The hydraulic press., 1859-07-02
w1NEArEMPERANcE REFoRMER

| lin Il A IEMH ERAN CE REE' M Ell
1t has often been contended that an abun-
dance of cheap native wineis more conducive
to temperance than statutory enactments,
and that no Maine liquor-law is needed in
country of vineyards. For proof of this we
| have been referred to the wine growing dis
trcts of France, Spain, Italy and other parts
of Europe, where the appetite for stimula-
ting drinks is mildly gratifed by the pure
juice of the grape, and never learns to crave
the more powerful liquors so popular else
where. The most positive testimony we
have seen on this point is afforded by Mr..
Jas. O. Putnam, citizen of Buffalo now
travelling in the old world, who writes to a
paper published in that city the result of his
| observations. As the question is one Of PEI
cular interest in California, where the ana
nual consumption of imported liquors is SO
| immense and drunkenness so common, and
where, too, the annual manufacture of ma.
tive wine exceeds half million of gallons;
we give portion of Mr.. Putnam's remarks
on wine drinking in SPAIN
"a few cents everywhere buy bottle of
wine,-its use is universal, there is never a
meal without it. What is the effect Of this
abundance and this universal use upon the
habits of the people? / can only answer
that have sought the mostintelligent sources
Of information, and have had but one reply,
and that has been confirmed by my own OBJ
servation, which has not been uninquisitive,
that drunk enness is not a vice of the country,
that excessive drinking Of intoxicating liq
uors is not its habit; that while there are
exceptional cases, nation it is one OF So
briefly. 1t is not true that theie is no drunk
enncss; but it is rare, not habitual even in
individuals, and is not felt as public evil.
Nor is it true that the wines drank in great
excess will not intoxicate. You will think
my curiosity little impertinent-b have
visited hospitals both in Portugal and Spain,
and enquired of their physicians if they ever
had cases of delirium tremens,-tha scourge
which in our country opens the gateway to
death to so many gifted and noble natures
and their universal reply has been, that it
was disease unknown to the country.
Private practitioners tod me the same thing.
"During the three months have spent in
Spain, have seen but single instance Of
intoxication; this was on a bull fight day at
Grenaua- AnOtner tnlng nave ODSeTfcu.
there is in Spain no constant dram drinking.
First let me say that the hotels in this coun-
try have no bars or saloons. The loungers,
and the country swarms with them, visit the
cafes and club houses. The hotels are as
quiet as a private dwelling. But IF you were
to visit those evening resorts of the people
to see their life, you might find them all
drinking, but most Of them would be drink
ing nothing stronger than coffee or lemonade,
without spirits of any sort. Not to partic-
ularise any further, will give you single
experience. 1t is a representative fact, and
therefore more significant:
II made the passage on the Berengner, a
Spanish steamer, from Cadiz to Havana-a
voyage of twenty days. There were fifty
four first cabin, and fifty-seven second cabin
passengers, among them half dozen young
army officers on their way to their regiments
in Havana. There were but eight or ten Ia
dies, and all the passengers, but two, Span
iards There was no bar or saloon, or any
thing answering to them, on the steamer,
nor is there on any of the Spanish steamers.
The common wine of the country was fur
nished as part of the breakfast and dinner,
of which all drank-but very moderately
and, SO far as | observed, of nothing else:
The only exceptions were Frenchman, and
Spaniard who had spent his days in En-
gland"