Beer, its history and its economic value as a national beverage — Story, Setting & Ideas

A Temperance Argument Rooted in Observation

The most vivid passage in the excerpts is Salem’s account of visiting German beer gardens in Chicago. He describes “a band of music, a dance floor, rude seats and tables like our New England picnics” and notes that “lager was the only beverage. No liquors, no drunkenness and no fights.” This scene becomes the empirical core of his argument: that beer, unlike distilled spirits, can be consumed in quantity without causing disorder. Salem contrasts this with his imagined outcome for “an American or Irish congregation” drinking whisky, which he predicts would result in “broken heads, bloody noses, and the wayside strewn with the wrecks of humanity.” The passage reveals how Salem uses ethnic stereotypes and personal observation to build a case for beer as a civilizing force.

The Chemistry of Moderation

Salem draws on chemical analysis to distinguish beer from spirits. He quotes A. Schwarz, editor of “Der Americanische Bierbrauer,” who argues that “among all drinks… lager beer especially commends itself by its properties.” The book includes an appendix of beer analyses, suggesting a reliance on scientific data to prove beer’s nutritional and mild intoxicating qualities. Salem also compares beer to tea, citing a physician who reports “tea sots” in an institution for the aged, exhibiting “increased mental irritability, muscular tremors and a greater or less degree of sleeplessness.” This parallel allows Salem to argue that even tea can be abused, while beer, properly consumed, is a wholesome alternative. The chemical lens is central to his strategy of reclassifying beer as a food rather than a drug.

Economic and Agricultural Justifications

Chapter IX, “Beer brewing a benefit to farmers,” indicates that Salem extends his argument beyond health to economics. The table of contents shows chapters on “The condition and prospects of the beer trade” and “Comparative advantages of Beer over distilled or spirituous liquors.” Salem likely argues that brewing supports agriculture by creating demand for barley and hops, and that a thriving beer industry reduces the market for hard liquor. The dedication to brewers and the inclusion of a list of brewers with production data (Appendix D) suggest the book also serves as a trade booster. Readers should watch how Salem weaves together moral reform and commercial interest, presenting temperance as compatible with—even dependent on—industrial growth.

Structure and Rhetorical Strategy

The book is organized into twelve chapters plus appendices, moving from ancient history to modern trade, then to comparative arguments and legal analysis. The early chapters (I–IV) cover beer’s history, while later chapters (VIII–XII) focus on temperance, prohibition, and expert testimony. This structure allows Salem to build a cumulative case: history shows beer’s ancient pedigree, chemistry proves its mildness, economics demonstrates its benefits, and authorities confirm its superiority. The appendices provide raw data—production figures, analyses, and brewery descriptions—that lend an air of objectivity. Readers should note how Salem uses footnotes and quotations from physicians and chemists to bolster his claims, even as his central argument remains a moral one about the dangers of distilled spirits.

Salem’s book is best approached as a period piece in the temperance literature, one that tries to carve out a middle ground between total abstinence and the hard-liquor trade. The excerpts show a writer who is earnest, observant, and willing to use anecdote alongside data. Readers interested in the history of American drinking culture, the rhetoric of temperance, or the economic arguments for beer will find this a rich, if partisan, source. The book’s dedication to brewers and its Chicago beer-garden scene are its most distinctive features.

That old beer book stayed with me—not for the arguments, but for how gently it trusted its reader to weigh history against habit. I found a similar quietness in Manual of References and Exercises in Economics for Use with Volume II. Modern Economic Problems — Edition Insights. It doesn’t push; it simply arranges ideas like windows left open, letting the morning air decide what’s worth remembering.