Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-10-10
W hole Number 1892.

was organized, in 1871, the same an
ti-gambliDg law was extended to all
other parts of Germany. Horse rae
ing for purses, and betting thereon,
were also forbidden and completely
suppressed. The sentiment of the
Germans is averse to the "noble
sport" of whipping horses around a
course for gambling purposes. The
Germans are
NOT MUCH ADDICTED TO GAMBLING
of any description. The reason is.
they are a cautious, conservative,
close-hsted people, who believe that
bird IN the hand is worth more
than whole flock in the bushes
There is nothing in games of chance.
combined with fraudulent acts and
''roping-in" tricks, which commends
such amusements to them as pleas
urable OF honorable. The common
feeling is, that gambling is essential
ly dishonest, and wholly illegitimate
as business, as well as disreputable
as a profession. The Germans are
totally destitute of the nervous, reck-
less, risk-all temperament of Ameri-
cans; consequently they seldom ven
ture their earnings on the turn of a
card or die, a horse race or election.
They buy and sell wheat, barley,
oats, and pork. without resorting to
puts" and ''ealls," going ''long" or
short; and never organize Sscor-
ners" whereby "ring" of dealers
undertake to fleece and bankrupt
their fellow merchants of the same
association. What is done, openly
and with impunity in American
Chambers of Commerce, in the way
of ''forestalling" and 'cornering" the
market for swindling purposes,
would, if practiced in this country,
disgrace the guilty operators forev-
er, and probably consign them to
the reformatOry keeping of
A GERMAN PENITENTIARr.
Such is the difference in the stand
ard public sentiment, in the matter
of gambling and swindling in COM
mercial transactions, in the two coun-
tries. The German Board of Trade
may, IN time, progress to the lofty
standard of freedom in dishonesty
enjoyed by their American brethren,
and learn to organize Corners with
intent to defraud, with as much skill
and sangfroid as their transatlantic
neighbOrs; but at present, at least,
they are not even neophytes, and
would be puzzled to know how to
begin Corner" All men are not
honest in Germany, by any means,
and there are plenty of individuals
who would cheat more if they knew
how, or were not afraid of falling
into the clutches of the law. There
are gamblers and rogues in Germany,
as well as in all other countries; bul,
where there is one belonging to such
classes, there are many in America.
Too much individual freedom to do
as one pleases, ,unwhlpped by law
and uncensured by public opinion,
powerfully tends to promote dishon-
esty and crime in any country. 1t
is opportunity and temptation which
cause men to eat of forbidden fruit
and to backslide from the walks of
virtue. Parental discipline which is
STRICT AND RIGID IN GERMANY,
is notoriously lax and feeble in
America The maxim of the wise
man, "Bring up a child in the way
he should go, and when he is old he
will not depart from it." is constant
ly kept in mind by German parents.
1t would be well for the future of
our country if it were not so gener-
ally forgotten or disregarded by the
natural guardians of American chill
dIen.
There is another thing in which
the Germans differ very widely from
''natiVe" MISUNDERSTANDING both
natives and adopted" Irish,-of.
which mention should not be omit
ted; and that is they know how to
drink without becoming drunk, and
enjoying their glass without making
beasts of themselves. There is no
attempt among Germans to practice
teetotalism or to enforce prohibition.
On the contrary, they are a nation
of drinkers of mildly stimulating
beverages in the form of beer and
wine, and have been for thousands
of years. They are as universally
addicted to beer as Americans are to
coffee, tea, and whisky; but they
know how to drink it without intOx'
ication. Drunkenness is so rare and
infrequent that it may be said
NOT To EXIST
Ihave travelled thousands of miles
through Germany in various direc-
tions, visiting nearly all the chief
cities, and have made diligent inquiry
of American Consuls and other Well
informed persons, and received but
one answer everywhere, VIZ: mo
drunkenness among the Germans;
public sentiment would not tolerate
it; the habits of the country are al
against it" The reason OF this free
dom from inebriation is the total alb
sence of whisky, and the substitution
of the milder beer. Whisky is the
Sbog" that possesses the spirit of the
raging devil, and the cultivation OF
whose intimate acquaintance makes
so many beasts and loafers of Irish
men and Americans in the United
States.
The German regards his beer al
most as
AN ESSENTIAL OF EXISTENCE;
and it would be hard to convince
him that it does not contain as much |
nutriment at least as milk. If you
say-to German that many physiol- !
ogists and physicians esteem all
forms of alehohol as poisonous, and
therefore beer must be injurious to
the physical system, he will reply
that his forefathers have, in eonsid-
arabla ,,ort ljs,ad nm baar for more