Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-01-21
National Beverages.


From the n. Y. Times
Whoever examines American temperance ieg-
islatcn Of year or two past will End suggestive
instances of favor or liberation shown To native
beverages. Many recent laws allow beer brewed
in the locality. or homemade wines mauufac-
tured without adding distilled spirits to hc sold
While imported liquors are striagently for
hidden. For example, Alabama. during
1881. passed a number of laws prohibiting
liqaer-selling in designated localities. a major
lty OF these acts make an exception Of dealings
in wines manufactured within the state without
use Of spirits. Several similar laws were
passed i'm North Carolina; and the general pro-
hibitors law for that state, which was framed
ey the legislature and submitted TO the people.
but rejected by them, excepted wines
and cider, The license law passed during he
same year in Rhode Island exempted domestic
made wines. Is this brought about by some
''hitchlnw of horses" between Temperance advo-
Gates and protectionists? Perhaps friends of
prohibition might carry their point In many To-
calities. II their effort were limited 10 eKclud-
ing spirits and foreign liquors and they could
thus strengthen themselves 10y an alliance with
domestic producers of beer and light wines Or
is it the idea of such policy that there may be
some adaptedness not yet fully understood be-
tween the beverages indigenous" SO to speak,
to n particular territory and the people native
to it,
There has been greater variety among the
stimulating beverages OF the nations than is
generally realized. What is known on the
point does not justify a belief that native herer
ages might everywhere be drank with entire
freedom and safety. but may warrant ques-
ton whether allowing their use under legal
control might not be sensible and wholesome
compromise between appetite and ideal reform.
One explanation of the apparently conflicting
declarations OF Scripture has been that three
different liquors We're in vogue in Judea-.
Srosh. yagin and Sisi;Gn-which King James
translators not being accurately posted i'm
drinks so remote from their own land and era.
confused; while one of taese-the tyoSk-was
natural and wholesome. and favored by
example and precept in the New Testament
\ sketch of :" IntoXicants," in volume on
drinks by r. Y. Rogers. just published,
gives entertaining information of the mu
titude of sources from which, i'm various
lands, the people have sought stimuants. An
cent Egypt had a species OF wine, and also a
liquor called zyFsos drawn from barley toy fer
mentation. resembling beer. That the people
did not escape drunkenness is shown by draw
iDgs which have been preserved of slaves carry
ing drunken masters home. and the like: but
the effects of the two drinks were noticed to be
different Grecians used wine from the earliest
period. and history gives many tokens-that they
did so to excess. But the statement that they
were fond Of pouring salt water into If to i'm
prove the flavor raises gentle suspicion that it
differed from modern wine. The like Inference
is suggested by reading that among the Romans
the l0wer-priced grades of wine sold al three
pence for ten gallons. and that the mag
mates drank it by the gailon-MaNinin six
gallons per day. Torquatus two gallons
at a draught-wthout becoming drunk. But
both tire Grecians and the Romans imported
wine from Egypt; who knows but this may have
been the Chief cause of drunkenness among
them? A noteworthy instance OF adaptation or
natural selection in beverages is that Julius Cp-
sar's troops seem to have carried perhaps not
ar nj Wi nd ma linn hrsr
improved ways of making them, to Gaul and
Britain; and grape-culture and wine making
throve in France because natural To the soil and
climate. While ale and beer were 50 suited to
English conditions and were SO easily made by
people raising abundance of grain that they soon
became the national beverage in preference to
the mead and cider with which the ancient
BritOnS had been wont TO regale themselves.
Barley is the basis of several drinks made in
different parts of the world by processes analo-
gous to modern brewing but they are notably
different in their Intoxicating effects The dis
cOverers OF America found maize i'm use among
the native tribes i'm making species Of beer
called cfaca; and history indicates that the Ma
tfves would have suffered less from intrmper-
ancc II they had chung to their own drink than
they have since adopting the strong liquors i'm
trOduced by the whites. There are some unex-
pected sources of these beverages In England
spruce. fir, birch. maple and ash trees have in
former years been tapped and the sap fermented
walnut are said to yield paiataDie beverages
koanRiss. of which descriptions were published
during President Garfield's illness. is frmented
milk. and is the basis of what may be called the
koumiss cure, administered to invalids at estab-
lishments maintained among the Tartars: but
doctors differ as to whether the treatment
when tried by Americans or E3glshmen effects
a radical cure or only causes temporary fat
tenin9. The drink is favorite one among the
Tartars and Circassians, and they have a legend
that the angel who succored Hagar in the desert |
showed her how to make it. and that the recipe
has been handed down from that time. The |
Chinese make liquors. and mischievous ones-to |
indulge them freely in their native drinks
would not he a hopeful experiment from rice,
from the palm. and even from mutton Sake is
q beer which has been long and widely used in
Japan. and, though strong. is called wholesome:
and the Japanese make other drinks from plums. |
from the juice of the palm or the birch. and
from the flowers of the motherwort and the
peach. The Russians delight i'm qunss made
from barley and rye -four. Several varieties of
grass. herbs. or flowers. roots of sundry plants
the juices of the sugarcane, the aloe. or the |
cassava, and even of the potato and beet are
used among various tribes OF nations as the |
basis of some favorte drink.