Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1902-07-11

ing more sober opinions as time passes
and his experience ripens. There is now
strong party in the Prussian Diet
favorable to stricter regulation of
the use of alcoholic liquors. Not long
ago Count Douglas in the lower house
brought in resolution urging the gov
eminent to take action in this direction.
The other day Herr Won Levetzow
introduced a similar resolution in the
upper house. 1t was adopted, although
the minority, as might be supposed,
was numerous and influential.
From the scraps of the debate that we
have seen, it would appear that this
resolution was aimed especially ut the
drinking customs in the students corps
at the universities, where drinking in
excessive quantity is obligatory, like
duelling. The minister of the interior
was somewhat evasive in his reply, al
though the tone was conciliatory. He
admitted that it was a duty of the gov
eminent to prevent excess, but he
thought that little alcohol now and
then did no harm. He promised, how
ever, 70 give the matter consideration,
Count kospoth, who is connected with
an academy at Leignitz, where sons of
the nobility are educated, said that he
allowed the pupils of the two upper
classes to have a few glasses of beer
when they went on leave. In his opin-
ion, the evils of drinking, as practised
at the universities, were exaggerated by
the advocates of temperance. He spoke
of himself as an old corps student who
had long since recovered from any evil
consequences of the university drinking
bouts.
He was, however, in favor of the abo
lition of all rules compelling students tC
drink, and said that, at the annual Ger
man congress of the corps, he had pro-
posed their abolition. While he spoke OF
himself as having recovered from the
evil effects of the corps practices, 1t i;
we'll known to everybody that some
never do recover. The argument In be-
half of excessive drinking from the in
stance of person who has escaped the
worst effect of the habit Is necessarily {
weak one. 1t is so easy TO offset it by
the evidence of hospitals, asylums ant
jails, and even of experience, that i
serves chiefly as a testimony to tn,
extraordinary constitutional qualities
physical and moral, of the Individual
The saying Is an old one: "What Is on
mans meat is another mans poison.
AS whole, the speech seems not to have
been a strong one against restriction
He appeared TO be balancing between III,
public interests and the German preiu
dlces in favor of unlimited beer. In con
clusion. he called to mind that "the an
cient Germans, who drank quantities o
mead and beer, had beaten the mighties
and most victorious nation that the worlC
had ever SEEM" But Rome was not beat
en- until the vigor which created the EN-
miro N al fol1ap iptO 6aaau
Another speaker, Count Mirbach
hoped that the corps students of the uni
versities would ultimately accommodate
their drinking customs to the conditions
of modern life; but he nevertheless
thought it would be matter of grea
regret if English customs should com,
into vogue. lie saw men on the minis
terial benches who had been corps stu
dents. but who nevertheless, had LIVED
useful lives, and he expected the club
would continue supplying able men TO
the service of the state" That is anothe
form of begging the question. The rea
issue is not whether some men survive il
vigor and honor, but whether more wodl(
not, and the state not TO be on the whole
more puissant, If these traditional drink
ing practices which prove the ruin o
many brilliant young men were abol
ished
1t Is plain, however, that there Is
strong public sentiment, both in Franc,
} and Germany, in behalf of temperance
and of some drastic measure of proven
ton of the waste of fortune, health, lif
! and character which is despoiling tn
nation of part of its proper wealth o
ability.