Beer In Ads #1839: Facts Versus Fallacies #68

March 3, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Thursday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1916, No. 68 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “64,” is another interesting one because it talks about drinking causing poverty, and how prohibitionists were arguing that in states that were dry, there were less people in poorhouses, or almshouses, than in “wet” states where alcohol was still permitted. It’s weird to think that there were such places all over the country, and in fact one of my favorite author’s first novels — John Updike — was “The Poorhouse Fair,” is set in the fictional “Diamond County Home for the Aged.” But the statistics offered by the ad contradicted the prohibitionists’ arguments, showing that in at least four dry states, per capita residency in poorhouses was higher than in four comparable wet states. They go on to cite another series of studies that further contradict the prohibitionists, and showing that sickness is the most common cause of poverty in America, and not drinking, which is in fact a vert small percentage of the total.

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Beer In Ads #1838: Facts Versus Fallacies #64

March 2, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Wednesday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1916, No. 64 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “64,” is another interesting one because I has always been under the impression that studies showing that people who drink moderately will, on average, live longer than either people who overindulge and, importantly, total abstainers, were fairly recent, within the last few decades at the earliest. But as this ad makes clear, there was scientific evidence even before prohibition to that effect. But perhaps even more interesting was their argument that “the moderate drinker adds most to the world’s knowledge.” What they mean by that is moderate drinking makes many people more creative, rather than less, as prohibitionists insisted. But this is the true gem. “One need have no hesitation in saying that if all the intellectual products of the world’s abstainers could be put into one scale, and all of the products of the world’s drinking men could be put into the other, we should be amazed at the meagerness of the total abstainers’ product.” Which is slightly more polite way of saying sober people can’t make shit.

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Beer In Ads #1837: Facts Versus Fallacies #59

March 1, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Tuesday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1915, No. 59 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “59,” is another interesting one that reports on a Russian prohibition imposed in 1914 because of the First World War. I’ve read mixed things about its success, and it was repealed in 1925. But according to the ad, people were dying from poisoning from homemade vodka alternatives and mortality rates for alcoholism were rising sharply. So, the argument went, we already had evidence that prohibition didn’t really work, and caused at least as many problems as it purported to solve.

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Beer In Ads #1836: Facts Versus Fallacies #55

February 29, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Monday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1916, No. 55 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “55,” is an interesting one that argues that a majority of people voting for a prohibition is undemocratic, saying. “Public law, to be effective, requires much more than the majority to support it. It requires general acquiescence. To leave the minority at the mercy of the whims of the majority does not conduce to law or good government, or justice between man and man.” They go on to quote Rousseau. “A majority of the people is not the people and never can be. We take a majority vote simply as the best available means of ascertaining the real wishes of the people in cases where it becomes necessary to do so.”

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Beer In Ads #1835: Facts Versus Fallacies #51

February 28, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Sunday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1916, No. 51 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “51,” is all about a comparison between making owning a car illegal and the prohibition of alcohol.

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Beer In Ads #1834: Facts Versus Fallacies #46

February 27, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Saturday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1916, No. 46 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “46,” is all about a comparison between two states: dry Kansas and wet Nebraska. Already it was clear that prohibition wouldn’t work as intended, but it was voted into law anyway.

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Beer In Ads #1833: Facts Versus Fallacies #36

February 26, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Friday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1915, No. 36 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “36,” is all about the “Local Option,” and how Pennsylvanians had already voted against it the previous years. It’s interesting to see how specific these ads could be, which I guess is possible because they appear to run a new ad twice a week. It’s almost like a running commentary.

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Beer In Ads #1831: Facts Versus Fallacies #27

February 24, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Wednesday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1915, No. 27 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “27,” tackles the idea that even in moderation, alcohol “impairs a man’s efficiency.” As they point out, countless people made their mark on history while consuming alcohol in moderation.

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Beer In Ads #1830: Facts Versus Fallacies #22

February 23, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Tuesday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1915, No. 22 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “22,” lists several reasons why the then-growing prohibition laws would do little to curb consumption, according to the most recent numbers available for per capita alcohol consumption.

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Pre-Revolutionary Inns & Ale Houses Of Old Philadelphia

September 20, 2015 By Jay Brooks

Here’s another fun historical artifact that I came across when I one of my beer ads was for the Robert Smith Ale Brewing Company, which was founded in Philadelphia in 1774, incorporated in 1887, and was apparently acquired by Schmidt’s around 1881. In 1909, Schmidt’s, through their Robert Smith Ale Brewing Company brand, commissioned a local artist, James Preston, to create a series of twelve works depicting pre-revolutionary taverns and inns in or near Philadelphia as way to promote the heritage of the Robert Smith beer brand.

James Moore Preston (1873-1962) was artist and illustrator who trained under Thomas Anshutz at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Preston also did one cover for the “Saturday Evening Post,” in April 1905, although his most active period was during the 1920s.

And here’s more about Robert Smith, from an article in Zymurgy magazine by Pennsylvania beer historian Rich Wagner from 1991.

Another brewer who withstood the test of time was Robert Smith. What was to become Robert Smith’s Ale Brewery had its humble beginnings in 1774 when Joseph Potts established a brewery at Fifth and Minor Streets in Philadelphia. During the British occupation of the city, the brewery was seized and used as a barracks.
In 1786 Henry Pepper purchased Potts’ brewery and operated it quite successfully. His wealth and philanthropy were demonstrated when he provided the clock and bell in the tower of Independence Hall. Upon his death in 1898 he donated large sums of money to many charitable and cultural institutions of the city. His son George headed the brewery and directed it successfully before leasing the establishment to Robert Smith.
In 1837 Smith came to America after having served an apprenticeship with the Bass Brewery in Burton-on-Trent, England. He began brewing on St. John Street near the Delaware River. He became acquainted with Pepper and Sickel and in 1845 purchased their brewery.
The Robert Smith India Pale Ale Brewing Company was incorporated in 1887 and moved to a new plant at 38th and Girard (right across the Schuylkill River from “Brewerytown”). It operated until Prohibition as the oldest brewery in continuous operation in America. In 1891 Robert Smith was described as a “hale and hearty” 84-year-old who was still running the brewery. He died two years later and the business was reorganized as the Robert Smith Ale Brewing Co. owned by Schmidt’s Brewery of Philadelphia. The Smith brewery produced mainly ales and stouts. Production figures for the turn of the century are: 1902: 53,521 bbl.; 1905: 61,910 bbl.; 1907: 64,400 bbl. Brands included Tiger Head Ale, XXX Stout, Porter, IPA, Old Mystery, Imperial Burton and English Pale.

The twelve prints show up from time to time on eBay, antiques auctions, collectibles websites and even on Amazon. They’re also in the collection of the Library of Congress.

In addition to the posters, they also created a short book — more or a pamphlet at 37 pages — with information about the brewery and each of the twelve images.

Here’s the book’s introduction:

Below are all twelve illustrations. In each case, I used the biggest and best image I could find. Below each print I’ve added the text from the book, and it appears that some editions of the posters may have even included that text just below each print.

The Falstaff Inn
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