The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-10-10
SPACIOUS ARGUMENTS.
Two Questions Put by tho Liquor Crowd
Answered in the Right Way.

Answered in the Right Way.
A correspondent at Clermont Ia,
writes US as follows:
1 am greatly interested in the brave and
noble stand you have taken to "Pulverize the
Rum Power" but, as this Temperance move
ment presses on towards it's final triumph, new
obstacles will be continually thrown in it's way
Here are two questions which have been pro-
pounded and would be pleased if you would
discuss them through the Blades columns
They say: How does it come, if strong
drinks are so destructive that the Germans
who drink more beer and distilled liquors than
any other Nation, are the healthiest people?
In olden times when people drank more beer
and whisky Uhis was in Norway and Sweden
the men were giants in strength, and the peo-
pie were stouter and healthier than now?"
We infer that there is general cir
culation of the statement embodied in
these questions throughout Iowa, Kan
sas and Nebraska, as they have been
made to us before. 1t is hard to say
whether those who circulate them be-
lieve them or not. Those to whom they
are propounded should at once pose the
questioner by asking for the proof, as
to the first question, that the Germans
are ''the healthiest people"-a state
ment untrue in fact; and regarding the
second, by asking for the proof that the
Scandinavians of ancient times drank
either whisky or beer similar to the
beer of the present; for proof that the
mass of that people were either stouter
or healthier than now; and that there
ever was a giant in strength among
them. You will be surprised to find
that they can give no proof of any one
of these things. The reason is this:
They are not true in the specific sense
in which they are asserted in these
questions. We challenge any ono to
produce the proof of the truth of the
assertions in the questions submitted
by our correspondent
Some general discussion of facts that
are often lost sight of by both the advo-
Gates of Temperance and their oppo-
nents will be found useful in this con-
nection. First, with regard to the
drinking habits of the people of Ger
many. The Germans imbibe but COM
paratively very little of distilled liq-
uors; their drinks are beer and light
wines. They use them as we use tea
and cofiee--drinking them with their
meals, and not taking them on an
empty stomach. They do not drink as
Americans do-swill down glass after
glass within few minutes. The drink
ing is moderate compared with that to
which we are accustomed in America
AS to the Scandinavians (the people
of Norway and Sweden), it is absurd to
quote the legendary stories of their
heroes of semi-historic period as
sober truths. The early history of all
nations shows the idealization that
seems inevitable in the process of hand
ing down stories of the prowess and
courage OF ancestors. Such stories al
ways increase in the telling, and never
diminish. The doings of brave man
are magnified in the course of genera
tions until they become impossible to a
man of ordinary strength and stature;
and then the enlargement goes on by
representing the hero as a giant in size
and strength. Again, the old Scan
dinavians knew nothing of whisky or
any other distilled liquors. They drank
rude kind of beer, of which but two
things are certain: One, that it must
have been horrid slop, and the other
C0dL IL COulu nOG, from lbS lnOuo Vi UldH-
ufacture, have contained nearly as great
a per cent. of alcohol as modern malt
liquors.
The fact must never be lost sight Of
in estimating the value of facts bearing
on the Temperance question, that the
climate of the country, the mode of life,
the occupations and surroundings of
the people all have an important bear
ing on the effect of alcoholic liquors
upon them. The people of a country
with a cold, damp climate like that Of
Great Britain, Scandinavia and North
ern Germany, can drink with less harm
full results than can the inhabitants Of
a dry climate (such as ours) or of any
hot country. AS regards occupation,
the backwoodsmau, whose life is passed
in the open air, can drink for years a
quantity OF liquor that would kill city
resident His example is no rule for
the dyspeptic clerk whose whole life,
practically, is spent in-doors-the day