Tuesday’s ad is a pro industry ad by the United Brewers Industrial Foundation from the early 1930s, shortly after the repeal of prohibition. The C.C.C. in question is the Civilian Conservation Corps, which involved 300,000 boys in 3,000 camps who through their efforts improved over three-billion acres of forest, but at a cost to taxpayers of $326 million. The beer industry’s post-prohibition contribution to the American economy is one million dollars per day in taxes. And that was the industry just beginning to rebound after thirteen dry years. But that’s just as true today as it was then, but with even larger numbers and greater intangible contributions from so many smaller community-based breweries.
