December 23, 1918, Menasha Record
John Strange, noted industrialist, president of the John Strange Paper Company, and a one-time Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin was a strident supporter of Prohibition. This article reflects the aftermath of a speech he gave where he likened the major brewers of Milwaukee to our enemies in Europe during World War I, saying, "the worst of all our German enemies, the most treacherous, the most menacing, are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz and Miller." As evidenced above, Mr. Pabst was not amused. Personally, I do not follow the judge's reasoning for dismissal of the suit, though one might surmise it might have seemed to be a frivolous lawsuit to him or perhaps he read the political waters and felt it best to have the whole thing disappear.
I'm not a lawyer, but I think that John's defense was that he used the name "Pabst" in reference to the Pabst Brewing Company, not to Gus Pabst personally. So I think that the company might have a defamation case against John, but not Gus. And the company (and Gus) figured out that pursuing this case would draw even more unfavorable publicity than it would if they just simply ignored the insult.
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