What We Drink
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WHAT WE DRINK.
Self-preservation, it is said, is the first law of Nature. However true this may be in the case of individuals, the adage does not hold good with regard to communities. We all know that filth breeds disease; yet the majority of our streets are continually covered with festering garbage. We all know that unballasted railroad tracks cause thousands of deaths every year, and that three fourths of the steamships that leave our ports are unprovided with adequate facilities for escape from danger by collision or fire—yet we do not insist on better precautions, nor cease to court the danger. We all admit that caucuses and primary elections are mere humbugs, employed to vitiate and curtail our right of suffrage; yet most of us implicitly adhere to the nominations thus made. We are all aware that dyspepsia is the physical curse of our nation, yet we continually provoke it by fast eating.
It is well known, also, that the liquors vended without inspection in our drinking saloons are of the most poisonous and deleterious nature; yet the constantly recurring invitation to "take a drink" is seldom declined. It is not, therefore, in the hope of amending the usual practice in this respect, but merely as a matter of curiosity, that we extract the following from the report of a police case which we find in the Cincinnati Times:
A Mr. Myers, who professed to be a judge of liquors, and a manufacturer thereof, testified that sugar, vinegar and whiskey, with a little flavoring, and logwood to produce a color, make passable port wine. Couldn't afford to put strychnine in it, as that article was too dear. Bourbon whiskey could be bought at 24 cents per gallon, on six months' credit; cognac brandy at the same price and terms: cherry bounce at 40 and 50 cents, and port wine at the same.
It was in evidence that the profits on liquors, such as are generally sold and drank in the city, were from one to two hundred per cent. The secret of manufacturing liquors was not so valuable now as formerly—it had become more generally known.
One witness, however, testified that he had offered one of the defendants $500 if he would tell him. It was thought that two men, on a capital of $300, would be able to make a profit of $200 per week.
Whiskey appeared to form the base of all liquors known as "domestic," with the addition of vinegar, sugar, a little essence or oil, etc. Dr. Gordon, a gentleman wighing about one hundred and thirty five pounds, calculated that he could carry under his arm enough ingredients from his drug store to manufacture five hundred barrels of brandy.
Let dram-drinkers and moderate drinkers read and reflect!