$7,500,000 a Year?

On the eve of the beer-tide which swept the land last week, the famed Milwaukee brewing house of Pabst Corp. merged with Premier Malt Products Co. of Chicago (TIME, Nov. 14). Last week it became increasingly clear that this deal marked the passing of Pabst Corp., one of the big U. S. family-owned businesses, into the hands of outsiders. The outsiders are Harris Perlstein, aggressive young head of Premier, and his smart assistant, Philip A. Singer. Through the deal the Pabst family become large stock-holders in Premier which will run their famed company as a subsidiary.

Looking closely at a Pabst label one may see a large B inscribed on one of the hop leaves. It stands as a memento to one Jacob Best who started the business in the 1840s. In 1862 his granddaughter married Captain Frederick Pabst of the S. S. Huron. By the time the Chicago fire of 1871 left the Milwaukee brewers supreme in their territory Capt. Pabst had taken over the company and had his name painted over its portals. Capt. Pabst was an epicure, would rather sip good wine than quaff beer. So it was a proud day in the Pabst Corp. when one of their brews won the blue ribbon at the Chicago Fair. So pleased were the Pabsts that they called their leading brew after the Blue Ribbon which they attached to every bottle. When near beer brought lean days a blue strip of paper supplanted the silk ribbon but Pabst stuck to its trademark.

No hoariness or tradition clings to Premier. It was formed soon after Prohibition by Anton Spaeth of Decatur, Ill. who saw that there would be a home-brew market for malt. In order to better his product he hired Messrs. Perlstein & Singer. So able were they that within a few months they were partners in the business and soon controlled it. Premier bought a second plant at Steubenville, Ohio and then a third in the once great whiskey city of Peoria. It concentrated on malt products and thrived while the old-line companies struggled to sell near beer.*

By its deal with Pabst, Premier Co. stands ready to join the front-rank scramble for national beer sales. Premier plans to concentrate all its brewing in Milwaukee, to use its Peoria plant to make a breakfast food and the other two to make malt products, probably for the trade. The Pabst cheese business will be continued. An unusual glimpse into the private figures of beerdom was afforded recently when Hilson & Neuberger, Manhattan bankers, offered some shares in Anheuser-Busch, Inc. The company's assets were listed at $26.295,000 and its earnings for the first half of the year were shown at $346,000. The pre-Prohibition capacity of the company's plants was 1,650,000 bbl. of beer annually and Hilson & Neuberger stated that the management estimated it could earn $5 per bbl. The Pabst capacity is set at 1,500,000 bbl.: perhaps when the great Pabst elevators are filled with grain, when its vats are steaming and its payroll upped from 600-to 2,000, Messrs. Perlstein & Singer will be in a position to earn $7,500,000 a year for their company.

Whatever the earnings may be. it now seems certain that Milwaukee stands ready to regain its position as a mighty brewery city. In 1907 the brewers of Milwaukee shipped over 100 carloads of beer a day. The great firms of Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz and Miller (High Life) united to sing the praise of their city's brews. Theodore Roosevelt took some into the interior of Africa. Dewey quenched his thirst after the Battle of Manila Bay with a cool bottle of Schlitz. And, in jovial moods, the Pabsts would proclaim that when Peary reached the North Pole he found an empty Blue Ribbon bottle in the snow.

* TIME last week stated erroneously that Premier makes Prima beer. Prima is made by Prima Co., a $3,000,000-in-assets company with a present annual sales volume of about $1,500,000.

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