Evening star., 1938-03-18
UNION FIGHTS CUT
IN BEER TARIFF.
Imports Would Bar Chance
of Scent Brew, Pact
Quiz Told.
By BLAIR BOLLES.

All hope for q scent glass OF beer
would 60 out the window If the United
States agreed to lower duty on this
brew, the International Union of
United Brewery and Soft Drink
Workers "of America an American
Federation of Labor union. assertedly
representing SO per cent of the coun-
try's brewery employees, contended to-
day at the hearings on the proposed
trade agreement with the United King
dom, Newfoundland and the British
Colonial Empire.
The American brewing industry
needs lowered domestic taxes, the brief
prepared by Joseph Obergfell, general
Secretary-treasurer of the union, and
read before the Committee for Reci-
procity Information in the auditorium
of the National Museum, stated.
Brewery wages in 1887 are estimated
at $80,000,000 and the total value of
malt beverage produced was S420,000,-
600. Mr.. Obergfell added:
Present domestic prices, with pres
ent taxes remaining untouched, cam
the sale of beer at cents per glass"
With over 500 breWeries in the
United States. internal competition
would already have forced sale of beer
at cents per glass if it were possible
Increased imports would therefore
simply mean a subtraction from the
market for domestic beer That in
turn would mean decreasing employ
ment and lower wages.
Association Backs Stand.
"It would weaken the bargaining
position of labor and in the end would
destroy the very labor conditions which
the Roosevelt administration purports
to seek for that portion of labor which
is not yet as fortunate as the brewery
workers
The American Brewers Association
supported the position of the brewery
workers and prophesied that because
Of the glamour literary men have
thrown around English beer drinking
in English inns, reduction in the
beer ale porter and stout duties would
encourage sentimental American beer
likers to call for the British product
instead of some good native beer
George P. McCabe, Washington
counsel for the association, told the
Reciprocity Committee:
Attention is called to the fact that
domestic brewers are more and more
endeavorlng to build up domestic
trade IN ales, porters and stouts large
sums are being expended in research
and experimentation to brew an ale
acceptable to the American taste. and
domestic ales as fine as any foreign
brand are now on the market.
With another reduction in tariff and
a consequent reduction in the price of
imported ales. the work of the do
mestic manufacturer will be discour-
aged. not because of an inferior prod
uct, but because of the reduction in
price of the imported article and the
stories that the present generation
has heard and read of the picturesque
English inns to which the English lit
erary eeniuses repaired and meditated
over the wonderful mugs of ale.
Competition Between Markets.
"The domestic brewer should be en-
oouraged in building up his domestic
trade in ales; there is competition be-
tween the imported and domestic mar
ket, which will increase in the event
OF a further reduction in tariff"
Ihe New York State brewer. Mr., Nc
Caoe said. pays gallonage tax of 3.33
cents and an annual license tax of
$1,000, and there are taxes of $500 for
the right to make wholesale sales and
$500 for license to make retail sales
at the brewery. He pays an additional
ID cents Federal gallonage tax, and
the importer, if he sells his product in
the imported package, is liable only
for the retailers or wholesalers H.
cense fee and the duty.
Inc present duty on malt beverages
nas been Is cents gallon since Feb
ruary Is, 1885. when it was reduced
oy half under the reciprocity feature
OF the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1890 Mr.
McCabe pointed out and argued that
this reduction prevents further lower
-'e NAANSi lAiC PlOPiSlOIlS OF the Re-
clprocal Trade Act of 1884, which Der
mlts executive raising or lowering of
smoot-Hawley tariff levels bv 50 ner
cent.
Mr.. Obergfell said that the average
wage OF more than 81 500 in the Amer
lcan brewing industry, $500 more than
.ne average for all industries. would
oe endangered by further duty lover
ing
United States production of beer
from 1910 to 1914. he said, averaged
z'oOO,oOO,0O0 gallons a year Today if
is about 1.75o.o0o.ooO gallons. Imports
come chiefly from Japan, according to
INI, McCaoes brief. Total imports of
malt beverages from abroad amounted
10 499,776 gallons in 1894; l .032 882 in
1885; 1,932,lSo in 1885, and 2,582 207
in 1887.
.