CHAPTER VIII
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COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF BEER OVER DISTILLED OR SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.
The peculiar advantages of beer as a wholesome and refreshing beverage, as compared with either ardent spirits or water have never been so clearly displayed as in the late war between France and Germany—and it may with truth be asserted, that it has triumphantly withstood the trial, and fully maintained its reputation.
The German military surgeons, in their official report to the Imperial medical board, bear witness to the superiority of beer over wine. They not only state that the refreshing quality of the carbonic acid gas contained in beer makes it especially grateful to men fatigued by a long march, or exhausted by a day’s fighting, but lay still greater stress on its usefulness in the hospital and ambulance, and say that when it could be obtained it was administered with great success as a cordial, both to the wounded, and to convalescent soldiers placed for the time under their care. They add the interesting fact, that throughout that campaign the wounded invariably evinced a great longing for beer and that when brought into hospital with shattered limbs or severe cuts or gun-shot wounds, their first request was usually for a glass of beer. The same was true after severe operations, and the drink was found to compose and fortify their unstrung nerves. The natural inclination to beer as a restorative was very conspicuous among the soldiers who were on exposed outpost duty during the cold weather at the time of the blockade and siege of Paris. The supply was scanty, and common soldiers did not hesitate to pay army followers a large price for a glass containing only a few mouthfuls of beer. The report of the Director General of the medical staff of the Imperial army is in the same tone, and concludes with a strong recommendation not only to supply the soldiers with rations of beer instead of spirits when employed on active duty, but also to introduce it as the usual beverage of the army in time of peace and when on home service.
Professor Moleschott, the distinguished physiologist, in his work on the chemistry of food, treats of beer and makes the following statements: “The weak alcoholic solution called beer contains nearly the same proportion of albumen as is found in fruits, some sugar and gum, and another constituent which is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, is soluble in water and is called the bitter principle of hops. * * * Fermented liquors, particularly lager beer taken in moderation, increase the secretion of the digestive juices and promote the solution of the food, and further, a good lager beer partakes of all the advantages of the alcoholic beverages and at the same time quenches thirst by the large amount of water it contains. Hence lager beer is
## particularly adapted to satisfy the frequent thirst caused by physical
exercise, and it is a laudable custom to refresh artisans who have to work hard, with a glass of this beverage. Its albumen, equal to that of fruit, even supplies a direct substitute for food.”
To this we may add that a laborer who has repeatedly experienced its invigorating property will by no means admit the truth of the assertion that a half-pound loaf of bread and a pint of water are more supporting than a pint of beer. A glass of good beer may often be better than food or physic. We do not always want food and we seldom need physic, but a glass of beer is often a useful refreshment when the stomach is not prepared for the one and the system has no need of the other. Excessive physical labor, long Endurance of hunger, or anything else which has a debilitating influence, affects the appetite for solid food and unfits the stomach for its reception. At such times beer has an excellent effect, both in affording some present refreshment and in preparing the system for more substantial food—and no such advantage can be found in the use of water, and nothing like an equivalent in that of ardent spirits. Richmond Sheen, an eminent authority, says: “That beer is nutritive and salubrious cannot be doubted. It proves a refreshing drink and an agreeable and valuable stimulus and support to those who have to undergo much bodily fatigue.”
In cases of mental depression too, a glass of beer has often the same good effect as food after physical exhaustion. On this point Professor T. K. Chambers of New York very justly says: “It is certain that the habitual use of some stimulant, particularly beer, bestows on a large class the nervous energy necessary to digest food enough to exist upon and get through other vital functions. By this stimulus they are enabled to be useful members of society instead of the mere drones they must become during the rest of their existence under a total abstinence regime.”
The records of disease and the bills of mortality in beer-drinking countries show longer lives and a less percentage of sickness than prevail where malt liquors are replaced by other beverages.[19] Not only is this true but the social condition of the people is better in countries where beer is recognized and encouraged by government, and a very striking illustration of this truth may be found through a comparison of the state of Maine and the kingdom of Bavaria. Bavaria is the most noted beer-drinking country on the globe and Maine is distinctively known as the prohibitory state. The forms of government are radically different and an American naturally holds that the republican is superior to the monarchical, _i. e._, tends to promote the greater happiness of the individual. Let us see what can be learned about the matter, and first as to the terms of the comparison.
