published in the American Brewers’ Review – 1900
Mrs. Helen L. Bullock of the W.C.T.U. has made another horrible discovery to the effect that root beer contains alcohol, and begun a crusade in Evanston against the dangers of the root beer habit. No doubt Evanston needed this new reform. It has been so quiescent of fate that anyone might have known it was in some mischief, but it required the keen scent of the W.C.T.U. to discover the secret sin of Evanstonians was root beer.
The only trouble with Mrs. Bullock’s crusade is that it is too limited. Root beer is not the only thing that contains alcohol. To be certain that no vestige of alcohol gets into the Evanstonian stomach she should close up the bakeries and forbid the use of yeast. Home-made bread, especially when fresh, may contain quite as much alcohol as root beer. Unleavened bread is less open to suspicion. Fruits are sometimes known to generate alcohol in the stomach. In fact, all solid foods are more or less dangerous in this respect. Nothing remains but milk and water, and milk is not above suspicion.
At present there seems to be no particular danger of delirium tremens in a straight diet of absolutely pure water, but it should first be filtered and boiled.
Mrs. Bullock is too modest in her reform program. – Chicago Tribune.
Note – WCTU is the Woman’s Christian Temperence Union which was organized in 1874. It gained support against “demon rum” and all alcohol usage which culminated in passage of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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