The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1874-03-14

/ Jane position as TO Intoxicating drinks
,ess the Germans In the Sutherland
among the latter tie usespf distilled
pirits-schu1pps-i almost wholly
onfined to the laboring classes; the
liidle and higher. classes drink, al
most exclusively. beer and wine. In
his country the Germans drink most
y beer and wine, but they fall, to a
cry great extent into American hab-
IT'S they soon begin to appreciate the
,eautics of a .'nighteap. or of an APP
ether before breakfast, and to feel
he Obligation of taking a ten cent
,rink at lvnchs Thus q great many
ierman- 4 mercAns come to drink
oeer and v hisk y..~-=s -
The men engaged in the retail liquor
trade having more opportunities TO
drink, ON an average do drink more
than those engaged otherwise, and
more of them become drunkards.
There are in the United States no less
than 20e. 90 persons engaged IN TINS
traffic, aside from barkeepers and
other assistants. OF people earning
their own living. one at least cut OF
fifty earn it by selling whisky or beer.
I Perhaps the proportion in Germany Is
the same. But in the United States
at least one fourth OF the liquor sellers
are Germans, though they form less
than one twentieth of the population.
In other words, the chances of becom-
ing a drunkard, or at least, hard
drinker, from being \ liquor seller, is
FIVE times as great to the German in
America, as for the German ut home.
But the disproportion is much greater;
for the number of public houses in
Germany is preportionately much
smaller than what il is here.
The Germans at home know little
or nothing about treating. Every
body pays for what he drinks himself,
and is thus under no obligations to
treat others. When man in Berlin
or Dresden goes into a wine shop to
drink glass of wine he is apt to come
out after. having drank one glass Of
wine, and no more. and having paid
its price, and neither more or less. If
a man at Cincinnati steps into q bar
room to get drink. he may, notwith-
standing the Kentucky cant phrase
about the Cincinnati treat, come ont
with half dozen different drinks,
chosen after the taste of as many
friends. in his stomach. and with
his pocket relieved of the price of six
taken hold of our fellow citizens born
in Germany almost as thoroughly as
of those to the manor born, and expo
ses them to all the dangers flowing
from it. which the latter have so sadly
experienced. "A
Again, there are in Germany other
resorts besides the wine or beer house,
to which men can resort for relaxa-
ton. There are in South Germany,
at least, real coffee houses-that is.
houses in which coffee, black or white,
is the principal beverage; while in
North Germany the confectioneries
answer the same purpose. There are
old and middle aged men, who, meet
at the real coffee houses or confection-
cry every day, to sip their coffee or
chocolate, to play their game of doml-
noes, chess, or checkers. and to talk
over the last opera or the politics Of
the day. No such houses are to be
found in this country. Society can
not be found at the coffee table, il
must be sought for at the bar.
For all these reasons combined the
Germans of this country drink more.
drink stronger drinks. suffer more of
the evils of intemperance, and infiict
more on their families than their
brethren in the old country. And it
is a grievous mistake to believe that
King Alcohol does not play sad havoc
IN the German empire | have myself
seen his ravages in the valley of the
Oder, as we'll as in the valley of the
Ohio. +'s's=s' ''T0@1 '''''fl'- 81" '1sa4''''
> But here, right in this Ohio Valley.
we need but open our eyes, and we
cansee plenty of the misery and dis
grace which strong drink brings upon
: German born citizens and their fami-
lies. There are plenty of haggard,
careworn women, whose faces are as
much thinned by over work and want
as those of their husbands are swollen
2 from overdoses of beer and whisky;
not quite so many, but more than
enough in good conscience, who are
often beaten brutality by a husband re-
turning from the misealled coffee
houses. There are plenty of cases of
delirium tremens, Of Inflammation Of
the stomach. plentyof bloody brawls
even among the class of citizens which
is made to believe by artful dema-
gogues that alcohol does not hurt
them. :s4t.al I.E5fft ..si.
Let every German born man aud
woman who reads these lines review
g in his mind the names of his or her
acquaintance, rich and poor; they
will find many more, than they would
acknowledge at first blush And If
propOrtionally these extreme eases are
not so frequently among the born
Germans as among the born Ameri-
cans, SO much greater is the number
of those who drink just "a little too
much" The men who. attracted by
the cool draueht, muddie their heads
Just enough to do their business
wrong, instead of doing it right; who
hardly ever see their children; who
find no time for the society Of their
wives. for improvement of their minds.
or for any useful undertakings for the
Commonwealth, on account of their
all absorbing worship of Gambrinus.
The very fact that beer is weaker than
whisky has its disadvantages. IF it
takes twenty glasses to exhilerate II
also takes the better part of mans
lifetime to absorb the gladdening bev-
erage.
Aside from all this the Germans
suffer from liquor in their social and
political standing. They have, to a
great extent. formed themselves into
a political party, of which the brew
ers. Wholesale liquor dealers. and sa-
loon keepers are the re, leade and
which has only one plank in its plat
form: Free drinking on Sunday as
well as week days! Now, however
honorable the profession of brewing