[19] The Germans are the healthiest class of New Yorkers. Statistics show that the mortality among them is nearly 38 per cent. less than that of other citizens, while their increase by births is larger, and the same is found to be generally true of Germans all over this continent.
The advantages and disadvantages in the struggle for existence are about equal in amount though naturally different in character. In Bavaria, society is old, habits strong, the fetters of trade not easily broken, untilled land scarce and the population dense. In Maine there is abundance of new land, much timber yet unconsumed, no limits on a choice of occupation, a new society and a sparse population. The state has a climate that stimulates to industry and the men pride themselves on their strength and energy. In Bavaria few receive aid from the state or the municipality; while in Maine, the records in this respect are frightful. Maine has in addition all the advantages that can be obtained by means of the most stringent prohibitory law ever devised, a law that, according to its advocates, must tend to secure peace, prosperity and happiness. Which of these countries should have most paupers, men who are unable to find their own living and are supported at the cost of the state? As a matter of fact the number in Bavaria is very small while the record of Maine is bad not merely in comparison with the old monarchy but as set against that of the United States at large. The last census shows one pauper to every 171.65 of the population of Maine, while the pauper rate of the whole country was only one in 502.47.
Again, the condition of Bavaria is such as favors emigration to a large extent, yet her population, in spite of it, increased 4.5 per cent. during the last census decade while that of Maine decreased .02 _per cent._ during the same time, and _Maine was the only state in the Union where a decrease occurred_. We have seen that in the original comparison the _pros_ and _cons_ were pretty equally balanced. The difference is that Bavaria encourages the use of beer and Maine prohibits it. It must not, however, be supposed that the prohibitory law suppresses the sale of spirituous drinks. On this point abundant evidence will be shortly presented, and we need only say here that we know on the best authority that “no one need go without his whisky in Maine, though a glass of beer is not to be had for love or money.” The reason is obvious, beer is bulky and difficult of concealment while spirits can be easily hidden. In this connection notice that in the United States between 1860 and 1870 the production of beer rose from something more than a million barrels to over eight million and that during the same time the pauper rate decreased from one in 379.09 to one in 502.47, a striking and very significant fact which may well be commended to the attention of our legislators and others interested in the connection between the proverbial thrift of the German emigrant here and his indulgence in beer. The intellectual advance of the beer-drinking countries is so notorious as to need no special comment here.
At present a recapitulation of some characteristic national habits in the matter of drinking, things well known to every one who has given the subject attention, will serve both as a further illustration of the superiority of beer over other beverages and as a comment on what has been previously said of the modern history of beer-drinking in the more important civilized countries of the world.
The Scotchman drinks his “mountain dew,” a strong whisky containing over 54 per cent. of alcohol,—and Scotland has long been noted for intemperance. The Russian grows sullen and sluggish over his vadka or kwass, containing 52.68 _per cent._ of alcohol, and drunkenness and crime follow as natural results. The volatile Italians and Spaniards drink their mild wines as freely as their mothers’ milk and do not disgrace themselves or become a nuisance to others by beastly intoxication. Frenchmen were formerly to be placed in the same category but recent debates in the French Academy of medicine have developed the fact that in parts of France and in some Swiss cantons the powerful and seductive influence of brandy, absinthe and schnapps has diminished the consumption of wine and gone far to undermine the health and morals of the people. The excitable Irishman drinks eagerly and rapidly his strong whisky which contains more than 57 per cent. of pure alcohol and rouses all his combative qualities so that merry-making is almost sure to end in a fight, and trials of strength or skill which begin in good feeling end with broken heads and general tumult. The more sedate German drinks slowly, with much smoke and animated conversation, a beer which has only about four _per cent._ of alcohol. He imbibes great quantities and may become merry or dull according to the length of his potations, but he rarely if ever fights. The Englishman drinks much in a solid matter-of-fact way, but is learning to substitute beer for a great part of the stronger liquor he formerly consumed and becoming temperate in the same ratio. The American Republic, though chiefly British in its origin and therefore inheriting a taste for strong liquors, has become by immigration truly cosmopolitan, and is on the high road to temperance secured by a general use of fermented drinks. One great obstacle in the way is the wonderful variety of “fancy drinks,” whose names catch the ear as surely as their ingredients tickle the palate. They entice young and old, seduce by their novelty or piquancy and carry many thousands on the straight road to drunkenness and its accompanying moral and physical wreck. The practice of “treating” is also very common and very injurious. It leads to a hasty and immoderate consumption that has little or no regard to the requirements of the individual and has by some been considered the real foundation stone of a habit of intemperance. The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, in a recent address before the Business Men’s Society of Brooklyn, favored “moderation in drinking and total abstinence from treating.” He said he never drank beer until he was sixty years old, after which time he became fond of it, and evidently believed that its use is a means to temperance for the people. There are many who might say nearly the same thing. We are learning to appreciate malt drinks and the tendency is unmistakable, although it must be admitted that, on the whole, the disposition of the people is, as yet, more nearly like that of the Celt than the Teuton.
