Etext prepared by Bruce D ThomasGOVERNMENT BY THE BREWERSBy ADOLPH KEITELFor thirty years intimately associated with the brewing industryCONTENTSChapter        Preface        Ballot Box Illustration I     My thirty years intimate association with the brewers II    Prohibition banishes crime III   What is beer IV    Nonalcoholic beer is a mysterious compound of drugs V     Beer is a habit forming drug VI    Why beer is not a fit drink for the home VII   Beer is not a temperance drink VIII  The decreased alcoholic content of beer will increase drunkenness IX    Brewers grains are considered dangerous for cows milk X     Brewers assault distillers to hide their own crimes XI    Abolition of crime and vice would decrease the sale of beer XII   Crime is planned in saloons XIII  The beer traffic does not recognize the sanctity of the home XIV   A vice complaint        An everyday vice scene Illustration XV    Laws are openly violated XVI   Another vice backed by brewers        Cabarets and tango dance resorts        How a New York brewer advertises his cabaret resort XVII  Millions expended in corrupting elections        United States Brewers Association exposed XVIII How Chicago Brewers have tried to prevent a dry vote XIX   Brewers fear woman suffrage XX    People resent government by the brewersPREFACEWhen it was found impossible to suppress my writings by attemptsto bribe me men were hired to poison me  After the failure ofthis plot to dispose of me I was subjected to almost unbelievableinsults persecution humiliation and injustice in the courtsA friendly federal judge was besought to stop me by an injunctionThe United States Circuit Court of Appeals set it asideFour futile attempts were made to influence the Post Officeauthorities to deny me the use of the mailsI was twice presented with the alternative of either agreeing tostop the publication of the truth or being thrown into jail onframed libel charges  I chose the jail rather than renounce theright of the freedom of the press guaranteed me by the constitutionof my countryWhen even the jail could not silence me a diabolical attempt wasmade to bury me alive in an institution for the insane but whenit was found impossible to discover the slightest trace of insanityor drive me insane during a sojourn of a month among maniacs Iwas releasedI verily believe that the honesty of the alienists in charge of theinstitution alone saved me from a living deathTHE AUTHORIllustration A Menace to good Government_The very nature of the business of the brewer makes it imperativethat they retain a strong hold on the ballot box  By those methodsalone have they been able to exist in the past  By those methodsalone can they hope to save themselves_CHAPTER IMY THIRTY YEARS INTIMATE ASSOCIATION WITH THE BREWERSFor about thirty years I have been closely allied with the brewingindustry and was daily brought in contact with the brewersI have been interested in a number of breweries as a stockholderI have been intimately associated with many brewers throughout thecountry  I am therefore thoroughly familiar with the inner historyof the beer business and the political corruption crime vice anddegeneracy closely interwoven therewithCHAPTER IIPROHIBITION BANISHES CRIMENaturally I am not a prohibitionist Nevertheless I dispute thecontention of the brewers that they did not oppose but insteadactually approved the enactment of the recent bonedry prohibitionlegislation forbidding transportation of alcoholic beverages intostates which prohibit the sale and manufacture of intoxicants onthe ground that its drastic measure would have a reactionary effectand thus result in the return of a number of the present dry statesinto the wet column  Vaporings of this sort sound very much likethe old sour grape story and have their origin in the fertile brainof the publicity manager of the beer trustAbsence of drunkenness law and order and the reduction of crimeto a minimum have invariably followed the dry waveProhibition has emptied the jails and the people are gratifiedwith the new order of things  Everybody is happy except theliquor interestsA town in Georgia having no further use for its jail not havinghad an occupant for a long time as the result of the bonedry lawhas rented it out for another purposeThe most remarkable proof comes from the national capital  Washingtonbecame saloonless on November 1 1917  During the month of Novemberthe first dry monthofficial figures made public by the commissionerscomparing arrests for drunkenness during November 1917 and the samemonth a year ago show that during November 1917 199 arrests fordrunkenness were made as against 838 for November 1916 a reductionof 639 or 76 per cent  The greatest number of arrests for any oneweek in November 1917 were 61 while the greatest number for thesame period a year ago were 218In Decatur Ill which went dry four years ago the populationhas increased from 25000 to 45000  It is claimed that the criminalcases have lessened 90 per cent that the building of factoriesand houses has increased 30 per cent that 2700 savings depositorsin banks were added and that there were 37 per cent less cases ofpublic charity yearlyNor will the loss of revenue permanently affect conditions  Theenormous wealth of the country will soon adjust that phase of thesituationAuthorities assert there is no license city that keeps within itsbudget whereas there is no dry city that is not financiallyimproved by the ousting of the brewersCHAPTER IIIWHAT IS BEERIn the well known European beer drinking countries nothing but hopsand malt are permitted in brewingHere beer is a concoction of corn rice hops malt glucosepreservatives and other drugsand in most cases it has nothingin common