The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-07-28
Then And Now t.

laCture OF matt liquors In TINS otate,
will tend to promote agriculture, di-
minish the use of ardent spirits, and
preserve the morals and health of
the people," 1t proceeds to enact
that all persons engaging in the be-
nevolent enterprise of making beer,
"shall be exempt from all taxes of
every kind and nature that shall be
assessed by the State" and also have
an abatement annually of as many
poll-taxes as they employ workmen
liable to pay the same. The act to
continue in force ten years.
1t will be interesting to have the
workings Of this law, and how soon
the people learned that they had been
mistaken in their estimate of the
character of the business they encour-
aged. That they have so learned, is
evident, for New Hampshire has now
prohibitory law. 1t is not apparent
how the manufacture of malt liquors
could be thought to tend to "preserve
the morals" of the people, unless it
was by keeping them in the same
condition-preventing any increase
in moral sensibility, if so, pickle
would have been better word to use
than preserve. But that beer should
enhance the health of the people, is
a terrible mistake-as science is dem
onstrating, and as many have learned
by bitter experience, without much
science.
The following testimony has been
published by the N. w. c. T. u.
That Alcohol is a slow poison, is
an acknowledged fact. That its
quality remains unchanged by any
and all admixtures, is another fact.
Men drink it largely diluted in beer,
and manage to keep up good out
side show, while within they are get
ting into sad condition. They do
not know it themselves, for they
poison their nerves continually so
that they ger no true reports from
within. But let some accident hap
pen which sends them to the hospital,
and then hear what the doctors say
about them.
DR.. Edwards says: "The diseases
of beer-drinkers are always of a dan
gerous character, and, in case of an
accident, they can never undergo the
most trihing operation with the Sc
curity of the temperate. They almost
invariably die under it,"
DR.. Grinrod, a prominent London
physician, says: ga copious beer
drinker is all one vital part. He
wears his heart on his sleeve, bare to
a death wound even from a rusty nail
or the claw of a cat"
DR.. Gordon says: "The beer.drink-
ers, when attacked with acute disease,
are not able to bear depletion, and
they die"
DR.. Nixon says: Intoxicating
drinks, whether taken in the form OF
fermented or distilled liquors, are a
very frequent predisposing cause of
disease"
One of our own workers, on re-
cent visit to Bellevue Hospital, says:
GAS we entered the ward, the first
sight opposite the door was surgeon
dressing a gangrenous arm. His
words to the patient, as we caught
them, were, mo l shall not let you
go out; you would get glass of beer,
and that would kill you'll She con
tinues: GA boy in another bed
motherless, friendless, stranger in a
strange land, speaking no word o.
ours, had received slight wound
which pure blood would have thrown
off; but he was beer victim, and hi.
hurt, with his poisoned blood, pro
duced erysipelas. Another hao
scratched his finger, and his hano
was in danger of amputation. AND
so we went through the list, receiving
testimony unexpected to us, almos
unasked by us, and almost uncon
sciously given, that systems cloggee
with effete matter which beer hac
prevented passing off, were incapable
of resisting injury and disease"