More Information...
Publisher: New York University Press, 1948.
Hard Cover, 451 pages, 6.25 x 9.25.
Item #1422
Here is a 1948 first edition copy of The Pabst Brewing Company: History of an American Business. Written by noted business historian Thomas C. Cochran, the book is a landmark study in brewing history. Although the focus is, of course, on Pabst, Cochran's incredible depth of research paints a picture which goes well beyond just the Pabst story. It really is a cornerstone work, offering unmatched insight into the ups and downs of a major brewer over the course of a hundred years. There is simply no other examination of a single American brewer which is more comprehensive, and which offers so much insight into the evolution of the beer business in this country. A true classic, and increasingly difficult to find as historians are discovering the the book's invaluable insight.TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword Preface Illustrations Tables I. The Bests Move to Milwaukee II. Establishing the Business in Milwaukee III. Prelude to Greatness IV. The Captain Runs the Company V. Brewing Becomes More Scientific VI. Winning a National Market VII. A National Sales Organization VIII. Quality and Prestige First IX. Holding a Quality Market X. Pabst in Milwaukee XI. Bargaining with Labor XII. The Prohibition Movement XIII. Fred Pabst Takes Control XIV. Premier and the Merger XV. The Revival of Brewing XVI. The Campaign for the National Market Appendixes Bibliography Chronology Index
LIST OF TABLES:
Milwaukee Breweries in 1850 Milwaukee Breweries as Reported in the Wisconsin Census of 1860 Production of Leading Milwaukee Breweries, 1866 to 1872 Production of Leading American Breweries of 187I-1872 Largest Brewers in 1877 Largest Brewers in 1895 Total Barrels Purchased or Manufactured by Pabst Population and Beer Production, Chief Brewing Centers Condensed Financial Statement, 1873-1893 Improvements in Relation to Sales, 1875-1893 Highest Salaries Paid Monthly Monthly Salaries of Officers of the Company Labor and Production at Empire and South Side Expenses for Natural and Machine-Made Ice Pabst Bottled-Beer Statistics, 188I-1893 Advertising Contracts (April 1879-May 1880) Advertising Expenditures, 1878-1893 Salary Ledger of the Chicago Branches in 1883 Branches Price of Beer and Net Return from Branches in 1886 Sales by States in 1888 Export Beer Sales Pabst Sales and Domestic Consumption, 1893-1919 Financial Statistics Trading Profits, 1904-1918 Stockholders in 1894 Highest Salaries Paid Monthly at the Empire Brewery New Investments in Real Estate for Selling Purposes Suds Brewed by the Month Advertising Expenditures, 1897-1902 Sales of Brands Advertising Expenditures, 1897-1919 Special Selling Expenses Home-Office Traveling Men in 1902 Profit on Branch Bottled and Keg Beer Estimated Average Beer Sales by Area and State, 1909-19I3 Export Sales Rates at Issue in Wage Dispute Wages Paid, 1905-1918 Stockholders as of December 29, 1921, and August 8, 1922 General Financial Data, 1921-1927 Profit and Loss and Surplus Account, 1926-1929 Plant Employees Selling Expenses, 1921-1924 Selling Expenses, 1929-1931 General and Financial Data, 1928-1932 Results by Divisions, 1928-1932 Balance Sheet as of July 31, 1932 Capital, Surplus, and Physical Equipment, 1933-1946 Beer Sales in the United States
Appendixes Directors of the Phillip Best Brewing Company, Pabst Brewing Company, Pabst Corporation, 1873-1932 Directors of the Premier-Pabst Corporation, Pabst Brewing Company, 1933-1946 Number of Directors Constituting the Board Number of Officers, by Sample Years Number of Employees, 1878-1901, 1933-1946 Seasonal Variation in Employment, 1907-1908 Salaries of Office Staff, 1880 Bank Loans, 1882-1893 Syndicate Breweries
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 3: The period from 1859 to early 1864, during which time Phillip ran the brewery alone, were years when no Milwaukee brewer could do more than cut expenses to the minimum and wait for better days. The sales of Best and Company declined from a level of 7,000 barrels, reported in the census of 1860, to 3,677 for 1863. The latter figure, however, is an exact amount based on tax returns, and is not strictly comparable to the 1860 figure that may have been set with an eye to favorable publicity. Meanwhile, Phillip's health was declining, and he wished to retire, but there was no one in the immediate family to take over the business. The solution to his problem came through the marriage of his daughter, Maria, to the man who was to provide, in brewing, the most brilliant leadership of his generation, Frederick Pabst. Frederick Pabst was the kind of man about whom legends gather, and in describing his early life a selection must be made of those stories best substantiated and most widely accepted. There is an unconfirmed report that the Pabsts were descended from a noble Dutchman, Paul Pabst von Ohorn, who established himself in Saxony in I470. Accounts generally agree that Frederick Pabst's father, Gottlieb, was foreman of a large estate at Nicholausreith in Thuringia where Frederick was born on March 28, 1836. Frederick's