Cramer’s upright nature often led him to express opinions that were contrary to the views obtaining in publications of his firm. Cuming in his _Tour of the Western Country_, in the reference to Pittsburgh had written: “Amusements are also a good deal attended to, particularly the annual horse races.” On this observation Cramer commented in a note: “We are sorry to have to acknowledge that _horse racing_ contrary to the express law of the State, has been more or less practiced within the vicinity of this place for a few years back; but we are pleased with the prospect of having it totally abolished by the influence of its evident impropriety, danger, and wickedness, operating on the minds of the more thoughtful and judicious.”[309] That Cramer was not alone in condemning the horse races is apparent from a communication which had appeared in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ six years earlier.[310] This writer designated the races as “a fruitful seminary of vice.” He declared that the “schools and shops are shut up or deserted, and the youth of both sexes run to harm, folly, and debauchery.... The money, too, which ought to be expended in the honest maintenance of families and the payment of debts is squandered on sharpers, gamblers and sutlers.” If some fact or custom was referred to, which Cramer considered morally wrong, or which might disparage Pittsburgh in the eyes of the world at large, he spoke out vigorously in opposition. In the _Navigator_ for 1811,[311] the statement was made that there were “two or three whisky distilleries in the town.” This was immediately followed in the text by a disapproval of distilleries, and a quaint homily on the evils of intemperance. “We cannot say anything in praise of these,” Cramer wrote. “Whisky as a medicine is good, that is, to take it only when the system requires it and no more than is sufficient to perform the part of a gentle stimulant; but to drink it as is now universally practiced, is destructive of health, strength, morals, religion, and honesty; and is a serious national calamity, in which man sinks in the estimation of himself, and becomes an abhorrence in the eyes of God.”