Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-11-19

Maine - S257.Ol5 Nevada ASSES
Rhode Island 10 o2s4, 40 Nebraska S2sO,5l6
N. Hampshire 1853 l75 Colorado 37i5,2l5
minnesota -. IA 3ei 97ofThe TerrstoriesI4 I69 400
BiskCoiumbia lo376, 49, -----
AS, ,4sl S65
sbe mere value of the liquors drunk
by fhe people in one year in the United
states is, therefore, nearly Fifteen Hun
dred Millions of Dollars, or three-fifths
of the national debt As the, amount of
taxes paid by the retailers is proportion
nate to the amount OF their sales, we
might safely assume that the real quanti-
ties sold are much larger, but We are con-
tent with the retailers own figures. But
this is not all. In the manufacture of
this amount of liquor it is safe to esti
mate that the materials used, including
corn, rye, potatoes, hops, and other crops,
and the labor, are worth fifty per cent of
the liquors produced. This leaves the
distillerS and brewers net profit of one
hundred per cent on their active capital
invested every time it is used, which
surely ought to be enough, as they can
turn" their capital four or five times in
a year. If this estimate be correct. there
are destroyed or consumed in making
these liquors $3.50, 900 900 worth OF grains
of various kinds, potatoes, grapes, hops,
ane labor. e., this value of these ar
Licles is deducted from the sum total of
rhesuseful industry of the country, and
contributes in nodegreeto itssupport. The
rye consumed in making whisky would
have made bread, and its withdraw from
the supply of rye for bread makes every
loaf OF bread dearer. So of the other
grains Adding the value of the food
products and labor which are Withdrawn
from all useful channels and practically
destroyed in. the manufacture of spritu-
Gus liquors, we find the total destruction
of values amounts to 50, 250, 900, 600 per
year, or considerably more than the in
terest7bearing portion of the national
debt. - 10 - 500. - @-tz,,-ry -.
But this is notthe entire taxation WHICH
the people pay to sustain Free Rum.p
Te arrive at the grand total we must
still add the loss to the labor, health, and
industry OF the people which results
from its tsconsumption. Scientific research
hasshown, and scientific men substan-
TALLY agree, that Alcohol contains DO nu-
triqYe principle whatever; that it acts
while in the system like. ether, chloro-
aforn, or any other poison, to derange the
healthy action of mind,and, body; that
all men, without exception, can endure
more beat or cold, more labor orexposure,
more deprivation and pain, more mental
Vi CVllJ Oh6tn WIN
and that it is no sooner taken than lungs,
stomach, skin, intestines, and every 9TH
er organ of the body combine in a COM
mon effort to eXpel it. Indeed, the only
instance i'll which its utility is clearly
proved is when poison has been intro
druced into the blood, as by snake bite
for instance, and it is necessary to sat-
urate the system with some antagonistic
poison equally yenomous.
While the benefits of this vast waste
of wealth are thus reduced to the mini
mum, no limit can be assigned to the
evils resulting from its consumption in
the form of liquors Twenty-Five cents
worth of these fluids may unfit man
for business ) fifty cents worth may
place, his entire property at the disposal
of aswindler, and seventy-five- cents
worth may cause him to murder his wife,
his parents, or his children. But merely
the time wasted naturalization, and the
destruction of property resulting from
the carelessness and crimes of intoxica-
ted persons, may be estimated at $780,
000, 900 per annum, and even this is far
below the truth. This brings our annual
taxation for Free Rum" up to S25, ,500,-
000, 900, or considerably more than the
entire principal of the national debt. In
other words, if there we're no spirituous
liquors drunk in the United States the
people would save enough thereby to pay
off the entire, National debt within one
year. The people .of Great Britain,
France, Prussia, Austria. and Russia
could do the same with their respective
debts. Is it not strange that the Demo-
cratic party should feel so grievously the
burden of the national debt, which taxes
the entire population of the United States
less than one cent per head per day,
while they, unanimously support Free
Rum, which taxes the same people 81 IS
per head per day.