CONCLUSION. In the foregoing pages it has been impossible to give a hundredth part of the evidence that lies ready at hand in this matter of the use and effects of beer, but we have endeavored, by careful selection, to present such as must have weight with all readers. Nothing has been stated as a fact which cannot be amply corroborated, and no inference drawn that did not seem to be fully warranted by the premises. It has been shown that beer is wholesome, and so mildly alcoholic as to make drunkenness from its use very uncommon. A man who drinks in order to become intoxicated, can, no doubt, accomplish his purpose with beer; but such men are almost unknown where beer is the common beverage. This abnormal impulse usually comes only in consequence of a course of ardent spirits. The evidence as to the cure of intemperance by the introduction of a free use of beer is especially important, and one of the most striking instances of such success is to be found in the case of Denmark, to which we desire again to call special attention. This is the central point of the whole question. Heartily desiring the progress of genuine temperance, and fully believing that all efforts in the direction of prohibition are false in theory and injurious in practice, that they do not prevent intemperance and do produce many other evils, we hold that the safe and only course is to popularize the use of beer, and cannot doubt that government would do well to foster its manufacture in every practicable way, and that taxation on the product should be abolished, or at least made very light. Such a course would not merely secure the very end which has been unsuccessfully attempted by prohibitory laws, but it would do much more. It would diminish the poor rates, save the money spent in prosecutions, which, after all, do no real good, and incidentally improve the whole business condition. Some refreshing, stimulating drink the people will have, and legislators should seek to guide the instinct, not eradicate it. Men of the highest scientific authority have again and again pronounced beer to be not merely harmless, but beneficial. Experience in the countries where it is most used develops the same result, and the readiness with which it is adopted in place of ardent spirits, whenever it is of good quality and low price, shows how easily the experiment of temperance on this basis can be tried. Even advocates of total abstinence must admit that beer is better than whisky. The fact that it adds greatly to the enjoyment of a people must not be ignored. Here in America we are apt to forget all but the work-a-day part of life, but the demand for recreation exists and must be gratified in some way, and almost always recreation is social, and is made more enjoyable and cheerful by some mild stimulant. It refreshes and enlivens, and so contributes directly to the social happiness that is the object sought.