Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-05-14
BEER AND WINE VS.. WHISKY.
Hint to Temperance RefOrmers-The Pre-
vaillng Drink among the Americans. English,
Irish, Germans, French, and ItaIians,-The
"stun' the whlskey Drink ers Swallow.


subject now uppermost in the public
mind in this country, and which, it
occurs to US, contains suggestive
matter
A GERMAN REMEDY FOR AMERICAN
INTEMPERANCE.
| suppose no thoughtful American
| or Engishman ever travels over
Europe now without keeping upper
most in his thoughts the drinking
question, which is always the upper
] most question in these two countries,
but which is never an uppermost
question on the continent of Europe
Why is there so little said and done
there, and why so much said and
done here in Great Britain? Because
there is 80 much more drunkenness
in these two countries than in any
of the others.
At no time during my residence
abroad was | so much impressed by
this remarkable fact as during
the siege of Paris. Throughout
those four months | kept the matter
continually in mind and eye. And
after daily and nightly observation
from the beginning to the end of the
investment, am bound to express
my surprise at the scarcity of intox-
icated persons. | have repeatedly
gone all over the city without seeing
enough drunken men to attract any
special attention from either stranger
or police. The newspapers did in
deed comment on the increase of
drunkenness, but | am sure that un-
der similar circumstances, and with
the same facts before them, our press
would congratulate us on the public
ebriety and sobriety. Such things
go by comparison. The French "were
drunken, but not with wine; they
staggered, but not with strong
drink"
Putting together, then, my obser-
walton during this time of extraor-
binary excitement and demoraliza-
ton, and my observation in the pro-
vinces Of France, in Italy, in Ger
many, in Great Britain and in the
United States, | must conclude that
the difference in the number of drunk
ards to which | have alluded is ow-
ing TO the difference in the beverage.
The English, Scotch, Irish and
Americans drink whiskey, and the
lower classes of them drink an adul-
terated, might say impuriated, quail
ity of whisky. The Italians and
French drink wine and beer, the Ger
mans dring beer and wine-wine be-
ing the principle beverage of the
common people in France and Italy,
and beer in Germany. You are no
more certain to find bread in one fist
of the workiDgman in France or Italy
than you are certain to see wine in
the other. A sight which has often
reminded me of the words of the
Bible whose SMILES are SO largely
drawn from the social customs of
these countries-"Winet that maketh
glad the heart of man" and "bread
that strengtheneth mans heart"
But behind this cause there Is an.
other-climate. We have more
drunkards than the Europeans, be-
cause our people bring more intovi-
eating beverage.
But why do they drink more in
toxicating beverage? Because the
climate suggests it, if it does not
cause the craving for it. And to our
facilitating climate we must add our
exhausting manner of life, which,
however, is probably another effect
of the climate. Driven by climate
and mode of living, the Americans
resort to whiskey for both stimula-
ton and obliveration They obtain
from their sliquid fire" the buoyancy
which tides them over the obstacle
and the stupor which renders them
oblivious to it.
But here is another and somewhat
disturbing fact: The Germans of
this country have 80 far withstoo1
the American climate and abstained
from the American beverage, while
doing as much work of the laboiious
kind (if not more than) any other
race in this country. They may be
said to have literally erected an in
dustrial civilization in the Western
and Northwestern States. They
were as poor as the poorest of the
emigrants who left their native land;
they are now, as community, dis
tinguished for their wealth, industry,
intelligence and sobriety. Their his
tory in America will, if ever written,
be one of the most impressive and
encouraging charters in the annals Of
material progress. The criminal sta.
tistics bear as strong testimony to
their law-abiing disposition as their
houses and lands to their energy,
thrift, tact and perseverance,.
But through all these years Of toll
and hardship, of manual labor and
public service, they have taken their
lager beer with all the regularity
with which they have gone forth to
their labor until the evening.
Is it not fair, then, to conclude
that we are somewhat indebted to
their abstinence from spirits for their
orderliness and pernacity, and that
they are indebted to their beer for
their superiority in adipose to the
original (and oborginaD American ?
The American, whether native, An
glo, Celtic or Scottish, whether ad-
dicted to the use of spirits, or totally
abstaining from every kind of drink
Except ice water), passes through
process of physical shrinkage. The
tendency to attenuation and emacia-
ton is one of the national features.
The Irish girl loses her color, and the
Briton his brown. All races sue
cumb to the same process of muscu.
lar impoverishment except the leu
tonic. Is not this because they are
the only people who discard spirits
as an habitual beverage, and restrict
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