The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-21

impartial observer. that the decrease In the con
sumption OF ardent spirits and the increase in tina
OF fermented Liquors Is one Of benefit to the moral
and health o. the people. This growing reform II
one Mnc1 ne proposed law II not dead letter
sudden enc and productive of the serious financia
shock consequent on changing the direction Of {
channels. Few persons indeed have any Motor
how Important
THE BREWING INTEREST
is IN point OF money capital and the number OF per
SOILS employed In 1868 we learn that with pro
duct OF OF $685. 1858 ITO barrels OF beer the capita
houses sn 1921 Ss and in land used in CROWNS
barley and hops $35 060a total of $105 040 063
Iaklng the amount produced TINS year as the basis
millions OF barrels the present capital invested
must must reach, In round numbers, $50, OOo,O00 In
these breweries, malt houses and farms we have
does not take into account the branches OF me
chanical industry which the brewery interest calls
smiths, wagonmakers and other mechanics 1t EN-
ploys; the draft 1t makes on the services and the
amount It pays to lorges, ioundries rolling mills
to nearly as much as it directly uses and labor
nearly equal to what It directly employs. All
not only 10 disorder but to actually destroy by
experiment. necessarily destroying it unless itself
Beyond all this, and calling for particular atten-
ton from the statesman and public economist, is
the political effect OF the law It is not necessary
OF capital and labor are particularly unsettled
Even If we pass by In derision the fact that the
potent dvnastes Of Europe are arItated has made
its centre In New York city, there is before Us the
inevitable result OF the modification In system
stimulated by war, but mainly due TO the aggrega-
ton OF wealth In fewer hands-an uneasy feeling
In the poor mans mind and growing conviction
with the laborer that the great employer Is his
natural enemy. That intelligent men generally do
not believe this, that there need be no necessary
antagonism between rich and poor, who should be
harmonious parts OF united whole, has nothing
whether true or not Now this law is one
directly aimed at the poor. 1t is impos-
law bearing on the rich. The power of the purse Is
greater than that OF the sword. The sword, in
deed, is powerless until the purse grasps its ht.
This law strikes az the privileges OF the poor The
rich man, II he wants his beer his wine or his
brandy, stocks his vault and drinks at will. This
the poor man cannot do II the laborer at his mid.
beer he is to be deprived Of the power to refresh
himself cheapy. The rich man, privileged by his
content now acute becomes chronic. You add
another grievance to the stock In hand and widen
stu deeper the gull between the classes. Your
airy Tor the International, and aids to precipitate
the struggle between muscle and poverty on one
side and craft and riches on the other-a struggle
whose ultimate result no man can foresee, and
whose probable incidents make the men Of prop.
erty shudder.
No one lightly estimates
THE EVILS OF DRUNKENNESS.
Assaults ARRAYS, riots and murders are its certain
consequences, and 1t depraveS and brutaZes its
victims as well as beggars and degrades their
families But these evils cannot be prevented by the
empty enactment OF laws prohibiting the sale Of
intoxicating Enthusiastically not by laws which
encourage the most Objectionable form Of alcoholic
stimulants by preventing II effective against any,
the consumption OF the milder kinds The only
remedy lies In the diffusion OF knowledge concern
ing the effects Of alcohol and It's compounds the
human system, and OF the evils OF excess In any
thing.eati1g drinking mental EFFORT physical
creased compensation ana additional home COM
forts and innocent pleasures OF the working man,
whose prosperity should be the first care of the State
since without 1t the State itself Is not prosperous
In the creation OF higher standard OF morality
and virtue, and in the persistent non-lnterference
by the state with pursuit OF the individual after
happiness so long that pursuit does not interfere
arbitrarily with the same object In Others But to
attempt to legtsate people out OF habits that VIC.
late no necessary laws or to force q uniformity OF
opinions tastes or appeites, is one OF those absurd
turbance and consequent distress, IL not the dis.
organization, OF the whole body polite.