The White Ribbon. "For God, and Home, and Humanity." WELLINGTON, JULY 18, 1936. A BREWER'S PAPER.

White Ribbon, Volume 41, Issue 490, 18 July 1936, Page 5

The White Ribbon. "For God, and Home, and Humanity." WELLINGTON, JULY 18, 1936. A BREWER'S PAPER.

Listen to the views on Prohibition given by a Brewer s Journal in U.B.A. Was Prohibition a failure if it built up a generation who were sober and taught young people to let intoxicants alone? “What happened to beer drinking habits in 15 years of Prohibition? We have only to refer to the statistics to find out that during this time a taste nd habit was built up for soft drinks — weet drinks. beer is having plenty of difficulty in breaking down this habit. Many tried l>eer when it came back, and then went back to soft drinks. This is a factor to which serious thought should he given. “The habit of beer drinking must again be built up. Many of the old

habitual beer drinkers no longer have their favourite saloons to go to, no longer have the friends whose suggestions were a powerful factor in Iteer consumption. T<> revive this ‘habit of drinking’ with former customers, and to get new customers to form the habit, is the job of the Brewery industry. The Brewing industry cannot expect an increase of a million prospective customers each year, so it must find a way to get a greater percentage of the national Income than before. This means increased competition with other industries —autos, other drinks, and the many other products which compete for the consumer’s dollar. . . rNFAVOPRABLK CONDITIONS FOR BREWERS. of beer-drinking habit during Prohibition. “Loss of millions of young people customers because none built up tin* beer-drinking habit for 15 years. “Soft drink taste and habit has gained a strong foothold difficult to displace.” “What the industry needs to-da\ is a great educational campaign, not under the auspices of any brewers’ organisation, but through some scientific temperance foundation, with definite leanings on the dry side. The aim and purpose of this campaign should be to establi: h irrefutable proof in the field of science and business, that beer is a necessary commodity—a health drink. Beer is a temperance beverage that will solve all the nation’s drink ills. The brewers know that, hut the public doesn't. “Fnless. through some mighty cooperative educational and temperance campaign, the industry can put over the story that beer is in a very different class from beverages of higher alcoholic content, the next Prohibition wave that sweeps the country is going to inundate the whole beer industry and probably for several decades or generations. “The job that confronts the brewers right now is to build their industry on such a solid rock of security that it can withstand the next Prohibition storm that sweeps the country. Hard liquors may come and go. but the beer industry will live on forever in the place it rightly deserves if the brewers will only read the handwriting on the wall in the present crisis." “The W.CVT.U., with its thousands of I'nlons all over the nation, keeps everlastingly whittling away. . . And this, too, is exceedingly significant in this liquor trade paper:— “You’ll have to hand it to the drys—there may be a lot of different ideas regarding the means they should enq loy, but they at least are in unity as to he end they seek. While they prate a lot almut temperance, they all seek to make this country bone-dry again. . “The Friion Signal.”