Valley Girl Views: When Free Pretzels Were Banned In Pennsylvania Bars

"The Trap"

Pretzels and beer feature prominently in this image that portrays the negative views held by many people regarding patrons attracted to the saloon “free lunch"

In 2020, as part of the "Covid Mitigation", the Pennsylvania Governor forbid the sale of alcohol unless accompanied by food. And then later, further clarified that alcohol could only be served with a full meal, chips and pretzels do not count. Controversial, but unfortunately, there is precedent.

In 1909, the debate over whether or not pretzels counted as a meal was headline news, as the "free lunch" was prohibited in bars. Eventually it was ruled that although lunches could not be served for free, pretzels could be, as they were not a meal, but more of a cracker. (they are sometimes referred to as a "German Biscuit")

Later that was reversed, and even free pretzels were not permitted.. and still later, free pretzels could be served, just not advertised.

It all began with the controversies over the "Free Lunch", in the 1870s.

The phrase "Free Lunch" was popular between the 1870s - 1920s. Bars, known at the time as Saloons, offered a "free" lunch, with the purchase of at least one drink. These free lunches were typically worth far more than the price of a single drink, but the saloon-keeper relied on the expectation that most customers would buy more than one drink, and that the practice would build patronage for other times of day

This practice is still popular in casinos, and at time shares today.

Local Advertisements For Free Lunch

A Savoy Hotel Advertisement

Williamsport, 1906

The Danville Morning News was full of advertisements for local free lunches. The advertisements in various papers makes it clear that "Free Lunch" was not typically a noon time meal, but rather an evening meal. Much of the objection to "free lunches" was that they took men away from their families.

A few examples:

"Ox tail soup for free lunch tonight at H.R. Manett's Hotel, opposite DL& W Station" January 1905
"Roast Turkey for Free Lunch tonight at the WHITE HORSE HOTEL Charles Byers, Prop" December 1906
"Sauer Kraut, Mashed Potatoes and Pork for Free lunch Tonight at the WASHINGTON HOUSE, John Kratinack Prop" January 1907

In Sunbury:

1894- "Free lunch at Hotel Cake Saturday Night. Stewed Oysters"
1899 - "Free lunch at Fairmont Hotel, Saturday from 8'oclock on. Also Mock Turtle Soup"

In Williamsport:

1904 - "Hicks Free Lunch To-day. Free lunch will be served this morning at Hicks Hotel Buffet"
1911 - 1911 "A free lunch will be served at the Cleveland hotel, corner of Grove and Tucker streets this evening"

The Origin Of The Free Lunch

As Published in The Lewisburg Chronicle

September 1905

No Liquor Without A Meal, New York State, 1896

In 1896, the New York State legislature passed the Raines law which was intended to regulate liquor traffic. Among its many provisions, one forbade the sale of liquor unless accompanied by food.

The Free Lunch Ban - 1917

Locally, Bloomsburg was the first town to seek a ban on Free Lunches, in 1903. The state wide ban did not occur until 1917.

The Lewisburg Journal

May 1903

August 3 1917

1909 The Pretzel Debate - Do They Count As Lunch?

"As Pittsburgh and other cities waged war against the free lunch, the pretzel bounced in and out of respectability. In Pittsburgh, the License Court banned pretzels on multiple occasions along with the rest of the free lunch, but each time granted them a reprieve to join cheese and crackers at the bar

. “Pretzels are Permitted,” proclaimed a Pittsburgh Press article in May 1909, acknowledging that License Court officials had decided after a challenge from local attorneys that pretzels were “practically the same thing” as crackers."

- Pretzels & Prohbition

1917

In 1909, The Lewisburg Chronicle published an article outlining features of the new Liquor Reform bill being considered. They included:
- partial elimination of the growler
- No Free Lunch, except "a screened bowl of cheese and crackers"
- No liquor to be sold to females over the bars, nor in private rooms
- Men known to be habitual drinkers of any kind were to be refused service.

"Well, now you know, all this might have been written by the W.C.T.U. and certain it is a vindication of the hard work they have been doing for the betterment of large cities"

All saloons were also to be closed - absolutely closed - from Saturday night until the opening time the next Monday morning.

1919 - The Volstead Act (Prohibition)

In December 1917, the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes,” was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. It is named for Minnesota Rep. Andrew Volstead, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who had championed the bill and prohibition.

On January 16, 1919, the 18th Amendment was ratified by the states. Prohibition went into effect the next year, on January 17, 1920.

In December of 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to the era of national prohibition of alcohol in America. .

1934 Can Offer Free Pretzels, But Cannot Advertise Them
In March of 1934, The Shamokin News Dispatch published an article explaining that the code merely prohibited the advertising of free pretzels. Bars could offer free pretzels they just could not advertise them as free.

So how did this all finally end? I do not know. I would guess with the end of prohibition, but it's possible some of these laws are still on the books.

After all, we are still paying the Johnstown Flood Tax on every liquor purchase we make.

(And even more unbelievably, it's a tax, on a Tax)

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For More Local History -

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/blog/western-pennsylvania-history/pretzels-and-prohibition

1875 article in the New York Times, Describing the Free Lunches

in the "Crescent City" (New Orleans)

"In every one of the drinking saloons which fill the city a meal of some sort is served free every day. The custom appears to have prevailed long before the war .... I am informed that there are thousands of men in this city who live entirely on the meals obtained in this way." As described by this reporter,

A free lunch-counter is a great leveler of classes, and when a man takes up a position before one of them he must give up all hope of appearing either dignified or consequential. In New-Orleans all classes of the people can be seen partaking of these free meals and pushing and scrambling to be helped a second time. [At one saloon] six men were engaged in preparing drinks for the crowd that stood in front of the counter. I noticed that the price charged for every kind of liquor was fifteen cents, punches and cobblers costing no more than a glass of ale.

The repast included "immense dishes of butter," "large baskets of bread," "a monster silver boiler filled with a most excellent oyster soup," "a round of beef that must have weighed at least forty pounds," "vessels filled with potatoes, stewed mutton, stewed tomatoes, and macaroni à la Français." The proprietor said that the patrons included "at least a dozen old fellows who come here every day, take one fifteen cent drink, eat a dinner which would have cost them $1 in a restaurant, and then complain that the beef is tough or the potatoes watery."[1] ($0.15 in 1875 is equivalent to $3.49 in 2019; $1 in 1875 is equivalent to $23.28 in 2019)

This article (Below) from the New York Times in

February 1875

Describes a company that made free lunches for local saloons

A very early food service -

Rudyard Kipling in 1891 wrote about coming upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter: " It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts."