normal rates of exchange. More than half of this sale price is tax.
 Before the war tuppence, or about four cents, would buy the same pint of beer-an infinitely superior beer, in fact, because any navy In cor ner pub will tell you that the pres ent day beer Is weak, insipid and shows signs of marked deteriora- tion.
 And now to explain the fiscal rela- tion between beer and the budget.
 It is expected that the budget will total between four and four and a half billions of dollars. Of this sum tie margin for reduction of, taxes Is estimated at not more than $250,- 100000.
 Besides beer. the public also asks relief in the entertainments industry. especially in the price of movies. in the income tax and in the cost Of food, but first comes beer.
 Cost s1o.ooo.ooo.
 It is agreed that the least reduc- ton that could be made in the price of beer is & penny (two American cents) a pint. A reduction in the tax on the brewers equivalent to a penny per pint would cost tho Brit s-l- N the year. This is probably much more than Baldwin can afford under one heading. So what Is he going to do. in the effort to harmonize beer and tranquility?
 The suggestion is made that the chancellor will strike g bargain with the brewers. The latter will be asked to help reduce the cost of beer by reducing their own profits. It IS stated that the large sums they have been making in recent years would enable them 10 do this without any undue suffering, thus the entire burden of the beer cut would not fall upon the exchequer, It would continue to receive good ly revenue and the public would get cheaper beer; the governments pledge to reduce the cost of living would have taken on some real meaning. Tranquility would be saved
 That is understood to be the gov ernment's plan. It is too early to say whether 1t will work.