The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1876-06-16
BEER AND TEMPERANCE.
An Intelligent Americans Observations
and COnclusIOns-

and Conclusions
Charles Dudley Warmers Munich Letter.
Perhaps the temperance question is not
exactly solved in Munich; | don't know
if it was ever raised; indeed the intem-
perance question has made so little pro-
gress that the other has probably not
been reached. You wouldn't say that
the Munichers are moderate in the use of
beer. / have seen people at homeland
raging thirst seems to be our national
birthright-drink water just as reckless
ly, deluging the pale and drenched stom-
ach with the cold, icv-cold fluid. Prob
ably the German would expatiate elo-
quently upon the horror OF water-drink-
ing-if he had any experience in that
line.
The Municher is content not to try
any hazardous experiments; having
struck the medium way of beer he devil
ates neither to water on the one hand nor
wine on the other. And ii was not he
but a Prussian, and an officer, whose
opinion and experience gave his remark
some weight, who said to me the other
day: As for me, when / can get good
water, pure, fresh water, let the beer
stand one side, and drink wine" 1t
makes all the difference in the world
with ones temperance principles whether
he lives on the Rhine or on the Iser.
There is a saying here that Munich
man is a beer cask in the morning and a
( cask of beer at night; the epigram needs
no explanation here, but it might be
| misunders God elsewhere
/ If one were disposed philosophically to
/ study the Temperance problem, Munich
4 would be good field for it; for one can
! see here exactly what is the effect of un-
/ restrained liberty; though, i'll applying
what one learned here TO our own cOun-
try, you would have to allow for the diff
ference of climate and of the tempGra-
ment of people. 1t don't at all follow
that what would do for Munich would
do for Hartford.
Probably you could not find in the
whole city a man or woman who has
ever thought of what we call total absti
nence, and they could not comprehend
the idea. But there are plenty of tenn
perance peOple-that Is, people who drink
beer regularly and never overstep the
bounds of moderation. The observation
that one makes in Munich is that drunk
cnness Is rare exception. In residence
here of many months | have never seen
more than one or two intoxicated people
in the streets, and they were not marked
by the wildness or viciousness of our
3 SlipilS tipI llCUIltlkg ullb SttllICu ~ DC
rather good humored carls, who had lost
their way, and didn' seem to care whether
they ever found it. But this seems very
remarkable, when there is a beer-hOuse
every half block, and you can not select
residence in any part of the town that
Is not as handy to a Keller as it is to
public school or church. And | can
not see that the freedom of beer tends to
any habit of overwhelming. / have
known strangers to indulge freely in beer
here the whole season. and be Just as good
temperance people at the end as they
were in the beginning.
Whether the Germans, especially the
men, do not waste a good deal of time
in beeI-halls afternoon after afternoon,
and night after night, swigging endless
mugs, is another question. And it is a
fair question: What must be the final
effect upon the intellect of people who
so many hours day soak in this mild
but distending fluid, and an atmosphere
of smoke? The question is, however,
mere speculative one, so long as the Ger
mans continue to produce so many schol-
ars, philosophers, men of incalculable
erudition, wonderfully energetic travellers
and exDlOrerS and cOD0uerlnC soldiers.