The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-08-24
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
FACTS ABOUT BEER.
The Man Who Drinks 1t Is ImbIbirg
Poison.

Poison.
One OF the very many popular errors
regarding intoXicants is that concern
ing the real nature of beer aud other
malt liquors. You will find many
people who are ready to admit that
whisky and other distilled liquors are
harmful, but who believe that beer is
nourishing-thati it really is food;
that it exerts beneficial effect upon
the system, and that it may be used as
a regular drink without harm. There
are thousands of men who think it a
virtue that they don't touch whisky,
bat take glass of beer when thirsty"
1t is a well-known fact that beer
drinking is very popular The amount
consumed in the United States in
creaseS every year; so it becomes i'm
portant that every one should know
the true nature of beer-the pure"
article, made of barley and hops. 1t
has been proved, time and again, that
some brewers use such drugs as
quassia, aloes and nuX vomica for pur-
poses of adulteration. These are
poisons-but beer is poison also, and
the only difference is that these drugs
will kill quicker than will beer alone
There is nutriment in beer-but how
much? Prof Liebigs researches
proved that twentythree barrels of
beer contain as much real food as three
pounds of meat or five pounds of
bread. But the twcnty-three barrels
of beer, if bought over the counter at
five cents glass; would cost over one
hundred dollars Is not that high
price to pay for meat and bread?
What if your butcher should charge
you thirty-three dollars per pound
for beefsteak? Then comes the ad-
vocate of beer and triumphantly points
to the bloated, pulled bodies and faces
Of confirmed drunkards with the cry,
See how fat these men get on beer"
But it is not healthy fat. Beer fat
ness is of the nature of a disease, as
any honest physician will tell you
1t matters not what excuses men
nay give for drinking beer, the real
reason is that it produces feeling of
eXhilaration, like that felt in the first
stages of intoXication, when drank in
moderate quantity. Guzzled in large
amounts, it produces drunkenness,
just as certainly as whisky. The only
difference is, a man has to drink
greater bulk of beer to become intoxi-
lated Men drink beer for the alcohol
t contains, and for no other real rea-
son
Now the alcohol in my liquor, any
torm of rum, is the thing which causes
all the mischief. The man who drinks
;,,N .hx 80
beverage, but DOGS not get wholly in
soXicated, never going beyond the
point of intoxication, is killing himself
just as surely as the man who goes to
bed bowling drunk every night. He is
loing it more slowly, that is all. The
peril of alcohol is not alone in getting
trunk, The moderate, steady drink
ng keeps alcohol in the system all the
lime, and alcohol is poison. The
London Lancet, the medical journal of
highest authority in England, says:
There is an appalling amount of tipping
hat does not distinctly intoXicatc, but satur-
Ates the principal organs and destroys them
more quickly than would occasional de-
oauch.'
The use of beer a> a beverage keeps
up this saturati of the body with al
:ohol The Scientific American, a few
gears ago declared that beer is more
dangerous than whisky; that the use
If beer is found to produce a species of
degeneration of all the organs; fatty
deposits, diminished circulation, con-
iit:on of congestion and perversion of
functional activities and that local in
1ammation of both the liver and kid
leys is constantly present. 1t is also
rue that the beer drinker lays a heav-
er curse upon his unfortunate off
,prinp than does even the whisky
thinker. One of the largest and best
ife insurance companies of the United
States declares that the hereditary
evils of bcer-drinking exceed those pro
,ecding from the use of ardent spirits,
and directs inquiries to be made into
he history of applicants for insurance
with a view to taking no risks on the
ives of persons with this hereditary
.airt.
Hence. beer is not food, but a dilute
poison. 1t is worse than whisky, be-
cause intoXication does not follow UNI
ess large quantity is drank, and men
therefore fall into the habit of keeping
shem,cif saturated with it. \ correct
knowledge of its true nature is sadly
needed Let the masses understand
what it really is, and thousands who
now believe in beer drinking viii be
willing TO have its manufacture and
sale stopped by law, and thus aid the
movement to pulvcrizc the rum power.
Toledo Blade.