Quakers, Old Quaker

Old Quaker, "A Friendly Whiskey," has been made in the U. S. for 50 years. Today it is marketed by a subsidiary of Schenley Distillers Corp. Some members of the Society of Friends object mildly to Quaker Oil, Quaker Oats, the Quaker Line, Quaker Novelty Puffing. But they object vigorously to Old Quaker whiskey. They object to Old Quaker's implicit identification with the "purity and integrity" of the Quaker faith. They resent the implication that Quakers drink; they aren't supposed to. The Society is displeased that the Old Quaker trademark is a picture of William Penn, standard-bearer of Quakerism in America; that some Schenley advertisements have featured a photograph of a whiskey drinker in Quakerish dress. Last week, as mad as members of a mild, tolerant sect can be, some Friends proposed to do something about the whiskey.

Quakers began hectoring Schenley several years ago. Although it had no intention of yielding its 50-year-old name, a valuable property, the firm agreed gradually to reduce the size of the Old Quaker's picture, to kill him off completely at the first opportunity. To Friends, however, the Old Quaker still looks pretty big and bibulous. Friend Malcolm Read Lovell, authorized by a Manhattan Quaker meeting to study the problem, suggested a boycott--by others. For an effective boycott of a whiskey by teetotaling Quakers was a bit of a problem. Mr. Lovell's solution: to circularize other churches, civic clubs, Rotarians, Kiwanis, Lions, fraternal organizations, sportsmen's clubs, with an explanation of Quaker ideals, urging them to do the Quakers' boycotting for them.

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