The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-07-02
a LESSON FROM eAvARIA.
Dreadful Work pure. wholesome" Beer
Is Doing in That Country.

- t<NOAitAA u vi AAii1 ~ III a INttNi "
the Christian Register, and which is
printed in the Journal of Hygiene,
treats of the beer question in q way
which should open the eyes of those
who are advocating the use of beer as
u wholesome beverage and an aid to
temperance. Mr.. Corning writes from
Bavaria, where all beer is subject TO
strict government inspection, and if
authorizations are found in it the police
authorities empty it into the public
sewers, the brewer bearing all losses
and paying all costs; so that if there
is such a thing as pure beer it is the
Bavarian beer, and if there is a beer
drinking class it is the Bavarians, as
beer constitutes a large fraction of the
nutriment of the people, especially of
the peasantry. Yet this beer contains
minimum of alcohol.
But that minimum, says Mr.. Corning,
is enough to kindle in the great ma
jority of organisms a thirst which is
sure to lead to immoderate indulgence.
The overwhelming majority of beer
drinkers in Bavaria, where beer is the
purest and most innocuous, are intern
perate in the use of it. Do l mean that
every one of this mighty constituency
of Gambrinus gets drunk? No, not
that; but the great majority go beyond
the bounds of utility, and, in the enjoy
ment of their beloved and so-called
innocent" beverage, get physical and
mental damage of various kinds and
degrees. Bavarian pathology shows Il
frightful procession of fatal maladies
which are distinctly traceable to eX-
cessive beer drinking. Aphysician told
me not long ago that he had assisted in
a large number of autopsies, and had
observed an astonishing proportion Of
fatty hearts. This in a great Munich
hospital, remember, in an environment
where the tall brewery chimncys out
number the church spires ten to one,
and where they boast, and truthfully
boast, of brewing the purest beer in the
world.
l sat in the Court brewery not long
since, drinking a mug of what is called
the best beer on earth. The mug holds
d quart, and the drinking of its con
tents should occupy an hour. SO there
was ample time to be sociable. ] said
to my neighbor: Friend, this quart is
all l can well get away with you
surprise me-" he replied. 81 drank 10
yesterday myself, and l am moderate
drinker." Twenty and even 80 quarts
a day is not an uncommon limit in this
portion of the globe. Is it to be Won
dered at that adipose, with its host of
hidden perils, is common disease? A
more melancholy spectacle than one
encounters in swimming bath here
abouts is rarely to be seen. In an occa-
sional vision of the menagerie there on
exhibition l have asked myself if Ger
many is in danger of Russian or French
invasion more than she is of the mighty
army of adipose.
There is form of physical indisposi-
ton not uncommon in the lists of Ba-
varian mortality which goes under the
name of Schlag. Perhaps | should use
word slightly more emphatic than
"indisposition," for this special phase of
it generally kills. 1t is nothing more
than the springing aleak on one or more
blood vessels in the brain, known among
us at home, 1 believe, as apopleXy. This
is a common form of disease among
immoderate beer drinkers, and most
beer drinkers are immoderate Once
in awhile, in fact very often, | read in
the German papers that, in the in
scrutable decree of God, Mr.. So-and So
SnIIanlyr ,linA Of Col
they would only confess themselves
pagogs and write ''Gambrinus," the di-
vinity of beer, instead of the other name,
1 Will write amen" under these obit-
uary notices. | have often heard in my
American home the wish expressed that
the drinks i'll Germany might, on the
western continent, get the upper hand
to the degree of crowding out the dread
full curse of Drunkenness wish GER
tainly to be commended in the motive
of it, but somewhat 1t fault as to the his
torical fact.
OF drunkenness of the American type
that is, the congregation of devils,
brandy, whisky, and other distilled
Iiquors-there certainly is not q great
deal in Germany. But this is not to
say that the beer drink does not pre-
vail to an alarming extent, or that it is
not d form of physical and mental in
sanity sad and shameful to contemplate.
The beer drink IS the great curse of
the laboring class in Bavaria, and, I
conjecture, likewise, in Germany gem
orally. 1t has been my wont for several
years to be awakened out of sleep in
the small hours of Sunday and Monday
mornings by the insane howlings and
wild songs of midnight jewellers from
beer cellars and gardens, where multi
tudes of them leave all or nearly all the
earnings of the week, which shouldhave
gone to the support of their wives and
children. This is 4 very sad condition
of things to contemplate in a civilized
and Christian community, especially
when one hears not the faintest sugges-
ton from any quarter Of an at tempt at
reform. 1t is mistake to suppose that
beer will not rob a man OF woman of
the use of reason, for have seen it do it
many times.
TEMPERANCE TIDlNGS. v.
Total abstinence clears the head and