Seattle's Three Breweries Merge Into a Trust
Local brewers consolidate to cut costs and end competition, sparking fears of monopoly power.
The Seattle Brewing and Malting Company held its first meeting Saturday evening and elected the following officers: President, Andrew Hemrich; vice president, Albert Braun; treasurer, Fred Kirschner; secretary, E. F. Sweeney. This company was organized for the consolidation of the brewery interests of the city as a means of bringing about greater economy. The officers deny that the company is a trust or pool any further than being composed of the leading stockholders of the old companies. They maintain that the consolidation will not only enable the brewers to place on the market a better quality of beer at the same prices, but will greatly aid in the further development of the brewery interests, as the energy expended in fighting each other in the past will now be directed in the building up of the business.
“The officers deny that the company is a trust or pool any further than being composed of the leading stockholders of the old companies.”
This consolidation mirrors early 20th-century movements toward corporate monopolization, a process that redefined Seattle’s industrial landscape. The rhetoric used by the owners to justify the merger—efficiency and 'greater economy'—remains the standard defense for corporate consolidation today.
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