BEER, VOL. 1, NO. 1 (JUNE 1932)

 A nifty little propaganda magazine put out by Three Star Publishing for the WE WANT BEER ASSOCIATION, INC.  (New York Headquarters:  229 W. 28th St., New York City).

The National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act, was designed to execute the Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited the sale of alcoholic drink, and was ratified in January 1919, and brought about the birth of major organized crime, speakeasys, and improperly made, and often poisonous, bootleg liquor.  It was, to say the least, a failed experiment and was finally repealed with the passage of the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933.  Included in the definition of "alcoholic drink" was beer. and therein lies the tale.

This magazine -- I don't know if there was a second issue -- touted the glories, wonders, and beneficial aspects of beer and urged that beer be excluded from the Volstead Act.

Articles, jokes, cartoons, and illustrated were used to hammer down the point.  There is nothing wrong with beer -- it is a healthful, relaxing beverage that should be far distanced from evil rum.  Legalizing beer would not mean a return to saloons and degradation.  It would allow a man to be legally refreshed after coming home from work and sitting in his easy chair with his newspaper.  I would increase the nation's health and economy.  It would restore a basic right.

Several of the article assert the support of various politicians for the return of beer.   Senator Millard E. Tydings is quoted on the economic need for repeal:

• The nation's deficit on June 30, 1931 was $903,000,000
• The last "beer year" indicated a consumption of 1,980,000,000 gallons of beer; a tax of 25 cents per gallon would yield the government some $500,000,000 in revenue
• Add to that coal miners would dig out the 2,990,257 tons of coal needed in the brewing process
• --- the 200,000 freight cars and several hundred locomotives needed to transport the coal to breweries
• --- the 64,000,000 pounds of sugar needed yearly (which might also lessen the likelihood of  civil war in Cuba)
• --- the 3,000,000,000 pounds of wheat need at 4 cents a bushel
• --- and the 300,000 men who would be employed by the breweries
• The deficit would be reduced, at the very least, to a manageable amount.

There is also testimonies from medical men on the positive effect on health.

And sly jabs at the crooks and politicians who have profited from Prohibition.

There is one lone article that makes the case for the entire elimination of the Volstead Act -- not just for the legalization of beer.

Let's face it:  beer is glorious!  It is America's favorite drink.   Americans do not deserve a watered down version that is tasteless and vile:

"Mary had a little Beer.

     It made her feel quite ill.

Said she, "This stuff they sell us now,

     Is rank enough to kill."

So, pull on your propaganda boots, and examine the first (and perhaps only) issue of Beer.  And, as you do so, you may wonder what the WE WANT BEER ASSOCIATION, INC. is doing today.

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