The Portland daily press., 1882-03-02
THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH 2.
ISL Louis Globe.l
A Question of Stimulants.

Il
A quaint character in recent piece of ic-
ton by popular American author, is made to
philosophize as follows on the relative merits
of tea and coffee;
oYeu look at the tea drinkers and coffee-drink-
eTs all the world oyerl Look at 'em In our own
country All the Northern people and all the go,
ahead people drink tea. The Pensylvanians and
the Southerners drink coffee. Why, our New ENG
land folks don't know how to make coffee SO ltS @ NJ
TO drink. And it is Just so all over Europe. Inc
Russians drink tea, and they'd et up Lnose eoIeS
drlnkin' Turks long ago il the tea-drinkin English
in the North and you'll find em drinkin' tea. The
Swedes and the Norwegians in Arlstook county
drink it, and they drink it at home" wen, what
do you think of the French and Germans? They
drink coffee, and they're pretty smart, active PEG.
pre- too" 'sFrench and Germans drink coffee?"
''Hes.' ''Well, guess they're a KIND OF missing
link, as old Darwin says"
The Philosopher is at fault in this case, we
fear. He has made the mistake of confound-
ng local popularity with general princi-
pie. 1t is true that the New Englanders show a
preference for tea, as they do for beans and
pumpkin pie; and it may be that this conduces
to their characteristic shrewdness in bargain
ing, and to the peculiar eye-glassed and trans
cendental opinions which set them apart in q
certain sense. But we cannot believe that
they are at their best when most under the IN
fiuence of tea. They made their first square
stand in history, got their first start as favor
ed and progressive people when they threw the
tea into Boston harbor; and ever since then.
we make bold to say, they have had to repeat
that bit of Reputation as frequently as
OCCASION has come for them to accomplish
great purpose in behalf of liberty and civiliza-
tion.
The Revolution was fought and won on cof-
fee. not on tea; and the same may be said of
the war for the Union. Ii we had depended
upon tea in either instance we should nave
been ingloriously routed. Oolong and Young
Hyson will do well enough in times OF Lutte
nlavino and nimble capering and measuring OF
calico, but when the drums beat and flag is to
be protected we must have Rio and Java. The
commissary statistics prove that coffee and VIC
tory 90 together, or at least, that no triumph
worth mentioning was ever won where cofee
was absent. Tea is not heroic stimulant. %
man was ever nerved by it to deed OF DEATH
less fame; it belongs in the hospital and among
the Init -pickers and the fellows with varlcose
veins and other convenient disabilities. Inc
thought of Grant, Sherman or Sheridan sip
ping tea is preposterous. 1t takes coffee to
make conquerorS.
Not only in war, however, Is the influence OF
coffee superior. 1t can be demonstrated, we
think, that as p6aC6lul ClVlllLdtlou duthASoS
the use of coffee increases. The most gloomy
of pessimsts will hardly dare deny that in the
last fifty years our country has made wonder
full strides of progress; and yet IN that time our
annual consumption of coffee has grown from
little over pound per head of the population
to nearly nine pounds per head, while the con-
sumption of tea has grown only from pound
per head to less than pound and a hall Since
the close of the rebellion and the abolition OF
slavery the coffee gain has been three pounds
.sot,. ~ fpdia a.
as we grow in political grace and extend the
blessings of freedom we pass our cups Tor more
coffee. By the same process it is easy to show
that the ratio of decrease in the power OF 1gno-
rance and crime-aS exemplihed In the expert
rience of the Democratic party corresponds
very significantly with the meager showing in
behalf of tea as force in the current economy
of things.
We resent as wholly untrue and misleading
the reckless assertion that ''all the go-ahead
drink tea" 1t is the stand-still folks that
keep up the tea stores. The busy, eager,
aggressive element of our population takes
coffee. In staid and finished New England,
where life is monotonous and sterile IKE the
granite meadows that compel agriculture to be
a system of geological research, tea is able to
hold its own; but when you come West, where
the boom is on and the star of empire is getting
in its work, you find almost everybody drink
ing coffee. Our operators OF railroads, our
town builders our makers OF new StateS-the
whole hurrying and pushing, throng, who are
developing the country, and extending trade
and commerce, and promoting. the. general
prosperity and welfare-want their coffee three
times day, and want it strong. To be tea
drinker out here is to fall behind the process
sion, if not to invite personal dstrust and de-
probation. The habit is somehow not in har-
mony with the environment. 1t is idle, there
fore, to talk about tea as determining factor
in the problem of the republic. Coffee is the
stimulant over all other beverages, and to
- r. 1wt.k Ax,1 t.Hrrn ms
we grid up our loins and go forward to fulfill
our destiny.