The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-03
REVENUE BIC
ARGUMENT OF
BEER HACKERS
DryS, However, Stand Firm;
Not Worth Price,
They Claim.
BY RAYMOND CLAPPER
United Press stan Correspondent

i1opNIAhnJ. 1881. DIT UniteQ ElcS6b
WASHINGTON, Dec. Beer is
marching into battle dressed in the
uniform Of a revenue producer.
1t has taken on semi-patrotic
dress IN these times Of a threatened
$4,000 o0O,00 deficit.
But to the drys it is only an evil
creature putting its best foot for
ward. They concede it will raise
revenue. But only at a price which
they say makes 1t too expensive.
When the advocates of beer plead
before the house ways and means
committee next week, they will keep
as far away as they can from the
troublesome question Of how beer
would be distributed. Instead, they
will concentrate on statistics to show
that beeer would quickly erase
some of the red ink on the treasury
books.
Crusaders Detail Revenue
One of the most detailed state
ments of hoped for revenue is that
prepared by the Crusaders. Fiji
teen states which now have no
state enforcement codes, they as
sert, could start selling beer at once
If congress legalized it.
The statutes will carry a tax Of
Sc a barrel on beer which would
be collectable automatically with
legalization of beer. That is about
a cent glass. Taking pre-War
per capita consumption, plus allow
ance for increased population since
then, the Crusaders figure these fif-
teen states would yield beer tax
of 1925, 542 ,999
AS soon as the eighteenth amend
ment was repealed, other states
would fall in, bringing the yield to
$4,000 900, the Crusaders estimate.
They suggest q tax Of cents a
glass, which would double the reve-
nue., would be gladly paid and still
be less than Englishmen pay.
Brewers Fight Increase
The United States Brewers Asso-
citation and the Cereal Beverage
Manufacturers Association hold on
the contrary that higher tax would
favor home brewing and bootleg
cling, checking legitimate consump-
ton and curtailing revenue.
The peak pre-war beer consump-
ton averaged twenty-one gallons a
year for every man, woman and
child of that time.
Figuring from this basis, allowing
for population increase and con-
versely for the spread of state pro-
hibition laws since, anti-prohibition-
lists in the house estimate IS a
barrel tax on beer would produce
$3.50, 100000 a year.
Not Worth 1t, Say Drys
Pending repeal, beer might pro-
duce enough revenue to run the
navy, or possibly the army. 1t prob
ably would be reasonably certain 70
produce enough to run the agri-
culture and postoffice departments.
That would be just silver in the
whole federal budget pie chart.
Drys say it isn't worth the price.
The price, as seen through the eyes
of one dry, was stated in graphic
language some time ago by Eugene
L. Crawford, secretary of the board
of temperance and social service of
the Methodist Episcopal church,
south:
Greater activity among the I'M
dertakers, the grave diggers, the in
sane asylum guards, the poor farm
employees, the hangmen, the peni-
Tertiary wardens, employees and di-
rectors of soup kitchens, and the
great army of additional police
men, traffic directors, judges and
court attendants, inevitably would
accompany the return of beer as a
legalized but demoralizing social
factor