TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
A superscript is denoted by ^x, for example Gen^l.
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
placed at the end of the paragraph or table where they occur.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
[Illustration: OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES BREWERS ASSOCIATION.
_HENRY H. RUETER, Pres’t., Boston, Mass._
_J. AHLES, Treas., New York._ _R. KATZENMAYER, Sec’y., New York._
_H. CLAUSEN, Jr., Vice Pres’t., New York._]
BEER,
ITS HISTORY AND ITS ECONOMIC VALUE
AS A
NATIONAL BEVERAGE.
BY
F. W. SALEM.
[Illustration: (Decorative image)]
HARTFORD, CONN.:
F. W. SALEM & COMPANY.
1880.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by
F. W. SALEM,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.
THE CLARK W. BRYAN COMPANY,
PRINTERS, ELECTROTYPERS AND BOOK-BINDERS,
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
DEDICATION.
TO THE BEER BREWERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA.
Thinking as I do, that in the Beer Brewers of the United States we must
recognize real, though perhaps unconscious, promoters of the great
and glorious cause of genuine temperance, and that greater practical
results may be attained through their instrumentality than in any other
way, it seems fitting that this attempt to expound the true nature and
value of beer should be specially dedicated to them as a body, and
accompanied with the assurance of the author’s profound respect and
esteem.
FREDERICK WILLIAM SALEM.
HARTFORD, CONN., January, 1880.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE— 9
CHAPTER I—Preliminary view of the subject, 11
CHAPTER II—Early History of Beer, 16
CHAPTER III—Early History of Beer, continued, 30
CHAPTER IV—Modern History of Beer, 47
CHAPTER V—How Beer is made, and what it is, 60
CHAPTER VI—The development of ale, porter and lager beer, 68
CHAPTER VII—The condition and prospects of the beer trade, 74
CHAPTER VIII—Comparative advantages of Beer over distilled or
spirituous liquors, 84
CHAPTER IX—Beer brewing a benefit to farmers, 101
CHAPTER X—Prohibitory laws and their effects, 108
CHAPTER XI—What authorities say, 128
CHAPTER XII—Conclusion, 151
APPENDIX A—Total production and consumption of Beer
in various countries and cities, 166
“ B—Analyses of Beers, 170
“ C—Illustrations and descriptions of Breweries, 177
“ D—List of Brewers, with product for the past
two years, also product by states, 185
ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. JACOB VAN ARTEVELDE, “Brewer of Ghent,” Patrician, Orator and
Ruler of the Province of Flanders. Killed July 17, 1345. Taken from
the original oil painting in possession of Jan Van Artevelde, in
Amsterdam.
2. MYNHER JACOBUS, Brewer and First Burgomaster of New Amsterdam
[the present New York], 1644.
3. WILLIAM PENN, the Quaker Brewer, and Founder of Pennsylvania,
1644-1718.
4. ISRAEL PUTNAM, the great American General, Brewer and Tavern
Keeper, at Brooklyn Conn., 1718-1790.
5. Sign of General Putnam’s Tavern in Brooklyn, Conn. (Original of
which is now in the Rooms of the Historical Society, at Hartford,
Conn.)
6. Portraits of the officers of the United States Brewers’
Association.
7. Portrait of Hon. Frederick Lauer of Reading, Pa.
8. Portrait of Hon. M. T. Bass, M. P., of Burton on Trent.
9. View of a Brewery of the old Egyptians, as described by Manathos
(3d century B. C.), High Priest in Heliopolis. (Said Brewery must
have stood at El Kahirch, the present Cairo.)
10. View of a Brewery connected with a convent in Bohemia, as
described by Thaddeus Hagecius, ab Hayek, 1585, in his book written
in Latin, under the title “De Cerevisia.”
11. William Penn’s House and Brewery in Pennsbury, Bucks County, Pa.
12. Brewery of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wis.
13. Brewery of the Hon. Frederick Lauer, Reading, Pa.
14. Brewery of the Hon. Gottfried Krueger, Newark, N. J.
PREFACE.
