BEER, AND TEE TEMPERANCE PROBLEM. 



261 



facture of any article, though the effect is the 

 same as if such had been added ; the magistrate 

 therefore punishes the accused, even though he 

 may have reason to think that there is some truth 

 in his statement. 



It becomes, then, not only desirable to pro- 

 duce a dextrinous and slightly alcoholic ale for 

 conversation purposes, but it is equally to be de- 

 sired that the brewer in the English process 

 should commence his fermentation at 13 3 C. to 

 14° C, and should avoid allowing the tempera- 

 ture during the process to rise above 20' C. to 

 21° 0. Such temperatures are already employed 

 by many English brewers, whose particular trade 

 may require that the beer shall keep sound for 

 weeks in the cellar of the middle or upper class 

 consumer, or be capable of exportation abroad. 

 Much of the beer consumed by the working- 

 classes is, however, not so carefully prepared, and 

 may, before they consume it, have been manipu- 

 lated by the greed of the publican. Though it is 

 desirable that Bavarian beer should be brewed in 

 England, steam-power being employed to pro- 

 duce the necessary low temperature, we need not 

 require that our brewers generally should follow 

 the process employed abroad. As a stimulant, 

 or with food, the carefully - prepared alcoholic 

 Burton ales, and those of similar character, are 

 unsurpassed. All we need require is, that the 

 same careful attention given to low temperature 

 in their production shall be given to the manufact- 

 ure of a more dextrinous and less alcoholic ale. 



Leaving the consideration of the manufacture, 

 it will be admitted by all, except the Alliance 

 party, that good beer and good spirits are less 

 injurious than bad products when consumed 

 largely; yet even these, when taken in excess, 

 not only waste the poor man's earnings, but also 

 produce injurious effects, moral and physical. 

 The question here naturally presents itself: To 

 what is excessive drinking due? I care not to 

 discuss the extreme views and dogmatic assertions 

 of the advocates of total abstinence, nor the rem- 

 edy proposed by them, since they are equally out- 

 side of all practical discussion and legislation ; 

 but inasmuch as we find that the German or the 

 Frenchman is able to take beer or wine in mod- 

 eration without becoming a drunkard, and as 

 every one's experience in our own country substan- 

 tially confirms this — even though there be sad 

 exceptions — we must seek for some explanation 

 other than that so confidently presented to us by 

 the earnest and well-meaning haters of moderation. 



The answer to our question may doubtless be 

 partly found in the statement often made by medi- 



cal authorities, that the strain produced by mo- 

 notonous labor and anxiety on the brain is such, 

 that stimulants are resorted to in order to ob- 

 tain momentary forgetfulness. This explanation, 

 though in some cases true, is yet greatly inade- 

 quate to account for the wide-spread and general 

 use and abuse of alcoholic stimulants. The 

 French or German workman is equally liable to 

 distress, equally the subject of monotonous me- 

 chanical toil. Again, difference of race and of 

 climate helps us but little to solve the problem 

 before us. These and other supposed causes — 

 especially bad air, bad water, and bad lodging — 

 have some basis of truth in them, but they are 

 vastly inadequate as a sufficient explanation. 

 We must seek elsewhere for the chief cause, and 

 this we shall find in comparing the respective 

 features of a public-house in a large town in Eng- 

 land, and a restaurant-cafe or Bierkeller or Bier- 

 garten abroad. In the former the guest must 

 generally stand at a bar — the exigencies of the 

 trade having gradually abolished the miserable 

 accommodation of a narrow bench, which former- 

 ly was conceded to the customer — and he has to 

 drink without being distracted by the games 

 which are played in a similar house of public en- 

 tertainment abroad. Of late years parlors have 

 been given up because they do not pay ; and thus 

 the working-men can no longer get the accommo- 

 dation of a fire to cook their food at, and utensils to 

 consume it. In short, an English public-house, es- 

 pecially of late years in large towns, is usually ar- 

 ranged solely for drinking-purposes, the bever- 

 ages being too often limited to bad beer and 

 worse spirits. Abroad, on the contrary, one 

 finds a pleasant room, with tables at which to sit, 

 furnished with newspapers, and games of cards 

 and dominoes and other amusements going on ; 

 and not only alcoholic beverages, but coffee and 

 other non-aleoholic drinks, with simple and inex- 

 pensive food of various kinds, are being served. 



Our excessive drinking is, I maintain, chiefly 

 due to the universal desire of conversation and 

 social intercourse, only obtained in England un- 

 der unfavorable conditions, and under influences 

 which lead to the consumption of bad spirits. 

 The rich man asks a friend whom he desires to 

 see either to meet him at home, or, if that be in- 

 convenient, at his club. For the working-man, 

 generally, it is impossible to meet his friend at 

 his home, consisting, as it but too often does, of 

 one or it may be two rooms ; and in the evening 

 it is especially inconvenient to his wife and chil- 

 dren. Often, indeed, the home is of such a kind 

 that he not onlv cannot ask a friend to call on 



