Evening star., 1933-10-13

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This article summarizes sections OF
troll soon to be published under spon-
sorship of John d. Rockefeller, Jr.
The study Ucs conducted by Ray
mond B. Fosdick and Albert B. Scott
Reference to this study and some OF
its findings bare previously been
contained in newspaper dispatches
from Nep York, but the article be-
loiD attempts to 90 into more detail
than the daily dispatch.
Lenient regulation Of the sale of
beers and light wines will promote the
cause OF temperance by diverting the
taste Of those who wish to drink to
feller study Of liquor control after re-
peal believes. This principle is made
the basis for a control system which
would classify permits for the sale OF
3.2 per cent beer and vines as follows
"A. Permits to sell 80 per cent beer
and naturally fermented wines not in
excess Of 10 per cent to IL per cent by
the bottle for of-premises consumption
"B. Permits to sell 3.2 per cent beer
for on-premises consumption with or
without meals.
&C. Permits for sale of 80 per cent
beer and natural wines at hotels, res
taurants or clubs for consumption on
the premises with meals"
Question of Human Taste.
In defense of the proposed regula-
tions the report states:
ITO many people this liberal policy
in relation to the control OF beers and
wines may seem betrayal of the cause
Of temperance. With them no compro-
mise with liquor in any form is possible,
and the world they desire is world
in which alcoholic beverages are not
consumed at all.
To-day we are confronted with prac-
tical realities. It is not question OF
the kind of world we might prefer; it
is a question of what we can achieve in
the kind of world We have. It Is a
question Of human tastes and appetites
which, as We have discovered, cannot be
eliminated by statute.
In our opinion, there is but one
major proposition to be faced in rela-
ton to alcohol: Granting that millions
Of our people will not drink at all, how
can the cause of temperance best be
served among those who choose to
drink"
Discussion of the control of wines and
beers is opened with the inquiry of
what concentration of alcohol makes a
beverage intoxicating to the ordinary
man.
Should Regulate Stronger Drink.
when the alcoholic content is below
that point" the report points out, "a
drink should be subject to little, If any,
restraint upon its use. The stronger
drinks should be regulated under a
program which, so far as is practicable,
discourages consumption with increas-
ing strictness as the alcoholic content
increases. Such a system directs its
spear-head against alcohol in the forms
most liable to abuse by man, and by
permitting relative freedom in the use
of the weaker drinks tends to promote
temperance"
The natural and convenient division
between these two classes OF beverages
is the division between fermented bev-
erages and distilled liquors, the report
states, and would make this line the
basis of a radical difference in treat
ment under the law.
1t is not contended that fermented
drinks cannot be intoxicating if over
gators, "the experience and common
sense of mankind have always recog-
nized the difference between the two
if legislators have not"
Pushed Sale for Profit.
The makers of the report find no
definite evidence to support the argu-
ment that the beer drinker Of today
becomes the whisky sot of tomorrow
Where this transition has taken place,
it is explained, the usual cause has
been that beer was sold over the bar,
side by side, and under the same regu-
lations as whisky, and since there was
a greater profit in whisky the barkeep-
ers pushed its sale.
Beer of 80 alcoholic content is con-
sidered a Notwithstanding beverage, and
the testimony is almost unanimous, as
serts the report, that since its legaliZa-
tion there has been no increase in
no disorder, no Increased
resort to illicit hard liquor"
1t recommends that such beer be OBJ
tanned by the bottle for off sale con-
practically without limitation
from grocery stores, drug stores. deli
catessens and general stores, and be
sold by the glass, with or without meals,
in restaurants, hotels, beer gardens,
clubs or any reputable establishment.
The sale of naturally fermented wines
up to 10 or II per cent, for off ff-premises
consumption, would be allowed as freely
as beer but for on-premises consump-
tion would be sold only with meals and
in bona flde restaurants, dining rooms
and clubs.
State Control Urged.
The Rockefeller study next takes up
the Capitalization of authority over the
liquor traffic.
The grant of broad powers to a
State Alcohol Control Authority" is
the only effective way to handle the
hazardous problem of liquor control, it
is stated.
This Authority would conduct the
States retail sales monopoly and regu-
late all other phases of the liquor traf-
flc. thereby insuring the elimination of
private gain n vending of heavier alco-
holic beverages.
The report recommends that the
functions to be performed by the Au-
thority be specifically enumerated in
The law and appropriate rights and
powers be conferred. It lists the fol-
lowing powers as necessary to the dis
~lldI &c VI tAlC 1utAlOA lIy 4CopOllolUl1l.
lies:
81. The exclusive right within a
State to sell or control the sale of all
alcoholic beverages which contain
spirits; all wines known as fortified
wines, the alcoholic content Of which
exceeds that of the natural fermenta-
ton process; and all fermented prod
uctS, such as beers and elders. contain
ing more than 80 per cent of alcohol
by weight.
"2. The right to lease or own and to
operate retail shops for the sale Of
those beverages by the package to the
ultimate consumer for of premises
except that the authority
should be bound to abide by the de-
cision of communities which vote to
exclude the retail sale of any or all
alcoholic beverages under local option
provisions.
Right to Operate Plants.
"3. The right to lease or acquire by
purchase or condemnation and to oper-
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