The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-06-24
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
BREWERS BEARING GIFTS


During the struggle over repeal of prohibition,
America was warned about what would happen to
the new temperance" should the legalized liquor
sellers adopt modern high-powered propaganda to
promote the national consumption of liquor. The
combination of such propaganda with an environ
ment of motorcars, dynamos, conveyor belts and
perplexing social problems foreseen as a threat
to sobriety and public welfare that would dwarf
any LIQUOR menace known before prohibition.
This threat has now materialized in the form Of
a propaganda campaign, better equipped, better
financed, more adroitly led than anything OF the
kind yet attempted in the United States. 1t is
campaign to entrench the brewing industry and to
increase already rapidly mounting profits from the
sale of beer 1t purports to interpret the public to
the brewers, the brewers to the public, and 1t Of
fers to cooperate with all forces working for the
public good
Those detectives cannot, will not, be construc-
lively realized. The brewers will interpret them
selves to the public only in terms that will promote
their own special interests and profits. The public
alone should interpret itself to the brewers. AS for
cooperating with the forces working for public
good and temperance, actions speak more loudly
than words. While the brewers, since repeal have
from time to time given lip service to better con-
troll of the liquor traffic, they have overwhelmingly
combaed the efforts of the public in the state legS-
latures and in congress to set up better liquor en-
forcement machinery. They have done nothing to
abolish the saloon one brewers trade publication
asserting that the saloon was essential to the
continued profits of the beer industry. Conditions
have become so bad that the Federal Alcohol Ad-
mnistraton is seeking of extending its slight
control over the beer industry
The present unadvertised beer campaign, exposed
of cto tn6n in
paper, seeks to insinuate it's basically SpeciouS
propaganda into the home the college and even
into the church in an effort to break down social
resistance and to capture public thinking so thor
oughly for the brewers that they need not answer
for past abuses nor fear control in future.
Those interested in the selling of more liquor
are not natural or safe teachers of temperance
This educational effort is challenge to the tenn
perance workers and to all elements in the public
the home, the church, the schools, the social wei
fare organizations. They must be alert to resist
deliberate efforts by masters of mass psychology"
to manipulate their thinking The brewers have
take nthe offensive mtanty to push their own
claims about beer. They can be answered only by
equal energy and competence on the part of tenn
perance forces in telling the truth about beer
The first and basic claim to be met and demol-
ished is that temperance can be promoted by sub
stitutng beer for hard liquor. Such substitution is
unlikely To the contrary, beer serves too frequent
ly as preface to the drinking of stronger liquors
Indeed, the brewers campaign is likely to result
in pressure to increase the of sale and the
consumption of both beer and hard liquor. 1t is in
conceivable that the hard liquor interests will stand
by and see the brewers promote their product and
make no effort to accelerate the consumption of
their own Finally beer is alcoholic and therefore
Intoxicating if consumed in large quantities. Con-
sequently the brewers propaganda drive can be
viewed as nothing but threat to temperance be-
cause the basic purpose of this campaign is to
make America consume more beer.-Christian Sci
ence Monitor.