Mr. W. A. Lawrence of Waterville, N. Y., in a paper chiefly devoted to facts respecting the growth of hops, thus speaks of the general question—beer _versus_ whisky: “The fact is that the quality of beer, as a light and refreshing drink, has been wonderfully improved within the past few years. A bottle of beer to-day has but about half the strength of the beer of twenty years ago, and half the strength of ordinary wine and cider. The beer of to-day is just what the American people want—a cool, mildly refreshing, stimulating and palatable drink. Wine is too expensive for a common drink. Cider is too sour and strong. Whisky is not a drink at all but a drug, and you have to take water after it as you do after taking other drugs, and it ought to be kept in a drug-store for sale and nowhere else. But beer is not only agreeable and refreshing and cheap, but it is mild, and generally peaceful and good-humored in its effects. It is true a man can get drunk on it, but a man won’t. A hog may, but most beer-drinkers are not hogs, but hard-working men who know what they want and what fills the bill, and if they wanted to get drunk they would drink whisky and get a good deal bigger drunk at less expense and in half the time.
“The great majority of the beer-drinkers in America are these same hard-working men and women, who also drink beer with their food as we all do our tea and coffee. But in addition to these, who are mostly our German citizens, there are thousands of men, old Americans, who have learned to love beer, who will drink it as long as they live and will live the longer for drinking it. It is among the native Americans that the demand for beer and hops is increasing. The Germans always did drink for fifteen generations back, as much as they could hold, and in spite of all the theories of our anti-beer, total abstinence friends, the Germans in Germany and in this country seem to be still above ground; and so far as this country is concerned, as myself, an American citizen, and the son of American ancestry for five generations back, I wish to God we could trade off about two millions of native American whisky-drinkers now in the “solid South,” for two millions of hard-working Germans who would do their own work, and drink their own beer, and keep clear of fights and strikes and riots and greenback conventions, as they keep clear of them here in the North to-day.
“Now everybody knows that whisky is full of the devil and that beer is full of humor and good fellowship; and it can hardly fail to rejoice the heart of every good hop-grower to find that in raising hops for beer he is incidentally engaged in the great “temperance movement” of leading men away from bad whisky to good beer. I know this is not what the professional temperance lecturers say, but what do I care what they say? A temperance lecturer is generally a retired whisky drinker and can see snakes in everything, including beer. Or he is a clergyman and has acquired the habit of talking with no one to contradict him and hence is careless of his facts. Or he is a paid professional, and knows that if war is made on whisky alone, whisky would soon be driven to the drug-store and no more temperance lecturers needed or paid for. I do not hesitate to affirm that I know more about beer by experience and contact and study than the whole crowd of temperance lecturers put together. They ‘mean well’ to be sure; and so do I. The difference between us lies in the fact that they don’t know what they are talking about, and I do, because I am personally familiar with something like a thousand breweries in the United States and have peculiar advantages for information.
