THE DRINK QUESTION IN GERMANY

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 162, 7 June 1909, Page 2

THE DRINK QUESTION IN GERMANY

It is true that, while the Germans are a great beer-drinking people, they are at the same time a sober people. It is no uncommon thing for the Bavarian workman to spend a dollar a weekon beer, and a weekly expenditure of 75 cents is common in any part of the beer-drinking zone.

That, in spjte of this, there is so little visible drunkeness, is attributed to several causes, as ,for instance, the habit of drinking a little a at time, though frequently, as distinguished from continuous drinking, the absence of treating; the habit of drinking in public view; but, above all, the small alcholic strength of the beer, which, as a rule, is about two per cent in Germany, as against five per cent in England.

Ten or a dozen years ago a teetotaller was rare in Germany; today he is to be met with everywhere, and it is no longer rare to see temperance drinks served in licesed houses to working men. It is significant that there has been between 1899 and 1905, a reduction in the per head consumption of beer of from 27 and a fraction to 26 gallons. In Munich it has fallen during the last 20 years from 109£ to 63 gallons. The temperance movement in Germany has sprung emphatically from below. The working men have taken it up as a purely class and economic question, and have been encouraged by their party press.