The Bee-Hive. — 1872-05-18 (London, England)

LOOKEIL ON.  A FREE DINNER TABLE, To the Editor of the Beu-llive. Sin,—The re-publication of the annexed extract from "The People's Blue Book," by by Charles Tennant, may .perhaps just now be well timed as a recommendation to the members of unions of agricultural labourers to agitate for a "Free Dinner Table" by the removal of all taxation from beer drank anywhere except in public homes. Beer taken with meals is wholsome and nourishing, and if ordinarily used in this way, tippling in public-houses would _seldom be resorted to, and drunkenness would become an exceptional vice. Beer his got such a bad name by its abuse that men are afraid to plead for its general use, but the distinction between beer drank with food, and tippling in an ale-house is so, clear that nothing but inveterate prejudice can confound them. Moreover cheap beer would be good heer , cheapness and competition would put an end to adulteration. Charles Tennant, in "The People's Blue Book," says : • "In 1745, the farm labourer bought hie barley at 28. 3d. per bushel, turned it into malt, paid no tax—(the cottagers were not then taxed)—and made excellent ale for his, own use at ad. per quart. Beer, best adapted to support outdoor labour, is now kept from the people, being made, by legislation, too dear for them. An infusion of a plant brought from China is made cheaper to the working man than an infusion of a plant grown by the cottage door. The home barley grower is injured for the benefit of the Chinese tea grower, and all our working men are injured morally and physically to an extent beyond human calculation. This is British Legislation. Tea is very good for quenching thirst, but, when exclusively used, requires a full diet, and, when that cannot be obtained, there is the desire for some potent stimulant. Hence the Chinese find the necessity for opium; and English, Scotch, and Irish labourers who drink tea and are too poor to bay sufficient food, resort to gin and whisky. The love of strong drinks is not natural to the English, but is created by the English law. William 111. and Queen Anne taxed malt, and made the beer too dear for the people, and encouraged the extraction of spirits from barley for the sake of revenue. Thus, the British Legislature created artificially the taste for strong drinks. "If good, wholesome beer were allowed to be brewed in the cottage, or to be bought at a price at which the labourer and his family could obtain it, this would supply food and diminish drunkenness. The rich man, with abundance of wine and spirits in his cellar, is seldom tipsy. He has no reason for drinking to excess. He can always have it, and learns from experience the value of moderation. The labouring man, in the like position, would act in the same way. It is the forced abstinence in the previous days of the week causes the abuse on Saturday. But beer, free from adulteration, can now scarcely be had, for money. The exhausted labourer drinks, and by drinking salt and worse ingredients, becomes more thirsty. He is doubly robbed— robbed in character because he drinks too much—robbed in pocket because he is cheated. He is then driven to gin, and dies a drunkard, or is hanged as a murderer. For all this the British Legislature is responsible."—Yours,