“And I am sick and tired of sitting in churches built by hops, whose clergymen’s salaries are paid by hops, whose congregations live by hops, and that is by beer at first or second hand, and there listening to wholesale denunciations of beer, and even to cold-blooded, cold-water propositions to pass a general United States law making it illegal to manufacture beer anywhere in the country. One hop-grower who paid out over two thousand dollars to the poor women and children of one village last fall for picking hops, got up and left a church where some of this anti-beer nonsense was being aired, but as a general thing a man can talk against beer in a hop church with as little restraint as a missionary to Greenland feels in preaching hell-fire to his shivering congregation. The brewer is far away, and the connection between hops and beer is kept carefully out of sight. But to a carnal mind like mine it does seem a mean trick for a hop-grower to send out a hop-dealer with a flag of truce to the brewers and sell him hops in a friendly way, and meanwhile the hop-grower is lying in ambush behind a stack of hop-poles, ready as soon as his hops are sold to blaze away at the brewer with a prohibition bullet or ballot. I believe there are very few hop-growers who are capable of such meanness as this, but I do believe there are a great many who do not realize the close connection between hops and beer, and to these I say respectfully, as I did two years ago in a prominent hop paper, ‘If you believe beer is a bad thing, plow up your hop-yards and put in corn and potatoes. It is true that somebody may turn the corn and potatoes into whisky, but that is not your fault. Corn and potatoes must be had for food. But there is no such excuse as this in the case of hops. The hops are raised on purpose for beer. Not one bale in a hundred is used for yeast or medicine. Therefore you are the “outside man” of the brewery, and if beer is a fraud you are a party to a fraud, and you are not an honest man. We believe that the making of beer is an honest and praiseworthy occupation, no better and no worse than any other branch of manufacturing goods that are wanted either for use or pleasure.’
“When I say we, I mean the men who believe in a radical distinction between fermented liquors and distilled. Such men as Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby, and Dr. William A. Hammond, formerly medical director of the United States army, and Dr. Willard Parker, the leading practicing physician of New York, and a most earnest Christian man. Dr. Parker says in the _Christian Union_: ‘Fermented liquor is the work of God; distilled liquor is the work of man or the devil or both.’ ‘It is the still that does the harm. It is the still that takes the alcohol out of its proper place in a liquid where it is not ordinarily found in a larger proportion than six or seven per cent., and where it rarely intoxicates, and never if taken in moderate quantities, and concentrates it in a substance that is a deadly poison. Take away the still and we should have peace and plenty on earth. We could then leave the vinous liquors alone. I would compromise with all my heart on that ground, and I would go to work and preach just as old Solomon did: Don’t use too much.’ If with such men as Crosby and Hammond and Parker you believe beer should be distinguished from whisky, then go and raise your hops; pick them clean and get clean money. Take your glass of beer like an honest man when you feel it will do you good. Let it alone like an honest man when you think it will do you harm, just as you would a cup of coffee when you were bilious. Sign no pledges, nor encourage your children to sign them, except those against distilled liquors. Encourage no temperance movement that does not move in the right direction—against whisky and in favor of beer as a temperance drink; a drink that is killing out whisky faster than whisky killed Ireland, a drink that will build up the American constitution as it has built up the German.”
We append tables showing the percentage of alcohol in a great variety of wines, spirits, malt and fermented liquors, according to analyses made by Brande, Gerhardt, Liebig, Prof. A. B. Prescott, Dr. Andrew Ure, William Ripley Nichols, professor at the Technological Institute of Massachusetts, and other chemists of well known reputation.
PORTUGUESE WINES. Port contains 14.27 to 25.83 per cent. of alcohol. Bucella “ 18.49 “ “ “ “
SPANISH WINES. Sherry contains 13.98 to 23.86 per cent. of alcohol. Malaga “ 17.26 to 18.94 “ “ “ “
MADEIRA AND CANARY ISLANDS. Madeira contains 14.9 to 24.42 per cent. of alcohol. Malmsey “ 12.86 to 16.40 “ “ “ “
FRENCH WINES. Claret contains 12.91 to 17.11 per cent. of alcohol. Claret Chateau Latour “ 7.78 “ “ “ “ Claret Vin Ordinaire “ 8.99 “ “ “ “ Champagne “ 11.30 to 13.80 “ “ “ “ Burgundy “ 12.10 to 16.00 “ “ “ “ Hermitage “ 12.32 to 17.43 “ “ “ “ Sauterne “ 14.22 “ “ “ “ Frontignac “ 12.79 “ “ “ “
ITALIAN WINES. Marsala contains 18.20 to 20.03 per cent. of alcohol. Lacryma Christi “ 19.70 “ “ “ “ Falernian “ 18.99 “ “ “ “
CAPE WINES. Cape Madeira contains 18.11 to 22.94 per cent. of alcohol. Constantia “ 14.50 to 19.75 “ “ “ “ Muscat “ 18.25 “ “ “ “
PERSIAN WINE. Sheraaz contains 12.95 to 19.80 per cent. of alcohol.
