The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-11-21
EUROPE IS SHIPPING BEER FOR u. &.


was ca great lover of beer and acr cuBtomed to praise his own bfow- Ing" Early acts of colonial i1gis- latures were almost all aimed ni substituting fermented for dis sri1rs :'',sH s5iesii To PROCLAMATION ton, however, brewing tended to courage it. The country drank im- ported. rum and home-made whisky with such heartiness ao to shock every European traveller who has set down his Impressions. This hard -whiekey-drinhing tra- dition continued until the middle Of the past century when the rise Of the German brewers began. Agitation off the control of drinking also began very early, though all the early efforts were aimed at encouraging drinkers to |.desert fiery whisl<ies, rufne and brandios for varieties of beer. Dr Benjamin Rush (1Ts6)e is usually regarded as the first real cam pnigner against .the evils of drink. Roughly, the course of the movement against alcohol moved from one objective to anohter something like this:
 1. Moderation.
 2. Personal abstinence from
 hard iiquor."
 3. Personal total abstinence.
 |. Pressure on others for ab-
 stinence.
 5. Anti-saloon license agita-
 ton.
 6. State prohibition.
 2. National prohibition.
 The temperance movement was the first stage. By 1885 1t claimed 1,50O,O0O members in country that only had 13,OO0,000 people.
 Many of these societies per- mitted their members to use becr and light wines. But shortly after that brewing began its rise. and the temperance people banned beer as well as spirits.
 The Mexican war was on when the first prohibition law came to America and Mayor Neal Dow of Portland led Maine to become bone dry in 1846. By, 1855 there were IS prohibition states; By the end of the Civil war, however, eIBHL OL tAIc 10 btdtSD AA@N &U~ts- doned prohibition.
 THEN THE w. Q. T. U.
 It was in' the 80's that the real battle was poined on a grand scale. The U. s. Brewers associa- ton was well organized, having been integrated since 1862. Its founder, Frederick Lauer, had been sort of dean of American brewers, as his family's brewery was established at Womelsdorf, Pr. near Reading, in 1923. The stage was being set for the w. c. T. U., for Frances Willard, Carrie Nation, John Cough, Wayne Wheeler, and the other names sa- cred to the dry cause.
 At about the time the Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York harbor ,(18S4) the battle was growing fierce.
 The dramatic Women's Crusade of the 70's was the forerunner of the w. c. T. U. It started in Hills boro, O, led by Mother (Mrs F. J.). Thompson. Pious, earnest women went from their churches while bells tolled ,and knelt in saloons, imploring and praying that the dealers give up their trade. Many did. Hundreds of saloons were closed.
 In 1880t (Martyr Garfield was president) Kansas wrote prohibi- ton into It's state constitution. the first state. to do so. But nearly every state was by this time ex- perimenting with regulation, H. ccnse laws, or one form or another of liquor, control.
 The climax of the fight against John Barleycorn" was rapidly ap- 
 NEXT: How tllc big brewers arc planning q quick comeback as soon as the law permits. And how 1t was this same power that rose to such heights in the early f0OOs that the people overthrow 1t.