The Wilmington morning star., 1947-05-23
AsPeglerSeesH
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright BY King Features Syndicate, Inc

u
Copyright By King Features Syndicate, Inc.)
I have discovered another captain of in
dustry who. like John Hartford, of the A.. &
P. grocery chain, who was taken for s196, 900
by Elliott Roosevelt and his late father, be-
lieves that a fine, young citizen should not
suffer denial of business opportunity Just be-
cause mis- father is a powerful man.
He IS August A.. Busch, Jr, president OF
Anheuser-Busch Inc, the st. Louis brewing
company.
Mr.. Busch understands that Dave Beck,
L. Beverage company, of Seattle, which
recently was appointed to be the distributor
of Budweiser beer in Seattle.
Dave Beck, Jr., is the son of the sixth
vice president of the International Brother
hood o. Teamsters, Helpers, Warehousemen,
E~mbalmers, Mixers, bobby-sox clerks and so
forth. Dave Beck, Sr., is the most powerful
individual in the great northwest by reason OF
his control of the teamsters' union, which
| gives MIN the legal right to admit any mer-
chal.dise to the local and regional market. or
to exclude 1t, according to his opinion as to
whether that would be good for the union.
OOlllS |tdlS dSO VI ooll L 4HA' wa
ST.. told me that he had put an embargo
against certain California brews, excluding
them from the state of Washington to protect
his unions interests in a dispute with the
Brewery Workers Union. The brewery work
es claimed jurisdiction over the men who
formerly drove the brewers big horses that
the late Billy Sunday sadly sang, and later
drove the brewers big motor trucks. Mr..
Beck said these drivers were Transfers, not
bre very workers. He won.
A business firm or a combination could
be prosecuted on criminal charges Tor such
interference with interstate but
the federal court decisions affirm the right
of a boss unioneer to do this If he acts
solely in the interests OF his union. OF course,
if such an embargo should incidentally con-
fer a monopoly on a combination of other
brew ers CT relieve them of serious compeI-
ton that would be fine for them. In TINS
case there was no evidence of collision.
Anheuser-Busch withdrew Budweiser from
the Pacific Coast in January. l943, as a
patriotic act, abandoning a great market 10
ease the load on the railroads. Donald M.
Nelson. the chairman of the War Production
Board, thanked the company and SAID 1t was
his understanding that it represented a saving
of transportation of more than 100000 barrels
of beer a year.
In a recent announcement, Anheuser-Busch
says that the companv hons to meet the
growing demand which 1.-THE worlds largest
brewery, working at capacity, Is unaole 10
fill
After the withdrawal, the Seattle distributor
made satisfactory arrangements to hanole
other beers" and almost every distributor
of beer and general merchandise in that city
wrote US making application for the Budwel-
ser dlstrjbutorship in that important trade
area.
After a very careful investigation Mr..
Busch continues, I'VE decided to place The
distribution of Budweiser with the X. and L.
Beverage Company of which MIR. irving j.
Levine is president. This firm, in our opinion,
was the best distributor in the city of Seattle.
! Following the completion Of our arrangements
with Mr.. Levine and the K. and L. Beverage
Company we understand that Mr.. Dave Beck,
Jr., subsequently joined their organization out
his having done so had no connection olrecuy
or indirectly with our choice of a distributor
i'm Seattle"
do not infer, however, tn a t Anheuser-
Busch YVES exactly aghast at this develop
ment
saws, M understanding is that Dave Beck
Jr. had a very fine war record IN the Army
during the recent World War. Why or under
what circumstances he joined the X. and l..
Beverage Company l wouldn't be able 10 say
as we have no knowledge of the details or
90 / hIOW CNS oNA AH
know his father. However, it would seem that
Mr.. Beck, Jr., should not be penalized for
joining any organization simply because MS
father is officially identified with one OF the
largest unions in the country"
! AS | said before, John Hartford also felt
that the son of an illustrlous father should
, not suffer discrimination on that account, al
though he afterward testified that he thought
he had been earmarked for Elliott Roose-
velt's S2Oo, 900 touch and would have liked to
get off the hook. And neither had Hartford
ever met Elliott's old man but he certainly
did know who he was. and something about
his powers and methods, as l daresay MIR.
Busch knows, too, in the case of Juniors
paw There is no reason to think that Mr..
Busch objects in this case, however; on the
contrary, it seems to be a wonderful con-
nectioc.
By a source of information in Seattle l am
told that Dave Beck, Jr.'s, interest in K.and
7. distributors is "a per. cent. Considering
Budweiser's old reputation and the continu-
ing power of the advertising campaign, this
should be a fine break in life for any war
veteran.
Anheuser-Busch has painful and expensive
memories Of the powers of "the largest
unions in the country" Some years ago the
carpenters union picketed BudWeiser all over
the country because the company couldn't
give the carpenters certain Jobs without vio-
lating a contract with another union. The
Supreme Court finally said h carpenters
were right even if they were in the wrong,
because a union could do no wrong.