BACK TO BEER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 83, 8 April 1933, Page 9

BACK TO BEER.

FLOOD GATES OPEN. AMERICAN REVELRIES. Prohibition Era Passes Out in Jubilee and Jollity. TRUCK LOAD TO WHITE HOUSE. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 11.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, April 7. The thump of bung starters on countless kegs drummed the long lost beverage back to the American scene on Friday, and lawful 3.2 beer gushed in on territory populated by 70,000,000 people as 19 States and the district of Columbia lifted the ban more than 13 years old. Jubilee and jollity were widespread among friends of the beverage, while its foes voiced criticism and warning.

Five minutes after beer became legal, at midnight, a big truck, gay with festoons, rumbled to the service entrance at the White House at Washington, bearing two cases, the brewers' gift to Mr. Roosevelt. The President, who had retired, has indicated that he will give the beer to his friends.

On Broadway, New Yorkers paraded behind a hearse bearing the letters, "Near Beer is Dead," while a band, in bright Bavarian uniforms, played dirges and drinking songs. The brewers of the metropolis had refused to deliver before 6 a.m., but by 1 a.m. some hotels, cafes and restaurants had managed to get beer from New Jersey and elsewhere. "Happy Days" at Chicago. "Surprisingly good," said Chicago beer connoisseurs as they celebrated the new beer's day while 100,000 cases and 200,000 barrels sped to points of delivery. Cheering throngs crowded the down town streets, hotels and eating places. German societies in St. Paul, where beer flowed freely at midnight, drank toasts to President Roosevelt and "happy days." Brewers in Chicago estimated that 5,000,000 dollars had gone into circulation there immediately, while a newspaper said that about 40,000 persons had got jobs in Illinois as the result of beer. From the first few hours' sale in Minnesota the Government garnered 100,000 dollars in revenue. The price varied in New York. A much-quoted figure was 2 dollars per case of 24 bottles. The price for a glass was often 10 cents and sometimes a nickel for a small glass, but in hotels and some restaurants it was in many cases. 15 cents per glass, and sometimes as high as 35 cents a bottle.

German Bands at MiuwaUkee. Milwaukee, the home of famous beers, welcomed beer with German bands tooting "Ach du Lieber Augustine." The carnival spirit reigned in St. Louis at midnight. Philadelphia, pronouncing its new brew good, cheered as 10 breweries opened their gates to let the flood out. In Reno one brewery's entire supply of 3700 gallons was sold in the midnight rush.