Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-05-06
BEER DISTRIBUTOR
TO GERMAN Army
UpholdS Beer--Dr. Max Stein Crit
icises American Custom of
Treating
BUT HE SAYS
Beverage As Used in Europe Helps
Morale of Troops While at the
Front.


Germany. This organization copes with
the tremendous task Of supplying the
entire German army with beer.
Director Stein. who is a Swiss citi-
zen. recently visited the United States
for q short stay and his shrew,l OBJ
seryations viii interest those who care
for constructive criticism and enlight-
ened advice,
Every day the Association for the
Distribution Of Beer in Germany, of
which I am the director. sends L.
500 600 liters OF beer TO our soldiers at
the front Every day railroads, motor
trucks. pack animals, steamships are
carrying great shipments OF beer to
our soldiers in Russia, in Germany and
IN the Balkans.
The average American cannot under
stsnd why the German Government
spends millions of dollars and uses
valuable transportation space in car
rying what you consider a luxury TO
the front. But that is just the point
We do not consider beer a luxury. we
consider it a necessity, and we believe
that the health of our troops would
suffer greatly if for any reason the
beer supply were cut of.
Before | came TO America | could not
understand this attitude OF the Amer
lean people To me it seemed uube-
lievable that America should send an
army into a waste country like Mexico
and subject them to the dangers Of
,,,iaopa1 ,,-ato, boIac and tvnbOid ,t-bo,,
you might so easily transport beer
But since coming to America l begin t.
understand. / have visited your drink
ing places, which are only frequented
by men. where men stand up at a bar
and one man treats the other in sue
cesison and where drinking is more OF
"A business than a pleasure, and where
one never sees a woman, or il there is
a woman. not of she better class
In Germany it is different. one goes
into German restaurant where the
whole German family sits at table.
onlers food and drinks beers. The
first thing in the morning the MuenicL
woman drinks her stein of beer. and
yet | know that German women do not
become slaves to the habit the way the
American women become slaves to the
cigarette and the cocktail.
You notice that the men who have
been foremost in the fighting around
Verdun are the Branlenburgers. the
Badeners and the r h in chambers
Those men come from the provinces
where more beer and wine are CON
1xra
~ in the world. You can draw your
own conclusions from this, rs to
whether the moderate drinking of beer
and wine destroys the wholesome
strength OF the people or breaks down
manly virility, as your fanatical pro
hibtionists says they do
Another thing not generally known
abroad is that the Austrian army was
unders trict prohibition during the
early part of the war. After the bat
ties in the Carpathians, the Austrian
army was reorganized, and one of the
first reforms was the introduction of
beer into the army. Now the Austrians
have organized a bureau, such as our
German bureau and the Austrian army
gets about the same amount of beer as
our own army.
Since the reorganization, you know
that the morale of the Austrians is 60
per cent. better than it was. ] do not
aean to imply by this that the i'm
provement is due TO beer, but beer evil
IDENTIFY played a part, and today the
Austrian military chiefs would no more
think of sending out an army corp
without beer than it would without
bread.
On the size of the Allies, | want to
call your attention TO the fact that it is
not the prohibition Russian army, nor
The English who have made the best
showing The backbone of the Allies
is the French army, who drink their
wine as we Germans drink our beer.
| am not attempting here to disparage
the temperance movement. Only you
in American and we on the Continent
have an entirely different view of what
constitutes temperance. do not con
slider that the German who takes his
beer with his meals nor the French
man who takes light wine in the same
way, is Incorporate.
| consider the Russian peasant, who
used to get drunk every day on vodka
but who, now that Russia has prohibi-
ton has substituted varnish for vodka
Incorporate But / suppose that your
American prohibitionists would class
all three nations as Incorporate, anti
the only truly temperate nation Tur-
key. which drinks neither wine nor
beer, nor hard liquors.
My own view of what constitutes
temperance agrees pretty much with
the French. If you will read the tract
sent by the French Medical Society to
the soldier at the front you will see
that while the men in the trenches
warned that nip of brandy is delus-
i've. and strong liquor of every kind
habitually taken leads without fail to
diseases of the stomach. liver and the
mimi. a distinction IL made in regard
10 fermented liqui>e. such as wine.
beer and cider. Fermented liquors. the
French soldier is told. may be safely
used in moderation. This is what we.
on the Continent, consider real tenn