The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-26
BEER. A

BEER: A RHAPSODY.
De Quincy has said that tea is the bev-
erage of the intellectual. The master
rhapsodist OF our language drank tea.
literally by the gallon. with opium as a
Chaser" After he had forsworn stronger
liquors Hazlitt became enamored OF the
cup that cheers but intoxicates not. In
what category then Ia beer2 For the
German II Is a thirst q%uencher, not an
Intoxicating medium, As 10 well known.
the percentage Of alcohol used In the
German brew 10 small when compared
with that OF other countries. though beer
exported from Bohemia or the Father
land must Of necessity contain a higher
percentage. The point Ia that beer when
properly prepared and ripened Is not 30
powerful or 30 insidious In its attack upon
the corioal cells a. whiskey. Above oil
1t is greater Indictment to ~socisbiity. Not
that there Ia less tea drinking nowadays.
De Quincy II he revisited his native land
would find that others besides intellectual
folk daily absorbed his favorte drink;
and II he had gone 10 Germany before he
wrote the above p~ronunoiamento he might
have discovered that philosophers, poets.
mathematician and the common folk
drank beer very much as they ate bread.
Goethe-for whom the opium eateh>pro-
fessed contempt-the imperial minded
Goethe Of Weimar has confessed to en-
joying an occasional draught Of the juice
Of the hop. though he was by habit q
mighty consumer OF wine. Beer 10 the
most democratic Of drinks. 1t is your
great leveller OF distinctions. Prince and
peasant, poet and politician, ell drink beer
when they boast the price.
There IL beer and beer. The insipid
and poisonous stuff that too often passes
under the name here and elsewhere is the
product OF black magic; neither hops nor
pure water enters into it's chemical COM
position. No wonder the brew from Bo-
hernia has won great victories through
out our parched and prohibition haunted
land. In Bohemia the water is Of a beauti-
full purity and fla This element,
combined with genuine hops and allowed
to lie, to ripen, to become lager bier, in
q word, produces the most soothing Of
drinks. soothing and beneficial too. No
dark brown taste comes with the morn
! ing after the consumption Of this amber
magic. OF whiskey it might be said. What
crimes are committed In thy name3 But
| who ever hears Of murders brought about
by beer drinking? At German pionics
10 there ever quarrelling-that is. by the
nativesS Beer Is conducive to good
temper; it may under favorable oiroum-
stances lead to philosophical speculation.
Nietzache condemned beer and tobacco
as the chief vices Of Germany: he even
insinuated that Kant, Hegel, Fichte and
Schelling, the transcendental school,
owed TO beer much Of their obscurity.
Nietzsche suffered from a weak stomach.
II Germany were not a beer drinking
nation the peace Of Europe would he
endangered, for the Teuton is not phlee-
matte by temperament, as is commonly
believed. He is tanned by beer; beer softens
his Juror %teutonicus. Therefore hesr ought
to be espoused by the peace societies.
above all commended by thoye Jealous
citizens throughout the land who are
40 amazingly solicitous as to what their
fellows pour down their outlets.
That beer Ii OF vast antiquity every
body knows. In Egypt long before the
advent Of the children Of Israel beer was
q common beverage. and while that
rare gossip Petronius Arbiter does not
mention it, We doubt not but he drank
the bitter barley brew from the country
Of the northern barbarians. surveying
with disnay through his emerald mono
ole-he set the fashion In this for Nero
tho dwindling mugs OF his day. 'Fheu
fupdees,' we hear him exclaim; Rome
becomes more and more provincial! Less
substance and more foami- The man who
writes the history OF beer writes the his
tory OF civilization. The breweries fol-
lowed the Crusades.
In his address delivered before a recent
meeting Of the Brewers Association at
Atlantic City, President Liebmann al
luded feelingly to the depreciation by
his adversaries Of the n real drink
that makes for temperance. He did not
speak we'll Of whiskey; but that was
natural; 1t was not expected at q beer
congress. The point he made was
logical: there always will be drinking.
Humanity may be led to the water trough
by l~egislation. but though forced there
will not drink. Therefore let good pure
beer be brewed: let hops and malt enter
upon the scene and bid begone the chemi-
cal substitutes.
During the roar and surge Of the SYM
phonious gathering at the Madison Square
Garden recently, how many voices lifted
skyward were animated by the thirst that
passeth all understanding, the immortal
bierdArst chanted by the poets! Beer is
the great dissolvent Of hostility, Of still
meas in social intercourse, of planetary
~jealousies. II all the world drank beer
var would cease. destroyers and Dread
thoughts would be converted into scrap
iron, not for ploughshares but for brew
cry utensils. Our brethren who abhor
the brew that cools, though il should
not intoxicate, might with profit to their
livers and to foster Authoritarian sympa-
thies follow the notable example Of the
German singers. FrosW' H.
rs SHAKESPEARE DEADr