Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-02-18

condemn this sort OF thing, and say the
Anglo-lndians ought to quench their thirst
with nonintoXicants. More lemonade and
less brandy and champage, it is claimed,
would materially lessen the rate Of NOR
talty from enlarged spleen, the bane OF
A|nglo-lndlan life. This may be strictly
true, but the fact remains that q mere
handful OF hard drinking Britons are i'd
ministering the affairs Of 200, 000, 0O0 prac-
tically non drinking people.
Some of the natives Of India consume
more or less arrack and palm toddy, but
the Brahmins, the gentlest and easiest
governed people in the world, drink MOTH
ing stronger than water. The only tribe
OF people in India who drink TO excess are
the Eats Of the Punjab. The festive Jat
gets drunk on arrack, and INDUCES in
manly sports like a civilized being. On
the field OF battle he is equal to IA round
dozen non-drinking Hindoos, and forms
today the flower Of the native British In
dian army. He 1t was that stood firmly
10y the English during the mutiny, and
performed prodigies OF valor scarcely
second to Tommy Atkins himself. He
calls the water drinking natives Of Dude
and Bengal ''poorbeahs, and is superior
to them in every manly attribute.
In Mohammedan countries very little
alcohol is consumed in proportion TO the
number of people. The Koran denies the
seductive pleasures Of its material para
disc to Mussulmans who indulge in the
flowing bowl OF Bacchus here below. The
Shiahs are considered the Catholics of the
Mohammedan religion. The whole Per
sian nation belong 10 the Shah faith. It's
lO,OOO 200 Of people are governed with the
same ease as the same number Of sheep
might be by u few officials who care moth
ing for their welfare except to squeeze
them like an orange whenever they feel
like it. The Q 100000 never touch any,
thing intoxicating from one years end TO
another. The governing few consume raw,
fiery arrack by the pint daily in wanton
disregard OF the Koran and its teachings.
The village Khan and subordinate cover.
nor of a province keeps by him a stock OF
arrack and drinks from half a pint 10 a
pint with his midday meal TO stimulate
his appetite and make himself feel booty
while eating, and is frequently put TO bed
limp as "a dishrag by his retainers ut night.
The Japs are the most encouraging eX-
amples that the east presents OF a nation
progressing from Asiatic to an European
plane OF civilization. They bid fail ere
many years TO be more European in their
habits han the majority Of Europeans
themselves, One wouldn't care to assert
that the vast quantity uf sake consumed
by the Japanese has anything to do with
their superiority IN this particular over all
other Asiatics. am merely pointing out
facts, leaving the reader to draw his or her
own conclusions thcrcfrom.
No nation III Asia drinks SO persistently
md EtnnIilu no IL, thn ~ III.
average Jap consumes about half n pint
Of sake or rice beer with each meal-a
pint and n half per day-saying nothing
about further social indulgence in the
evening. Both men and women drink
sake by the pint daily, and think no harm
Of it, either. At meal times the sake is
served up in slender, big necked earthen-
ware bottles, holding about a pint. The
favorite way is to drink it warm. 1t il
usually warmed by setting the bottle in
boiling water for a while before putting il
on the table. Rice beer is a rather de-
ceptive name TO give sake, rs it resembles
liquor more than beer, both in color, con-
sistency md Intoxicating property. In
the consumption of alcohol the Japs, as n
nation, rank way ahead Of any other
Asiatic country. In addition To sake,
they are also rapidly coming to the fore
as consumers Of beer and brandy and
whisky. Their consumption of these
beverages keeps a curiously even pace
with their progression toward what we
are pleased TO consider our own higher
plane Of civilization. When they first be-
gan TO think of wearing European clothes
they contented themselves with import
ing French brandy and English and Mil
waukee beer. Now, however, the gov
III compels all its officials to adopt
European clothes, and the upper crust So
ciety at Toxic are far from being alone in
Europcanizing their habits and costumes.
Consequently the Japs have commenced
brewing their own beer and making a
very good imitation of French brandy.
The Chinese as a nation consume very
little intoxicating drink, although they
make u beverage from rice called ''torrin
almost the counterpart Of the sake OF
Japan. Whenever there has been war
between the W nations the laps nave in
variably walloped John Chinaman almost
as thoroughly as the arlack drinking Jats
OF the Punjab were wont to make things
warm for the total abstaining Hindoos in
81, and before.
The Turk are a nation that drink next
to nothing OF a stimulating character, I'M
less tiny cups of strong black coffee may
be SO considered. AS Mohammedans they
are less sanctimonious but more consistent
than the Persians. The Osmanli official
sometimes INDUCES in mastic, but if he
does, he consumes it III the guise of medi-
cine, the ~prohibitive voice of the Koran
not including alcohol used as medicine.
The Turks are brave and warlike, and if,
when their star Of empire was in the
ascendancy and their crescent banner
tioated over half Europe, they had for
saken the prohibitiye tenets of the Koran
and went into brewing and drinking beer
and whisky, who knows but that they
might be occupying Moscow today instead
of being bulldozed by the Russians?
The Russians are q nation of hard
drinkers. Vodka is consumed by the Mus
covite peasantry III vast quantities. The
moujik's idea of Il holiday is to get skin
full Of vodka, and then lay down and
hang on to the ground. This laudable
performance is gone through with by the
Russian peasant AS often AZ he can pro-
cure the necessary quantity of vodka. He
has n saints day TO keep almost three
hundred and siXty-ive times a year, and
the only thing that prevents him from
celebrating every one of them by filing
himself up with vodka is the necessity Of
making his living and the lack Of money