To this we may add that a laborer who has repeatedly experienced its invigorating property will by no means admit the truth of the assertion that a half-pound loaf of bread and a pint of water are more supporting than a pint of beer. A glass of good beer may often be better than food or physic. We do not always want food and we seldom need physic, but a glass of beer is often a useful refreshment when the stomach is not prepared for the one and the system has no need of the other. Excessive physical labor, long Endurance of hunger, or anything else which has a debilitating influence, affects the appetite for solid food and unfits the stomach for its reception. At such times beer has an excellent effect, both in affording some present refreshment and in preparing the system for more substantial food—and no such advantage can be found in the use of water, and nothing like an equivalent in that of ardent spirits. Richmond Sheen, an eminent authority, says: “That beer is nutritive and salubrious cannot be doubted. It proves a refreshing drink and an agreeable and valuable stimulus and support to those who have to undergo much bodily fatigue.” In cases of mental depression too, a glass of beer has often the same good effect as food after physical exhaustion. On this point Professor T. K. Chambers of New York very justly says: “It is certain that the habitual use of some stimulant, particularly beer, bestows on a large class the nervous energy necessary to digest food enough to exist upon and get through other vital functions. By this stimulus they are enabled to be useful members of society instead of the mere drones they must become during the rest of their existence under a total abstinence regime.” The records of disease and the bills of mortality in beer-drinking countries show longer lives and a less percentage of sickness than prevail where malt liquors are replaced by other beverages.[19] Not only is this true but the social condition of the people is better in countries where beer is recognized and encouraged by government, and a very striking illustration of this truth may be found through a comparison of the state of Maine and the kingdom of Bavaria. Bavaria is the most noted beer-drinking country on the globe and Maine is distinctively known as the prohibitory state. The forms of government are radically different and an American naturally holds that the republican is superior to the monarchical, _i. e._, tends to promote the greater happiness of the individual. Let us see what can be learned about the matter, and first as to the terms of the comparison. [19] The Germans are the healthiest class of New Yorkers. Statistics show that the mortality among them is nearly 38 per cent. less than that of other citizens, while their increase by births is larger, and the same is found to be generally true of Germans all over this continent.