The Portland daily press., 1879-02-17
The Beer and Cider Committee of the
Legislature

Tne Beer and Cider Committee Of the
Legislature
To the Editor of the Daily Press:
The Argus of the 14th contains the report Of
minority of committee of Legislature,
facetiously called "The Com nittee on Temper.
aHce" The reprint in the Argus is headed
"Lager, Ale. &C., Ought not to be considered
Intoxicating"
The committee in devising such a title for
their report indicate very clearly the small
amount OF common sense contained In IT, No
matter how they may ''consider" those fluids
they have been, are, and will continue to be
highly Intoxicating. The abounding drunken
ness, the beastly. brutal drunkenness Of Eng
land IS on beer, the most brutaliz!ng of all in
toxicants In producing drunkenness, as have
often heard reformed inebriates say.
Until 1888 the drunkenness of Eogland was
on gin and rum mostly, but in that year the
famous Beer Bill was passed, mainly through
the advocacy of the Duke of Wellington, tt en-
Prime Minister, aud Brougham, then leader In
the House of Commons. The passage of the bill
was pressed on the ground that the free con-
sumption OF beer would diminish the consump-
ton of distilled liquors, and thus diminish the
drunkenness OF the country, which was even
then frightful in extent and character.
The temperance men, by large deputations
to the ministry urged tha fact thas The bser in
whatever quantity consumed, would bs an
amount Vt iatoxicants added to the Quantity
of distilled liquors already consumed io the
country, aud the results would inevitably be-
increased drunkenness among the people. with
an increase of the poverty, pauperism and
wretchedness following directly in its train.
All this pleading were IN vain' because the pr-
mier and Brongham was certain that more
sObriety would be the result
The drunkenness Of the country began to
increase Immediately after the passage Of the
Bill by which innumeraole beer shops were
opened 10 every part of tbs Kiugdom. Within
three months after this the witty Sidney Smith
writing to Lady Holland, said, siuce the new
beer bill, establishing beer shops everywhere.
We are all drunk, the nation is staggering
drunk. The Duke of Wellington lived to
regret bitterly the mistake he had nade and I
have been upon the same platform with Inrd
Broughsm at the meeting of the ~. Iliance for
the prohibition Of the liquor sfsddc," of which
society he was V CO Pres .aeur. and which he
called the Grand Aills..acs.
Mr.. Gladstone eiterward, in 1861 made the
same mistake 10 carrying through parliament
an act, BY which wines were greatly chsapsned
and ander which they were and now are free
ly sold to all comers 10 every restaurant and
confectioner's shop in the Kingdom. Many great
aud influential deputations from England,
ireland and Scotland waited upon Mr.. Glad
stone to protest against his proposed measure,
which they urged would widely increase the
the wines consumed would be so much added
to the beer and distilled liquors, the quantity
OF which would not be diminished. And this
result has followed from Mr.. Gladstone's
measure, with the additional terrible mischief
OF greatly increased drunkenness amoog wo.
men, who consume VINE freely in the con-
fecttoner's shops The beer bill and the vine
bill are now universally acknowledged in
Eagiands TO have greatly increased the drunk
enness OF the country.
All THIS the cider committee of the Leeis,a-
ture know nothing of, but they foolIshly fmss-
ine that If the Legislature will say, "Lsger
beer. &C, ought not to be considered intoxicat-
inR," the mischief will be eliminated from
temperance drinks.
This report Of the committee is full of mis-
statements and false statements and illogical
conclusions; so much so, that one would be- ias-
nneo ,h. IN cobsluding that at the writing of it
tney had considered lager not intoxicating.
Tne conmiftee try to make a case that The
ehforcement OF the iaw has entailsd hnrdsns 81
cost cost upon the tax psyersS In Cumberland The
and this would have been the fsanis =; sno oos.,
county, it the Law had been properiz ene.y eSoy
The law is yet defective in several respe-ts a1
it can easily be 80 man aged ss to extingufsh.as
9rog shoDs entirely aud speedily with no cost to
the tax payers.
The Committee say the consumption (of liq-
uors) is as large as before the law. 1t is amaz-
ing that any genLlemen--aS l suppose the
members Of the committee claim to be-could
put their names to Q statements 80 ourrageously
false as that 1t has never been pretended by
any man, whose vision and judgment are not
warped by his sympathy with "drink" that the
quantity OF liquors consumed IN the State are
one tenth what they were before the law. Then,
open grog shops, wholesale and retail, were ev-
erywhere, all over the State; every little coun-
try grocery and roadside tavern were grog
shops; now, the traffic has been entirely driven
out OF the smaller towns, villages, and rural
districts, and it fingers ia secret way and on
small scale in the larger towns and cities. 1t
IS far within the mark to say that not one tenth
so much liquor is sold In the State new as be-
fore the law.
The committee says: "Liquor Runners from
Boston and New York penetrate every nook
and corner Of our State TO rob our people and
eat out their substance Is that because the
qu0r sellers are from Boston and New York?
T0at, and only that, is the logic of the state
ment, however false it may be and is Is the
''robbing and eati0 0g OQt' due to the hDbitdt Of
the sellers? No, it is In the liquors that they
sell; that's the hole Of IL; and the "robbing
aud eating out" will be exactly the same in
kind, but great deal worse in degree, if our
own people sell them on larger scale, as the
committee wish.
l cannot follow this committee through the
falsties and fallacies of their report, nor is it
n4raaQQrv. hpcauaa thav m 4 that hau
Cannot deceive any intelligent man. But the
Committee say: the law drives away business,
depreciates real estate, shackles enterprise,
cheats labor, increases taxes, educates intoler-
encourages bribery and perjury, and the clau-
destine compounding, sale and use of poisonous
liquors. Signed
Darius 81 Ingraham.
Gorham L. Boynton,
j. b. Fanel,
Arthur Moore.
Now it will not be easy to condense more
fslsehoods into f-wer lines than we have here.
Every statement is absolutely false in v hole or
in part except the "hypocrisy"; the Influencing
elections" the ''bribery and corraption," "the
liquors the and sssss are Of fsss RS
in the sense in which the commit
tee intend them to be understood. The
law greatly benefits social and material In
terests"; the law stimulates and promotes
oNcEy ickittmatc uuSiucSo bue law appreciates
the "vslue of real estate" the law euoour-
ages labor" and tends to elevate and dignity
the laborer; the law diminishes "tsxes" 1t is
the liquor aud not the law that promotes Sim
tolerance aud hypocrisy" it is liquor that ''in-
huences elections'-as the presence Of the
meDbe of the commit ttee in the Legislature
prov es, and their appointment on the commit
tee was all rum. 1t is liquor and not the law
that Encourages bribery and perjury" for ii
notorious that most men who sympathize with
rum will perjnre themselves without scruple
in any matter where liquor is concerned; and
the committee must be profoundly ignorant of
the whole matter not to know that the COM
pounding of liquors was regular business long
bt tfore the Law; liquor "doctors" constituting
regular and lucrative profession iudustriously
plying their trade in every large town in Europe
as we'll as In this country-apd even more
there an here. NEAL Dow
Theophile Gautier originally "went inn for
paibting, bsing pupil Of the famous ioult,
but it did not take him long to discover that he