Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-08
DRINKING IN OLD MEXICO.
The Huge Tropical Thirst That seems
to Possess the Capital City.


| City OF Mexico Correspondence Boston Herald.
The native papers have been busly dis
cussing the question OF the popular drinking
| shop. the classic "pulauerias," where the
| poor mans drink Is sold in more or less
adulterated condition, for here the Juice of the
mapuey plant or pulQue rarely reaches the
| consumer In its proper state. Into the great
| barrels Is poured the pulque fresh from the
| far-famed plains Of Apam, coming mere IN
| trainloads in the early morning before the
sun Is up To EXTEND" the pulque many
! combinations are employed, such as starch
| and water, ground up pumpkin shells, ana
| sometimes cheap native spirit, with water
| poured in. But the latter is too expensive
| for general use.
| PuIuue is when pure, a tonic and food;
| 1t realizes Prof. Atwater's idea OF alcohoi
as an alimentary substance 1t makes blood
| fast, repairs the waste OF the system IN
Woodworking man rapidly, and is to the
masses here on the tableland both food and
drink With tortillas, or thin corn cakes
| and beans, 1t makes up the STAN or me- the
daily ration of hundreds of thousands OF
| poor people. In the spring of the year the
seeker for a genuine tonic will find nothing
better adapted to this climate OF thln air
and hot sunshine than sound pulque.
But the doctors and the police are united
| in denouncing the abuse OF pulque and the
authorizations employed, and movement
has been started to stop the popular use
the clubs Of the lowest social class. IT is
argued that If the pulque were sold, mot
| to be drunk on the premises -most familiar
words-we should have far less crime. And
| this Is undoubtedly true An average OF
| four hundred homicides In this city every
year is fairly chargeable to the quarrels
| growing out of the abuse OF pulque. This
| is whole temperance argument IN rev.
about 100000 people pulqueria to every
| $50 inhabitants. Drink is the curse of this
| tropical city.
Above the grade of the pulquerias, fire.
uuently SO attractive in their naif gaudiness,
| are the cantinas or bar rooms. These abound
| like pernicious microbes; every grocery
| nowadays Is incomplete without its cantina
| shut off usually by glazed or thin WOOD par
| titions, and with more or less successful
| imitation of an American bar" for so has
| our civilization given this doubtful boon
| to Mexico. Grocery lads, mostly young
| Spaniards, tend the bars and sell frankly
artificial wines and fraudulent brandy, and
| mix the most incredibly bad cocteles. Oo
you recognize the familiar "cocktail?') With
| the multiplication of these cantinas in the
| American STYLE" often boldly displaying
| the sign Bar room, American drinks has
| come scourge of alcoholism in this city
| such as was never known before.
Every day the police pick up the victims
| of alcoholic excess, half dead and prone in
| the public ways in the lower quarters Of
| this city, and take them to the police sta
| ton. Dead from alcoholic congestion"
| is one of the most common records in the
police stations among the lists OF fatalities.
The poor and ill-fed drink to gain sensa-
| ton of transient comfort; they are empty
Stomached and crave warmth, the false SEN
sation of being fed. Mere lads sent on err
rands, shop boys out collecting bills, go to
the bar rooms for .'copta" or dram
So menacing is this wave of alcoholism,
so dreadful it's results, that the authorities
are giving much thought to the matter; 1t
is the veriest curse Of modern times. doubt
If 10 per cent of the ardent liquors con-
| <Iary 1aa
They seem to burn the life, the nerve force,
out of men.
L do not believe that the soldering eff
fects of pulque taken in great quantities. as
is common among the lower classes, Is as
bad for the community as the everlasting
tippIing among the upper grades of society.
True, you don't see much drunkenness in
the middle class, but there are tens of thou
sands of people who are diseased through
the abuse of alcohol. 1t is the encourager
Of Righteousness and the promoter of crime
This the police records show.
The government is talking of posting
temperance charts everywhere, with pic
torial representations of the drunkard's
progress. quite In the old-fashioned style of
temperance propaganda in the United
States, and with accompanying text show
ing from scientific point of view the harm
done by intemperance.
1t Is quite true here that If you throw a
stone anywhere you will hit some sort of a
drinking place. The town has huge In
satiable tropical thirst 1t Is the evil that
cries aloud for reform. The street railway
company, in selecting its motormen, found
rather to take only country-bred young
men who are strong-bodied and free from
alcoholism. I am not exaggerating the
state of things; the Mexican papers have
been talking very plainly about the general
curse. and are working in the interest of
temperance reform. They show that the de-
generation of the population Is due to aico-
hol In It's many forms; that It u the chief