father and mother, Fredericka, came with their child to the United States in 1848, not apparently for political reasons but because friends had praised the opportunities in America and particularly in Milwaukee. The elder Pabst, however, found no opportunities to his liking in the Cream City and, having exhausted his savings, he and his family were forced to go to work in a boardinghouse in Chicago. The death of the mother in the cholera epidemic of 1849 ended their arrangements at the boardinghouse, and Gottlieb became a cook at the Mansion House where young Fred waited on tables for $5.00 a month and board. This was obviously no job to satisfy a boy with the spirit of Frederick Pabst, and, after two years, he gave up hotel work and took to the sea as cabin boy on one of the Goodrich Line steamers plying Lake Michigan. There is a widely repeated story, often told by Frederick Pabst himself, that illustrates his forcefulness and determination at this early age. As a cabin boy it was his job to collect the tickets of passengers as they left the ship. One day at Chicago, Captain Ward, one of the owners of the Line, tried to leave without a ticket and was stopped by Pabst. Refusing without proof to credit Ward's story regarding who he was -- Pabst had never seen him before -- he forced the disgruntled officer to return to his cabin and wait for proper identification. One of the interesting parts of the legend, revealing Pabst's personality, is that he did this in such a way that Captain Ward did not hold it against him later, but rather made it a reason for greater respect. By using his spare time to study navigation, and ordering pilots relief at the wheel, Pabst became a first mate on the Goodrich Line "Traveler" at the age of twenty. Soon after, he distinguished himself by rescuing the captain and several passengers from the burning steamer, "Niagara." He used his spare time the next winter to take a course in bookkeeping that must ultimately have been of great value to his business career. In 1857, he was made captain of the Goodrich steamer "Huron." As it was customary with the Line to have captains own a share in their ship, Pabst became a part owner at one time or another in several of the Goodrich Line's vessels, and ended as a shareholder in their newest and finest ship, "The Seabird." Phillip Best liked to travel by boat, and was frequently on Captain Pabst's ships. In 1860 the twenty-four-year-old Captain met Phillip's fifteen-year-old daughter, Maria, either by fishing her out of the water when she fell off a gangplank when boarding his ship, "The Comet," or in the more prosaic fashion of being invited to the Best's home in Milwaukee. On March 25, 1862, they were married. After this, when he was not on the lake, the Captain lived with the Bests. In 1863 he was elected a Second Ward alderman,13 proof not only of Phillip Best's standing in the community, but also, and more important, of young Pabst's winning personality. Because of the demands of increasing business and Phillip Best's wish to retire, home ties undoubtedly would have drawn the Captain into brewing in a few years in any case. This decision was hastened, however, by a shipwreck, which undoubtedly made it easier for him to quit the sea. Caught too near the shore in December of 1863 by one of the sudden storms which are so frequent on Lake Michigan, he skillfully beached "The Seabird" on the sands of Whitefish Bay without casualties. As the vessel was not moved until mid-July, and the repairs cost approximately $20,000, the Captain undoubtedly had to pay over most of his share in her to the Goodrich Line. Whether he had anything left to invest in the brewing business is impossible to tell, but, in any case, the business needed managerial help as much as additional capital and Phillip seems to have been glad to take him in as an equal partner at the beginning of 1864. The marriage of Phillip's younger daughter, Elizabetha, or "Lisette," to Emil Schandein on May I6, 1866, added the other member of the team that was to run the business so brilliantly for the next twenty years. Schandein, who had attended a scientific and technical school in Germany, contributed knowledge that Frederick Pabst lacked, and he shared with the Captain the ability to make friends and to command the respect of the community. Phillip Best now felt able to indulge in his wish to retire from business. On October 15, 1866, the partnership between Best and Pabst was dissolved by Phillip Best, paying Frederick Pabst $21,057.95 for his share in the business. Then a new agreement was entered into whereby Pabst and Schandein each paid Best $21,057.95 for a half interest, $6,057.95 down, and the remaining $15,000 in quarterly installments over six years. This sale did not include any of the brewery property or buildings, but merely the business itself and the movable equipment used in it. For the use of the property, Pabst and Schandein were to pay Best $4,800 per year. These figures would indicate that the value of the entire business, including property and equipment, was by then, due largely to the general advance in prices, probably $100,000.
|