Beer, Milk, Soft Drinks

Beer, Milk, Soft Drinks

The U. S. Bar has voted Wet. U. S. Medicine wants Modification. U. S. Labor wants beer. The American Legion wants a referendum (TIME, Oct. 5). Part of the theory is that the return of brewing if not of distilling would benefit the U. S. farmer by using up his grain.

Last week the executive committee of the National Grange, potent farm organization (800,000 members), met in Washington and voted bone Dry. "It stands to reason," said the Grange, "that if the American people should spend a large percentage of their earnings for beer they would have just that much less to spend for food, clothing and shelter." Also, the Grange postulated a relationship between strong drink and dairy products, for its own reasons taking the War year of 1917 as a reference point:

"Comparing the year 1929 with 1917, the per capita consumption of dairy products alone increased from 745.8 lb. to 997.5 lb. a year. . . . The grain required to produce the increased quantities of these dairy products amounts to 10,067,196,000 lb. This is approximately three times as much grain as was used all told in the manufacture of fermented liquors in 1917. ... It is tragic to find so-called national leaders advocating as the solution of our social and economic problems the legalization of beer."

An anti-Beer argument believed in by President Hoover is that more men would be thrown out of work in the soft drink industry than would gain employment in the reopened breweries. Last week, answering an inquiry from Editor John Sanford Cohen of the Atlanta Journal, President Robert Winship Woodruff of Coca-Cola Co., leading trademarked U. S. soft drink in point of volume, made an announcement:

"Contrary to the popular impression, our experience generally indicates that Coca-Cola sales throughout the 76 countries in which we operate are unrelated to the sale of alcoholic beverages. I might say that Coca-Cola was born and grew to full manhood in pre-Prohibition days. Seven years ago the province of Ontario. Canada, was Dry and the Prohibition law was repealed or amended.* During that same year the sales of Coca-Cola increased more than 25% and this sales increase has continued steadily. In Montreal--which has permitted the sale of alcoholic beverages for some time and does so today--sales of Coca-Cola are more than double the per capita sales in the United States. Our volume and operations are generally satisfactory in Cuba. We have experienced several changes in regulatory legislation as applied to alcoholic beverages and to date have observed no adverse effect in the upward trend of Coca-Cola sales."

Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc., whose product mixes well with stiffer stuff, echoed Coca-Cola's story. Starting with 1927. the year Ontario went from Dry to Wet, the company's U. S. and Canadian per capita sales have compared as follows:

U. S. Canada

1927 47 81

1928 54 121

1929 57 178

1930 57 175

1931 56 193

* The Ontario Temperance Act was repealed in 1926. ,^

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