Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-10-10

hPpCSAIC " OO uSIlfGu JuGT6lIOIHs II
is utterly useless, and a sheer waste
of time, to argue with them in favor
of teetotalism OF prohibition in any
form, as they profess to be abundant
ly able to regulate and control their
appetites within due bounds, and to
practice temperance without resort
ing to total abstinence. They say
they think the Americans could do
the same if they would abolish whis-
ky, and substitute malt and vinous
beverages, and try and live quieter
and less exciting and sensational
lives. They claim that teetotalism
is not temperance, and has for its
Endorsement neither the injunctions
of Scripture, the practice of the an
cient Church, nor the support of hu-
man nature.
One thing that promotes the uni
versal practice of beer drinking in
Germany is the habit of living in
villages and cities. Sach thing as
a German family living apart from
their Heighbors on farms is scarcely
known In this country. German
farmers reside in villages almost uni
versaliy. Those rural villages, of
which there are between 10000 and
10000 in Germany, contain general
ly so to 100 families. Each village
has its school-house, its church, and
its beer-garden, or more than one if
the place is large enough to support
them. Every evening, when the
days work is done In the surround
ing fields, the men, and often the
women, resort to their beer-garden
for the enjoyment of their favorite
national beverage, to which the men
add a cigar or pipe of tobacco.
The beer is not swallowed standing
at the bar, at gulp, as In America,
but is slowly and Ieisurely slipped
and ''puffed" over at table. The
American practice of treating the
bystanders
IS NEVER SEEN IN GERMANY.
Each person pays only for what
he himself consumes, unless it be
that drank by his wife or children.
A half neighbors or acquaint-
ances will sit down at a table, and
drink and smoke for an hour, with
out any one offering to pay for the
others beer. To do so would be re-
garded as improper and indelicate.
There is no such thing as drinking
round, each by turns paying for
all the liquor and cigars. When a
German calls for glass of beer or
wine, he sits down to drink it, and
is never in a hurry to see the bot
tom of the glass. There are no loaf
ers or free lunchers standing around
in the saloons, waiting to be asked to
stake something" or to invite them
selves to drink at another mans ex-
pense. Perhaps nothing in Ameri-
can life
CONDUCEs MORE TO INTEAPERATE
HABITS
than the universal practice of "treat-
ing" and asking acquaintenees and
by-standers to drink at ones ex-
pense. 1t causes excessive drinking
for, if one man treats, half dozen
topers, he generally expects to be
treated by them IN turn, and, by the
time each has performed this act of
civility or hospitality, the whole
crowd is intoxicate ed, or well on the
road to it. 1t is the treating habit
which supplies each grog-shop with
regular habitues, who ''loaf" there
waiting to be ''treated," and to
sponge their fiery potations at the
expense of the callers for liquor.
German loafers-what few there
are of them-must pay for their own
drinks, and it is decidedly against
the custom of the country for any
one to treat them.
The Germans are strongly attach
ed to their present Government, are
determined supporters of national
unity. and are devoted subjects Of
their Emperor. But they are still
more attached to the institution of
beer than to any "politics" and are
more loyal to King Gambrius than
to Kaiser Wilhelm /. Their deVo-
ton to the Prince Lager exceeds
their admiration for Prince Bismarck.
The Emperor, with the aid of Bis
marck, Moltke, and the whole stand
ing army, could not enforce Prohlb-
itorv beer laws in Germany. The
mere proposition to enact such a law
WOULD ovERrHRow THE GOVERN
MENT
and reyolutionize this county. The
RIGHT to drink beer, or wine, when
or where he pleases, and in such
quantities as his appetite and the
customs of the country call for, is
regarded as an inalienable right
and the very essence and embodi-
ment of ''personal liberty" The de-
votion of the German in America to
his national drink is honestly inherit
ed. And, it is, therefore, not SO
strange, after all, when the power
fnl force of habit is considered, that
he would rather sacrifice party-ties
and bonds of friendship than fOrego
his favorite beverage. In short, the
German esteems his lager as part OF
his necessary sustenance; deems 1t no
more INJURIOUS to his health or NOR
ais than to drink coffee OF milk; and
looks upon water, especially such as
is found in most of Germany, Is .
fluid fit only for the drink of the In
ferior animals, and for irrigation and
culinary purposes. NJ