BRITISH WINES, CIDER, ETC. Grape contains 18.11 per cent. of alcohol. Raisin “ 23.30 to 26.40 “ “ “ “ Currant “ 20.55 “ “ “ “ Gooseberry “ 11.84 “ “ “ “ Orange “ 11.26 “ “ “ “ Elder “ 8.79 “ “ “ “ Mead “ 7.32 “ “ “ “ Cider “ 5.21 to 9.87 “ “ “ “ Perry “ 7.26 “ “ “ “
HUNGARIAN WINES. Tokay contains 9.88 per cent. of alcohol. Red Wine “ 13.20 to 19.04 “ “ “ “ White Wine “ 12.10 to 12.16 “ “ “ “
GERMAN WINES. Hochheimer contains 8.88 to 14.37 per cent. of alcohol. Johannisberger “ 8.71 “ “ “ “ Rüdesheimer “ 6.90 to 12.22 “ “ “ “ Rhenish Wine “ 7.00 to 7.58 “ “ “ “
OHIO WINES. According to analyses received from Messrs. Parisette Bro’s, N. Y., and made five times within six months, contain 6.11 to 11.30 per cent. of alcohol.
CALIFORNIA WINES. White and Red, dry, contains 8.40 to 12.90 per cent. of alcohol. Sweet Wines “ 6.20 to 13.80 “ “ “ “
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. Irish Whisky contains 53.90 per cent. of alcohol. Scotch Whisky “ 54.52 “ “ “ “ Holland Gin “ 53.80 “ “ “ “ French Brandy “ 53.40 “ “ “ “ St. Croix Rum “ 53.68 “ “ “ “ Batavian Arrack “ 53.70 “ “ “ “ Russian Vadka or Kwass “ 52.68 “ “ “ “ Ordinary American Whisky contains 52.60 “ “ “ “ Bourbon Whisky contains 51.00 “ “ “ “ Whisky with much foreign matter contains 44.50 “ “ “ “
ENGLISH MALT LIQUORS. Ale—Burton contains 8.88 per cent. of alcohol. “ Edinburgh “ 6.22 “ “ “ “ “ London “ 6.20 “ “ “ “ Brown Stout “ 6.80 “ “ “ “ London Porter “ 4.80 “ “ “ “ London Small Beer “ 2.56 “ “ “ “ Edinburgh Beer “ 5.36 to 7.35 “ “ “ “
GERMAN BEER. Bavarian Augustiner contains 3.40 to 6.80 per cent. of alcohol. Salvator “ 4.02 to 4.20 “ “ “ “ Vienna “ 4.20 to 5.60 “ “ “ “ Berlin Tivoli “ 4.60 “ “ “ “ Berlin Tivoli Export “ 5.40 “ “ “ “ Copenhagen “ 5.04 “ “ “ “
AMERICAN MALT LIQUORS AND CIDER. New York Porter contains 6.20 to 8.40 per cent. of alcohol. New York Ale “ 5.40 to 6.90 “ “ “ “ Albany Ale “ 5.40 to 6.20 “ “ “ “ Lager Beer “ 3.06 to 6.50 “ “ “ “ American Cider “ 5.80 to 11.60 “ “ “ “
Two analyses of beer brewed in the celebrated Brauerei Koenigstadt, of Berlin, were found to give the following results:
Alcohol 4.501 per cent. by weight. Saccharine 1.893 “ “ “ “ Dextrine 0.861 “ “ “ “ Albuminoids 0.630 “ “ “ “ Hop-bitter, extractive and saline matter 2.296 “ “ “ “ Acid 0.005 “ “ “ “ Unfermented extract 5.680 per cent.
