The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-12-13

MONDAY. DEC. 10, 1886.
W. @. T. U.
THE PRESIDENTS REPORT.
THE QUESTION OF THE DAY.
(Coatfnacd.)

Rev. DR.. A. l.. Stone, after some
years in California, said, II had en-
tertained sort of hope that the
manufacture Of pure wines and
their introduction into general use
would crowd out the gross, strong
liquors and diminish intemperance.
/ am now fully convinced that this
hope was groundless and delusive.
1t is in evidence that fully two
thirds of all the wine manufactured
is converted by the manufacturers
into brandy. 1t also appears that
in the wine growing districts, intem-
perance is on the increase, extend
ing even to the youth of both
sexes" Mr.. Nordhoff, in his work
on California, makes similar state
ment and says in closing, II advise
no settler in the State to make wine.
He runs too many risks with children
and laborers, even If he himself
escapes" U. S. Revenue Commits
sioner Wells said, california,
with her cheap wines for temper
ance, in the year 1867 sold fourteen
times as much alcoholic stuff as
Maine, and more than any other
State, New York excepted"
But how about beer? Is it not
true, as has been said, that ''the
brewers of good beer are the friends
of the cause of temperance" Shall
we not vote to lower the duties on
wine and beer, and to license brewe-
ries Sin the interests Of temper
ance?" 1 quote from a statement
in recent number of the Friend:
''The report of the statistical bureau
of Switzerland for 1884 gives these
figures: The per capita consump-
ton of malt liquors in Switzerland
is about As gallons, in Germany,
20; in the United States, IL. At
the same time the spirituous liquors
consumed in these three countries
are: Switzerland, about $40 litres;
Germany, $50 litres United States,
4.42 litres. Thus we see that while
Switzerland consumes four times
and Germany nearly twice as much
beer per capita as the United States,
they use also about twice as much
spirits. A German professor, in an
article on the increase of insanity,
combats the argument that the con-
sumption of beer tends to dimi-
nish the consumption of spirituous
liquors. He shows, on the con-
trary, that in European countries
there is steady increase in the use
of both kinds of drink. In Holland
the use of spirits has increased
thirty per cent. within seventeen
years; in Belgium it has doubled
itself in the last forty years, and in
even that home of wines, France, it
has risen from an average of four
annual litres per head to seven in
the two decades from 1860 to 1880,
i. e., an increase of seventy per
cent. In Prussia, between 1865
and 1880, the consumption of spirits
rose from eight to ten litres per
head, while that of beers rose from
thirty-seven to lightweight litres.
DR.. H. L. Bowditch, of Boston, is
reported as saying of his advocacy
of beer in moderation: cit was
the mistake of my life when 1
maintained but for a brief period,
that beer was beneficial to anybody
under any circumstances. l regard
it not as merely worthless, but as
productive of most diseased state
of the whole system, the worst that
it is often not suspected until too
late"
In 1880, a Beer Act was intro
duced into England, the object Of
which was said to be to "wean the
people from the stronger liquors,
by cheapening beer, by giving them
a wholesome beverage. Nearly 40
years later, very high authority
says "This measure, though intro
duced in 1880 for the avowed pur-
pose Of depressing intemperance by
counteracting the temptation to the
excessive drinking of ardent spirits
afforded in public houses, has been
abundantly proved, not only to have
failed of its benevolent purpose,
but to have served throughout the
country to multiply and intensity
the very evils it was intended to
remove" "That free beer dimi-
nishes drunkenness may be logic,
but it is not fact
Similar statistics to these have
been available for fifty years. Tenn
perance lecturers have acclaimed
them, preachers have told them, the
religious press have published them,
temperance societies have scatter
them in tracts and leaflets by the
million. And yet! men of influence
and information to-day start up with
all the enthusiasm of discoveries and
assert.-''There is no way to induce
men to drink less gin SO sure as to
give them cheaper drink which is
at the same time milder. Let us
make it easy for our native people
here to get beer and wine and they
will not ask for anything stronger .
it is not true! A man who Graves
gin and whiskey will have them a,
any cost, for milder drink will mol
satisfy him. "And no man Car
touch alcohol at all without fasten.
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