“England away across the sea has brewed beer for many hundred years and will continue to brew for thousands of years more, and to the fact that the English people have drunk beer all that time I do conscientiously attribute her present greatness. Beer-drinkers are slow but sure. Look at Germany, that great nation. We could not pay her for the money we have borrowed of her. Her great army, the best in the world, her great statesmen, her philosophers, were all raised on beer.” [Illustration: _Fred Lauer_ HONORARY PRESIDENT UNITED STATES BREWERS’ ASSOCIATION] The Hon. Frederick Lauer in a speech before the Brewers’ Convention at St. Louis, June 4, 1879, thus presents a phase of the beer question which is certainly of importance: “What we now want to ensure the future happiness and prosperity of the country is the enactment of liberal laws to induce the industrious classes of overcrowded Europe to flock to our shores. We want immigration for the purpose of building up our towns and cities, developing our manufacturing enterprises, and cultivating the millions of fertile acres in this country now lying idle. The thrifty German is accustomed to his daily ration of beer. In the land of his nativity he has his parks and public gardens, where family unions and social gatherings take place amid the ecstatic influence of the foaming lager. The English, Irish, Scotch, and people of other European countries are noted patrons of malt liquors. The greatest liberality should, therefore, be shown them in the indulgence in their customary beverages in the land of their adoption. With the more general use of malt liquors the hundreds of quack medicines now in the market will disappear, as it has been proved by experience in countries where malt beverages are the popular drink, that health and longevity are marked features, and dyspepsia and chronic complaints are rare. The tide of emigration is again swelling to this country. According to the _New York Herald_ of the first of May last, the total number of immigrants landed at New York for the first three months of 1879 was 11,288, more than two-thirds of whom came from Germany, England and Ireland. The emigration of aliens to the United States from 1789 to 1877 is set down in round numbers at 10,000,000, who, with their descendants have built up this great nation. Since May 5, 1847, the emigration to this country has reached 5,732,183 souls. In view of these facts nothing should be done to interfere with the happiness of those who seek our shores, but by means of wise laws they should be protected in the enjoyment of their rights and privileges. To be successful as a government we should invite immigration, and develop our great natural resources, and then by promoting health and temperate habits by the adoption of beer as the national beverage, we will increase as a nation, and be in truth and in fact the greatest country on the face of the earth.” CHAPTER XII.