Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-02
REVELING In CHAMPAGNE
FIVE THOUSAND QUARTS A DAY
DRUNK By NEW WORKERS.

The LibatiOns Mixed with Filtration
and sin-Impecunious Clerks Skin
mishing to be Gallant without Spend
ing q PRONUNCIATION Dana's Son to
Set Society in a Flutter.
CorresDondencs of the Morning Meas.
NEW YORK, Oct. 31.-"New Workers
drink fully 5000 quarts of champagne per
day" was the astounding assertion made
by a weIl-known wholesale wine mer-
chant in response to an interrogatory put
by your correspondent a day or two ago.
'Eight or ten of the leading hotels in the
city handle one-fifth of the total, and the
balance is drank in restaurants, bar
rooms, private houses, and pleasure re-
sorts of various degrees of morality. 1t
is perfectly surprising" said my inform
ant, show rapidly the consumption of
wine is increasing. 1t furnishes another
striking illustration of the increasing ex-
traJagance of the nation, especially that
portion Of it confined within the limits of
Manhattan. 1t was but few years ago
when the uncorkingo of bottle of Mumm's
was looked upon as an event of consider
able Importance and decidedly out of the
common. A small schooner of foaming
Stout or tiny glass of Holland
schnapps was looked upon as quite
good enough for anybody by the
short pantalooned old KnickerbOckers,
who fathered the present generations
pretentiOus aristOcrats. Now, however,
natures most favored vineyards can
hardly furnish a beverage sufficiently deli
cate for the palates of these fastidious mod
ern princelings. Oh, but it's a fine drink"
said the merchant, with a merry twinkle
in his eye, as his attendant approached
with tray containing glasses and a bot
tie Just off the ice. "There is great deal
of naughtiness in every bubble" he con-
tinued with something akin to a sigh as
he quaffed my health and tossed off the
fluid in thrice. His statement contained
more truth than poetry. More than half
Of the scandals which have furnished food
for the gossips within the last decade are
traceable directly to the champagne glass.
A box at the opera followed by a little
wine supper have furnished foundation
for thirteen of twenty-one prominent di-
VOrce suits which have been able to re-
call in less than five minutes of thinking.
Millions are spent IN wine annually. One
can hardly make move in
New York now, if he makes any pre-
tentiOns to aristOcracy, without opening
a bottle of wine. At dinners and suppers
it is getting to be considered an indis-
penSaDle accompaniment. Ii one leaves
the theatre between the acts, to be
''proper" be must accompany his cigar
cite and that of his friend with pint
bottle of Mumm's Extra Dry. A nights
outing and its accompanying designations
are no longer complete without the pro-
verbal bottle. The cost of seeing the city
by gas light is, OF course, increased in
proportion to the number Ofbottles a man
1oolishly imagines he must consume be-
fore he is in proper shape TO enjoy all that
the city has to offer. As in every other
department Of fashionable life, there are
fashions in wine, which are as change
able as any of the other accessories. For
a long time &. FL. Mumm was at the head
of the list, then POmmery Sec came to the
front, and for about two years it was
almost the only wine in demand at the
stylish places. Afterward people began
to imagine it was going off in quality, and
they took to drinking the dry ClicquOt.
That, too, had its day. That is the way
these things run. There is more money
spent in advertising wines than there is
in spreading the announcements OF patent
medicines.