Our object in presenting the following pages to the public, is to call
attention to the value of pure beer as a preventive of intemperance.
Few persons are aware of the amount of patient investigation this
question has received at the hands of eminent social economists and
men of science, or of the mass of facts and testimony that has been
collected, and lies ready at the hand of any one who is able and
willing to work it over into a compact consecutive form, in which
it shall be easy of access, and available for use in the further
discussion of the subject. This we have attempted to do thoroughly
and fairly. Great caution has been used in making statements and no
inference has been drawn that could be considered in any way forced or
doubtful.
There are doubtless many persons to whom some of the facts and
conclusions here presented, may seem strange or even startling, and
to such it must be said that the authorities quoted are generally men
whose reputation for accuracy and sound judgment stands so high that
they cannot afford to make a mistake or a loose assertion.
The work has involved much labor and historical research, and the
author believes that the information contained in the following pages
cannot fail to be of value to those who are interested in any phase
of the beer question, whether as brewers, legislators or students
of sociology. The end proposed to be served is that of temperance,
and the method suggested is one that has been successfully tried in
other countries. From the total abstinence party we ask the candid
examination of our facts and arguments that is due to a fair statement
from all who claim respect for their own opinions, and are honest
friends of real temperance.
BEER,
ITS HISTORY AND ITS ECONOMIC VALUE
AS A
NATIONAL BEVERAGE.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY VIEW OF THE SUBJECT.
As extremes do and must perforce exist, the noblest philosophy of life
is _compromise_.
Temperance then is the truest medium between total abstinence and
excess, and in the same manner, beer occupies the medium position
between ardent spirits and water. This fact is of the greatest
importance, and until the public thoroughly understands the
differences, whether from a moral, social, economic, or sanitary point
of view, between distilled and fermented liquors, or in other words,
beer and whisky there can be no hope of proper legislation as to the
traffic in these articles. This legislation is now greatly influenced
by the public advocates of total abstinence, among whom, if their own
repeated claims be taken into account we might expect to find only
disinterested, high-minded philanthropists. But it is notorious that
their ranks are largely swelled by ignorant, ambitious or foolish men,
whose vanity or pecuniary interest determines their action, and whose
persistence and numerical strength will constitute an effective power
until legislative bodies and the people at large are more thoroughly
informed as to the actual experience of countries in which the problem
has been dispassionately studied and brought to a successful solution.
In too many of our states the liquor laws represent the triumph of
ignorance and prejudice over reason and the welfare of the community.
We hold that the solution of the temperance question is to be found
through fermented liquors, and “BEER AGAINST WHISKY” is our motto.
Before coming, as we shall do later in this book, to a detailed
examination of the facts in regard to the use of beer, it may be well
to declare briefly our position, and give some indication of the kind
of testimony that will be more fully displayed under a separate heading.
We hold that the production and sale of beer is so far from being
subversive of public morals, that experience in all countries where
beer is the national beverage, demonstrates precisely the opposite
of this position. We hold too, that the use of beer is not merely
indifferent, but, within the limits of temperance (_i. e._ moderation),
a good and rational means of developing the mental and bodily powers of
man.
We cannot join in the gratulations of those who now—as they say—so
enthusiastically enjoy the blessings of total abstinence. During the
last thirty years we have seen something of the operation of this
enthusiasm, not only in Great Britain, but in the native state of the
originator of the movement in this country, and we find it impossible
to assent to the famous proposition that a pledged abstainer is a
drunkard saved. We have been convinced that a pledged abstainer is too
often a man who drinks in secret and thus adds hypocrisy to his other
sins.
Notice this passage from evidence given before a state committee
appointed to inquire into the action of the restrictive laws. The Hon.
