The Brewers’ Year Book
By Editor
We have received from the United States Brewers' Association the Brewers' Year Book for 1910. It presents for its chief argument in favor of the brewers' work the tax rates paid into the various treasuries, the fact that prohibition does not prohibit, and the unsatisfactory condition of legislation along prohibition lines. And yet no thinking person can read its statistics without believing that if no beer were drunk men could afford to pay very much larger revenue to the government in various forms than they are paying at present and still be a long way ahead, and that government would be far less expensive if the crimes which come by drink were eliminated. Prohibition laws are unsatisfactory, it is true; and so are all laws against crime, because men are criminals. Murder is prohibited, stealing is prohibited, highway robbery is prohibited, yet there are many murders and many highway robberies and many things stolen. Should we therefore repeal the laws? or should we endeavor to educate the people so they would see the necessity of these laws? The liquor problem is a hard one. We do not always agree with the methods that are used by those who are endeavoring to terminate it, and yet we do not wonder that men use even the extremest kind of measures when they take into consideration the awful evil that it is. The Brewers' Association is a wealthy company. There are millions upon millions pouring into the treasury of those who wholesale and retail the drink that kills every day. How much better it would be for the country and for humanity if that money were turned to proper clothing for the family, proper food, decent furniture, homes, and surroundings!