Judge, 1916-07-22 · page 21 of 28
Judge — July 22, 1916 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Schlitz beer advertisement**, not political satire. It exploits genuine public health anxiety from the early 20th century. The ad quotes a chemist acknowledging that water purity testing was unreliable and disease germs (particularly typhoid) could contaminate drinking water. This reflects real concerns: contaminated water caused serious illness and death in that era. Schlitz's pitch: their beer in brown bottles is safer than water because: 1. Carbonic acid inhibits bacterial growth 2. The brown bottle protects contents from light 3. Beer is boiled/processed, unlike suspect tap water The claim that Schlitz is "the only beer sold nation-wide of whose purity you can be absolutely sure" is deliberately ironic—the ad opens by saying *no natural waters* are absolutely pure, yet promises absolute purity for beer. This exploits legitimate public fear to position beer as a safer beverage than water, a common advertising strategy when municipal water safety was genuinely questionable. The phrase "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous" anchors the product's reputation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Chemists Say That No Natural Waters Are Absolutely Pure “We cannot tell by analysis with certainty that a water is or is not actually infected with disease germs. I do not mean that it is absolutely impossible to say that a water contains, for instance, germs of typhoid fever, for typhoid germs may be and have been isolated from water samples, but our tests are not so reliable that if we obtain a negative result we could say that the water was not infected.” Every glass of Schlitz in Brown Bottles means safety from germs in drinking water. Drink Schlitz in Brown Bottles Drink Its carbonic acid gas hinders the develop- ment of bacteria that may already have lodged in your system. Schlitz is the only beer sold nation-wide of whose purity you can be absolutely sure. The Brown Bottle keeps it pure. e Order a Case Today Se pby in Brown Bottles See that crown is branded ‘‘Schlitz’* The Beer 2 That Made Milwaukee Famous comicbooks.com