Here and there, one hears the remark that Buffalo is the only American city to posses a Polish brewery while Chicago, with a Polish population three times as large, does not. To those who say this, we can boldly say that they are in error, for Chicago has not one, but three Polish breweries.

Today we are dedicating space to one of these, in answer to a number of letters inquiring if it is really true that there is no Polish brewery in Chicago. We have in mind the White Eagle Brewing Company, the largest Polish brewery in Chicago, which is located in the Stock Yards district at 3755 South Racine Avenue.

The brewery building is made of concrete that looks like red brick. Black smoke rises to the skies from its tall chimney. The president of the firm, 2Leonard Rutkowski, conducted a reporter for this newspaper through the building, and showed him everything there is to be seen in a brewery. He was shown first the machinery for making ice, a great deal of which is used in all parts of the building. Then, there is an enormous machine that sets in motion all of the other smaller machines on all floors of the building.....

"All of the machines that you see," said the president of the firm, "represent an investment of about two hundred thousand dollars."

The first thing to attract ones' attention is a large coppor vat, with a capacity of three hundred barrels. "The beer is brewed in this vat," explained Rutkowski. "The beer is then cooled by coils containing ice water, and passes to a vat on one of the upper floors. Here it is strained of hops and sent to other vats, where it is filtered and then allowed to ferment. After it stands for a few days, it acquires the proper flavor. The finished product is poured into barrels in another 3department. But let us move on, so that you can observe each of these processes."

In each department one sees something different. Here stand bags of hops, ready to be used in brewing; over there stand great vats, beside which a man looks the size of a pea. Rutkowski pointed to one of the bags of hops and said:

"This is the only bag of hops, imported from Europe, that we have left. Our old stock is all used up and no more can be imported. But there is no lack of hops in America. We get ours from New York, California, and Oregon, where the largest hop plantations are located."

The beer vats that one sees in every department are truly enormous. There are forty vats of three hundred barrels capacity, forty of eighty-five barrels, twenty of two hundred and fifty barrels, forty of a hundred and fifty barrels, and twenty of sixty barrels capacity. The beer must be 4in the vats three months before it may be consumed. At present, the price of beer is seven dollars per barrel.

On the top floor of the building is the stock of barley needed in the production of beer, and the machines which grind, measure out and, in general, turn the barley into beer.

Five Saloonkeepers Organize Corporation

The brewery was opened in 1902 by Maciejewski and Czaja. It was incorporated at that time for fifty thousand dollars. Six years later, five Polish saloonkeepers purchased the brewery from its original owners. The brewery's success dates from that time on. The saloonkeepers organized a corporation, secured a sufficient number of stockholders, and incorporated for $250,000. They cleared the firm of its debts and, to their own great satisfaction, found that they could pay a twenty-five per cent dividend. No enterprise could prosper to a greater degree. Commission houses, 5groceries, restaurants, theaters were failing daily, but the Polish brewery grew and expanded, its foundations ever surer and firmer.

According to the report of the state assessor, the brewery is now valued at $541,413.22. Its income is large. The monthly turnover amounts to more than sixty thousand dollars. According to Rutkowski, the White Eagle brewery sold ninety thousand barrels of beer last year.

The brewery steadily employs forty men. It has four motor trucks and eight horse-drawn wagons for the distribution of its product.

According to the bylaws of the corporation, only saloonkeepers may be stockholders. At this time, the firm has one hundred and forty members. Of these, one hundred have purchased twenty shares each and forty possess ten shares each. The price per share of stock is now one hundred dollars. In order to become a shareholder in the corporation, one must purchase a minimun of ten shares.

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The present administration of the corporation consists of: Leonard Rutkowski, president; M. Zaworski, vice-president; Henry Nowak, secretary, and Sylvester Wleklinski, treasurer. The board of directors includes J. A. F. Cichocki, Peter Niedzwiedzki, Theodore Giese, Joseph Kolbusz, John Czaja, Bernard L. Maciejewski, and Joseph Chmielewski.

Pulaski Hall, located on Ashland Avenue near Eighteenth Street, is also the property of the White Eagle Brewing Company.

In the opinion of the firm's president, the outlook for the future is very good, for the manufacture of beer has not been prohibited because of the war. Even should breweries be closed, the corporation has nothing to fear, for it would find an immediate buyer in Swift, Morris and Company. The latter company would like to acquire the property in order to erect a few buildings necessary to the expansion of the stock yards.

The brewery occupies a total area of sixty thousand square feet. As we 7have heard, the packing company offered the brewery $2.50 per square foot, that is, $150,000 for the site alone. However, the Poles are not even considering selling the site.

In addition to the above-described Polish brewery, there are two others in Chicago, which proves that Polish business in Chicago is progressing in every field.