Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-02-08
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Dollars Annually Spent for I'm.
tOxIcating DrinIks. t..r daE .rJa ir
One of the great problems Of city life is,
how to restrain and properly guard the
traffic in and consumption of intoxicating
beverages. This isnot, by any means, a
new question, originating in our later and
higher civilization, but has occupied the at
tention of the wisest law-givers from the
earliest periods of history. Prohibitory
laws have been enacted against the sale OF
inebriating liquors, by almost all nations,
and in all ages, Two thousand years be-
fore Christ law was enacted in China,pun-
ishing with death certain classes OF sOcie-
ty, iftound in a condition of intoxication :
and the palm and other products of the soil
from which Intoxicating drinks were de-
rived were destroyed. ROmus caused
stringent anti-liquor laws to be enacted
Lycurgus ordered all wines and grape vines
to be destroyed. Constantine banished
rumsellers and tore down their houses
Charlemange made stringent laws against
grog shops; and yet it is almost universal
iy asserted that the consumption of intox-
icating drinks rather increased than di-
minished under these severe restrictions.
In our own land and age, somewhat SINH
lar results have followed similar enactments.
The State of New Jersey has 48 enactments
upon its statute book regarding the traffic
in Intoxicating liquors. About 30 years ago,
a great temperance movement resulted III
the cutting down of whole orchards Of ap-
pie trees in the Eastern States, to prevent
the manufacture. of cider; and about 10
years since the whole country was interest
ed in the experiment of the Maine law.
Several States besides Maine copied the pro-
visions of the law, with slight modifca'
tiOns; but short period snfiiced to show
that. if men were prohibited from selling
Intoxicating liquors openly, thousand Sc
crct and deceptive methods would be re-
sorted to by the venders for the same pur-
pose. Stimulants of some kind seem to be
in use in almost every nation. And the
concomitant fact is just as plain that, in all
ages, there have been drunkards and all the
evils of intemperance.
In this respect Chicago is not an eXcep-
tiOn. BY inquiry at the Office of the city
clerk it is ascertained that lao licenses
are now in force, allowing the retail sale
of Intoxicating beverages in this city. Each
one of these licenses costs S52, so that the
revenue derived from liquor licenses is
$7G.440. The same individuals pay license
Of S2j each to the General Government,
thus adding to the income tax the sum of
S36,750. The whole amount paid by the
liquor dealers of Chicago for licenses is,
therefore. Sll3l90. Each one of these
liquor establishments employs, on an aver
age, two persons, giving employment to at
least 1900 persons. A large proportion OF
these dealers have families to support, and
it is probable that from 1000 to 10000 peo-
pie are supported directly by the proceeds
of the retail liquor traffic.
An estimate of the amount of liquor con-
| sumed per annum has been made as nearly
accurate as it can be from the imperfect
data that can be obtained. Allowances in
the estimates have been made, so that. i
| the exact amount consumed shall differ
| from them, it will be found to be greater
rather than less than the estimate below.
Of all kinds of liquor sold at saloons anC
other licensed places it is estimated thai
about 737 barrels, beer measure, are solo
each day. This will amount to 25S,055 bar
rels, or S,257,7G0 gallons per year.
Reduce this amount to cubic feet. and il
will be found to fill canal feet deep, q
feet wide, and about two miles in length!
Put this liquor into beer barrels, 32 inches
in length, and they would reach from Chi
cago to the Mississippi river, if placed along
the track of the Fulton branch of the North
western railroad
1t would completely fill the three reser-
voirs and the l45 miles of water-pipe be-
| longing to the Chicago water works little
more than three times!
And it would weigh very nearly 10000
tons!
If this amount be reduced to drinks, al
| lowing half pint for each, it will make the
sum ofl32, l24 lG0; and if these drinks are
all sold for five cents, the lowest rate for a
! pOtation of ale, it will amount to the sum
of So, 606 pos. OF course a large quantity OF
| this will be sold for 10 cents per glass; but
this may be set against what will be pur-
chased by the gallon or larger quantity,
and therefore at cheaper rates. This cal
culation, too, does not include the large
quantities of costly wines consumed in the
city. If this amount of money were in
vested in bread at 10 cents per loaf, the
highest rctailsprice, it would purchase &c.
062 0S0 loaveS; and, allowing every man.
woman and child in the city half loaf q
day, and computing the population of Chi
cago at 100000 people, this amount of bread
would subsist the population of the city
| for nearly two years. In other words, thC
cost of liquor consumed is twice the cos
OF the bread
No doubt much of the intoXicaton il
our city and country would be avoided, i
less distilled liquors were consumed. 1t i;
said that in Italy or in France, where al
most the only beverage is the juice of the
grape, intoXication is hardly known, and
as the United States are rapidly becoming
wine producing land, it may be hoped
that our native wines may become so uni
versal as to produce like ameliorating
effect upon the people of our country.