James H. Duncan of Haverhill, says:
“My observation and convictions are, that temperance has not been
promoted by the prohibitory law; that the temperance of our people is
not so good now as before the passage of the law; it has no efficacy in
checking intemperance and the evils that result from it; it has been
productive of more mischief than good, and I think it an unwise act.
It is impossible to make that a crime which is not made a crime by the
divine law, and the use of beer, wine and cider cannot by any effort be
made a crime _per se_, yet the prohibitory statute makes it a crime to
sell either, and worse, it is a crime for a carrier to carry them. No
wonder that such a law demoralizes the community, for a vast amount of
lying and fraud have been called into existence through its agency.”
The Rev. George Putnam, D.D., said; “I believe and know that the
prohibitory law produces demoralization, and disrespect for a law that
cannot be enforced. It demoralizes jurors and witnesses. It demoralizes
the buyers and sellers of liquors, inducing them to resort to all
manner of frauds, tricks and evasions to do that unlawfully which they
cannot do lawfully. It is injurious to the conscience of the people to
be always violating this law; and so far as liquor selling is concerned
the law has done no good.”
These extracts and many others to be given later, go to prove that it
is most unwise to interfere with the social habits of a people, that
it is dangerous for a state to do so, and that, as a matter of fact,
temperance is not promoted by a prohibitory law. Public testimony
that such laws are a blunder, or worse, has been given by such men
as John Quincy Adams, Professor Agassiz of Cambridge, Rev. Leonard
Bacon, D. D., of Connecticut, Professor Bigelow of Boston, Professor
Edward Clark of Boston, ex-Governor Clifford, the late Right Rev.
M. Eastburn, D. D., the late Governor Andrews, and Oliver Wendell
Holmes, all of Boston, ex-Governor Washburn of Massachusetts, Professor
Bowen of Cambridge, General Burrell of Roxbury, Hon. Joel Parker of
Cambridge, Judge Patch of Lowell, Hon. James H. Duncan of Haverhill,
Mass., Rev. George Putnam, D. D., of Mass., Dr. Garcelon, Governor
of Maine, Dr. Willard Parker of the Inebriate Asylum at Binghamton,
N. Y., A. Schwartz, Esq., the distinguished editor and publisher of
the _Americanischer Bierbrauer_, and many others, comprising eminent
statesmen, judges, and divines of all the states of the Union.
Our legislators should consider it their solemn duty to protect
and foster the manufacture and sale of pure beer, and should frame
such laws as will protect the people against imposition and secure
the manufacture of an article that shall not only be made from good
materials, but be thoroughly well brewed and wholesome, and sold at a
moderate price.
Such a course will prove a blessing to mankind, and we do not hesitate
to say, that notwithstanding what fools or fanatics may say, preach or
write, Americans, and particularly those of the Eastern States, who
are probably the most practical people on the face of the globe, will
before long adopt beer as their national beverage. In doing so they
will but follow the example of the most civilized countries of Europe;
and it will soon be recognized that every brewery and every beer saloon
helps to loosen the grasp which alcohol has on any country where
distilled liquors are habitually used. Thomas Jefferson, writing Dec.
13, 1818, to M. de Neuville in reference to intemperance and the use of
light wines as a substitute for spirits, says, “No nation is drunken
where wine is cheap.” Beer is yet less alcoholic than wine of any sort
and has advantages of its own which will be discussed in due place.
Experience shows that sound, wholesome beer at a moderate cost is the
best catholicon yet discovered for intemperance. It weans a people
gradually but surely from strong drink and brings happiness, content
and morality in the place of dissipation and suffering. But it must
be good, cheap and accessible, and the responsibility of making it so
rests with our lawgivers. The poorer classes are those who need it most
and cause most injury and loss to the state when for lack of it they
consume ardent spirits—and these cheap and adulterated.
In spite of all difficulties considerable progress has been made, as is
shown by a consumption last year of more than nine million (9,473,361)
barrels of beer, which is the best evidence of a step in the right
direction towards national temperance.