The second analysis was of dark colored beer, and was as follows:
Alcohol 4.250 per cent. by weight. Saccharine 1.950 “ “ “ “ Dextrine 1.053 “ “ “ “ Albuminoids 0.621 “ “ “ “ Hop-bitter, extractive and saline matter 3.386 “ “ “ “ Acids 0.005 “ “ “ “ Unfermented extract 7.010 per cent.
Good lager beer properly brewed and fermented, and stored for some time, should contain in one hundred parts, 90 water, 5.6 malt extract, 3.50 alcohol, and the remainder carbonic acid.
The following analyses show more particularly the percentage of extract and of alcohol contained in the best known varieties of lager beer of this country:
EXTRACT. ALCOHOL. New York, 3.6 per cent. 4.8 per cent. “ “ 3.7 “ “ 4.4 “ “ “ “ 4.2 “ “ 5.3 “ “ Staten Island, 3.2 “ “ 5.9 “ “ Milwaukee, 4.3 “ “ 5.6 “ “ Newark, 4.2 “ “ 5.6 “ “ Philadelphia, 4.2 “ “ 6.0 “ “ Chicago, 3.9 “ “ 5.2 “ “ Cincinnati, 3.4 “ “ 5.5 “ “ Boston, 3.6 “ “ 5.6 to 6.0 “ “ Hartford, 3.6 “ “ 4.9 “ “
A similar table made after results obtained by C. F. Chandler and embracing several kinds of ales and lager beers reads as follows:
----------------------+-----------------+--------------------- | |CONTENTS PER IMPERIAL | PERCENTAGE. | PINT. +--------+--------+---------+----------- | | |OUNCES OF|OUNCES OF |ALCOHOL.|EXTRACT.| ALCOHOL.|EXTRACT. ----------------------+--------+--------+---------+----------- Allsop’s Burton Ale | 8.25 | 13.32 | 2.16 | 2.77 Bass’s Ale | 8.41 | 11.75 | 2.18 | 2.42 Edinburgh Ale | 4.41 | 3.58 | 1.12 | .72 Guinness Stout | 6.81 | 6.17 | 1.74 | 1.25 Munich Lager Beer | 4.70 | 6.10 | 1.19 | 1.22 Munich Schenck Beer | 3.90 | 5.07 | 1.00 | 1.16 Munich Bock Beer | 4.60 | 9.02 | 1.17 | 1.90 New York Lager Beer | 5.86 | 4.32 | 1.48 | .88 ----------------------+--------+--------+---------+-----------
In this table the term extract includes all the substances left when the alcohol and water are removed by evaporation.
In view of the figures above given and of the fact that the lighter beers form the bulk of the malt liquor consumed in the country, we are safe in assuming an average alcoholic strength of not more than 5½ per cent. for the total product. This product we have already seen to be 9,473,361 barrels, which, on the basis just assumed, yields 521,034 barrels or 16,673,088 gallons of alcohol. Now according to statistics from the department at Washington the consumption of native spirits was in 1878 over 70,000,000 gallons containing about 37,000,000 gallons of alcohol. The cost of the native and foreign ardent spirits, wines and liquors used in one year reaches $500,000,000, and it is among the drinkers of spirits that we find most of the pauperism and crime of the country. Those who drink beer use something that as far as alcohol is concerned is more expensive than distilled liquors and yet spend less than $120,000,000, as against the $500,000,000 above mentioned. It should be noticed that while rum, gin, brandy, whisky, etc., contain over 50 per cent. of alcohol, ales never reach nine per cent., and lager beer seldom reaches six per cent. and is often below four.
An examination of these tables taken in connection with the other facts mentioned should be sufficient to give a general idea of the nature and extent of the claims to be made in favor of beer as a common beverage. Others will come to light in the course of our discussion, and particularly in the chapter entitled, “What Authorities Say,” in which are embodied the conclusions of some of the most noted scientific investigators of our time.
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