Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1924-08-16
Light Wines and Beer

inc sale Oh lISIlI wines ana peer
as method of solving our vex-
ed prohibition question.
The Asheville Citizen believes
the country is pretty we'll divid-
ed on the question of modifica-
ton of the Volstead act. To
throw more light on the subject,
The Citizen publishes an article
from the pen of DR.. E. c. Bran
son, which presents the obser-
vations of man who spent
more than a year in Europe
seeking facts.
The following excerpts from
DIR. Branson article should be
interesting to those who are on
the fence" as to beer and wines:
But outside of the country re-
gions of Denmark, France and
Germany, it is the whole family
that seats itself around res
taurant or cafe table to spend
the evening or the holiday eating,
drinking and having a social good
time in general. They rarely
ever drink without eating. hut
they eat and drink unbelievable
quantities before the evening is
over. 1t goes without saying
that registering parties, drunken
and rowdy, frequently make the
night hideous in the sn all hours
of the morning in beer-drinking
Germany,in wine-drinking France,
and in whisky-drinking Denmark,
And he would certainly be a stu
pid observer who could not see
that light wines and beers as
thoroughly alcoholic a people as
the prevalent strong drinks of the
British Isler and the Scandinav-
ian countries. NV deliberate
conclusion is that light drinks set
tie none of the problems of alec
hollsm. Norway, for instance, is
a country free or nearly free of
beers and wines, with prohibi-
ton laws against brandies and
WHISTLES beyond a stated small
amount monthly. In other words
the Norwegians have, or had
while we were in Denmark, exact
ly what some people advocte in
this country, namely, light beers
and wines. Nevertheless, the
bootlegging of strong drinks into
Norway threatened to throw the
whole kingdom into civil war in
the fall of 1923. My conclusion
was that lawlessness. in Norway
IS very like the lawlessness Of
the United States and that light
wines and beers solve none of the
drink problems of a country.
1t may be surprising to many
that Norway, with her law al
lowing a small quantity of
stronger drinks, is suffering the
evils of bootlegging so prevalent
in this country. In both Ger.
many and France, light wines
and beers are drunk to excess.
just as are the stronger alcoholic
drinks in other European coun-
tries.
Commenting further on DR..
Branson's article The Citizen
says:
In Denmark DR.. Branson found
a remarkable substitute for pro-
hibition9-the inhibitions imposed
upon intemperance by social
laws. The Dane who drinks to
excess is barred from the coop
erative credit unions and finds
himself unable to borrow from
the banks, no matter how good
the collateral he offers. Tenn
perance in drinking IS made in
dispensable for the man who
would economically p.osper; but,
in spite of tie strength of this
inhibition, whisky takes its toll
In the United States there is
no restraint upon drinking COM
parable to the Danish customs.
Here, moreover, the people have
all the appetite for hard liquors
that is found in Northern Eu-
rope. And here those who be-
lieve that beer and light wine
is consistent with real temper
ance are taking counsel from
hope and desire rather than from
the lessons of European expert
enee.
An authority on the question
of prohibition enforcement de
clares the trouble in this countr,
IS that we are now depending
solely on law enforcement anC
not giving sufficient thought t.
moulding public opinion.
Before national prohibition
great work was done in tn,
homes, churches and on the plat
form in the crusade agains
strong drink. With the passag,
of the constitutional amendment
we let up on this and State en-
forcement Jagged or brok,
down entirely.
While enforcement by Fed
eral officials has been decidedly
weak and inefficient, there still
remains the responsibility or
State, home and parents if we
are to beat bootlegging and the
hip-pocket flask.