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

1.-THE last year being in round numbers the last
Sens be maS a total OF nearly
grape wine Is increasing year by year. And yet
with all this-yas increase, or, we might say, be-
caused It,, drunkenness Is looked upon with more
dsfavor than ever, and excess, instead Of being as
1t used to be- considered TO be pardonable and even
considered to be the vice Of the depraved. The
time was when 1t was fashionable to be "a three
bottle man. and when the guest at the dinner
table was cassed as "a mIlk-s0p," unless he could
drink large draughts OF Madeira, supplemented by
brandy or whiskey punch, without iinching It
greater part Of the guests at the close the enter
tainment lay under the table. Now guest who
receive second invitation. Even the satnration
Of New Years Day which O fine old Dutch custom
seemed about to degenerate to, has been soltened
into comparative decorun, and brainless youths
are not so ambitious to make beasts of themselves
by swilling large amounts OF Cider thinly disguised
as champagne. Whiskey drinking is left mainly to
the lower order OF roughs, and beer drinking sup
plies Its place among persons Of moderate incomes.
The rich still indulge In wine, to some extent; but
with them the use OF malt liquors Increases. That
this change desirable one Is seen by reference
to the criminal records OF the countries where the
with those of whiskey- drinking lands. or the
offences resulting from other causes such rs
briberies, coming, &c, where intemperance may be
the incident, but not the moving power IL Is un-
necessary to speak. But the records OF the beer
drinking German States show less arrests for
drinking Russia, or In the whiskey-drinkng parts
OF the United States. In this country the percent
age Of such arrests is steadily decreasing And
ASSAULTS, RIOTS AND MURDERS
spring from the whiskey shop and not the beer
saloon. II they occur at the latter Investigation
generally shows the offender to be one OF the
patrons OF the former out OF his element, and not
is not because the Germans In Germany are in,
herently better people than others or that the
beer drinkers here are OF naturally superior
tied and civilizaple peoples are nearly the same.
They are changed ana developed by education and
cumstances favorable. Nor is the Russian, either,
an inferior man. The Slavonic Is type that for
native moral principle ana lnteectual iorce does
Celtic. Nor are the Germans any more religious
than the Russians OF ourselves. So far as external
manifestation goes we are among the most pious
OF States. Scarcely any one but has some religious
belief from Roman Cathocity down to Mormon
ism, and the piety of the Russians is intense.
THE CHANGE IN OUR NATIONAL DRINKS
which is going on with such marvellous swiftness,
leads us to replace whiskey and brandy with ale,
classes Of drinks on health also leads to marked
change In our vital statistics. Alcohol In excess
quantity produces death, Just as strychnia or as
table salt In those few cases where the latter is
not elected by the stomach would do, by paralyzing
the nervous centres. But when combined with
others and water, AZ In wine, or with nutritve ex-
tractve In beer, 1t facilitates the assimilation
OF food well as promotes digestion, and produces
stimulus which is never injurious so long as the
liquor is not taken IN an amount sufficient to mar
cotize the drinker. The general impression is that
alcohol Is not nutritive ITSELF though the expert
ence OF eminent physicians points to another con-
cluson. But in malt liquors the amount OF nutri-
tive matters outside OF the alcohol Is
very heavy. Much OF the starch and sugar
OF the malt remains undeveloped in the
beer IA matter OF course; Tor IL the starch in so
luton were all converted into sugar and the sugar
into alcohol the last change In the process would
commence, the acetous fermen tati0ns set In and
.he Deer become sour. This uncombined nutritive
, hua,eer " easily digested In the stomach, and the
49,, becomes TO certain extent, food as well as
LIN, peer bearing the same relation to whiskeys
anu wines, TO use the words of an eminent che mist
'as cocoa bears TO tea and coffee ;,
lhere can be no doubt, then, IA the mind OF the