New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-02-26

other influences that tend to increase this
evil combined are nothing when compared
to intemperance. The alarming and horri-
flying statistics bearing on the Social evil"
as presented in the reports of police COM
missiOners. almshOuse governors and Mag
dalen societies all go to prove that in the
language of one of the reports of the vie
tins, but comparatively few have yielded
to the entreaties OF their first seducer with
out being previously brought under the in
Huence of strong drink. Some years ago,
at a dinner party in London, composed
chiefly Of distillers, the following toast was
proposed and drank: The distillers' best
friends, the poor prostitutes Of London
Again, intemperance produces great ma
tional loss and heavy taxation. England
spends flOO, DOC, 900 a year for rum. This is
seven years, and if saved for seven years
would blot out her national debt. In 1865
New York city and Brooklyn paid for her
police 50, OO0, 900. In 1868 the State of New
York gave 81, 963, 900 for the support of her
poor. That is, the police Of New York city
and Brooklyn, whose principal work is to
leOk after the effects OF liquor shops, cost
more in one year than all the State of New
York gave i'll a like time to care for her
poor.
In 1860, in the United States, there were
88.OO2,797 gallons of spirituous LIQUORS dis
titled, and Sis, lao barrels Of fermented
liquors brewed, worth $729. 0}O, 579 at retail
prices. while the value of all tue Hour. cot
ton goods, boots. shoes. wooden goods cloth
ing, books, newspapers, and other printing
was 10000. 900, not as much as the simple
value Of the. liquor by nearly $l3O, 900. COO
Again. in 1853 the civil and diplomatic
expenses Of the United States were $1l ,O66,-
1873 IA. The clergymen of the United States
u<No<
$40, OO0, 900, and the lawyers $sO,OOO.-
900. Thus the retail price of the
liquor manufactured in this coun
try in 1868 exceeds by over $780,
100000 the cost of running the
government in ordinary times, added to
the annual cost Of all our clergymen. Grim
inals and lawyers. We can form some
idea of the amount of money put into al
cohOlic drinks by studying our internal
revenue statistics. Nearly One-third of
the entire revenue for 1869 was from dis
titled spirits and termented LIQUORS. In
England. in 1866, thirty-thrce per cent of
the total revenues was from tue same
source; in Russia nearly thirty-seven per
cent; in France between twelve and thir-
teen per cent. In Great Britain in 1859,
it was estimated that the average consump-
ton of distilled spirits per head amounted
to eight-tenths of gallon, while in the
United States it equaled at least gallon
and a half per capita
These are but dry figures, still they make
q profound impression upon every thought
tut mind. Think of it: nearly $50. OOO. 900
invested in alcoholic drinks in the single
year Of 1860. This says nothing of what it
cost to make il, nor to sell it and drink it,
pay for the crimes it cost, take care of its
paupers. and pay for the necessary ltiga-
tons. An estimate has been made that,
leaving out what it cost to distill and fer
ment, the other items added to the retail
cost would swell it to $l,25O. 900, 600 Es-
timating our population to have been. in 1860
thirty millions, this would make the average
amount paid by every man. woman, and
child in the United States, in 1860, for alec
hOlic drinks over fOrty-One dollars In 1867
the official report gives The value of sales.
by retail liquor dealers, az 81. 4S3 49l. 80.
that is fOrty-thrce dollars for every man.
woman and child in the country. This is
equal to One-haif the entire national debt.
and more than ten times the total value of all
church property in the United States Amer
lea has 49,. 900 licensed u.n-sellers. which. at
twenty customers each, would make 2.S07.
200 tipllers. One out of thirty every wear
becomes confirmed drunkard, so that 3d.
574 drunkaris are annually manufactured
in the United States, which would form a
column. in regular marching order. about
twenty SIX ana a half miles long If il were
possible to ascertain the woe and misery in
time and eternity. brought TO human hearts
by this fiendish traffic, no arithmetic could
calculate it. nor human thought declare it,
Think of it. In the United States 100. 900
die annually! A truthful record of the mis-
cries of each would make 81. 900 biographies
every year! That number of such sad mar
ratives will never be written. Even a brief
notice of the death and burial of each poor
creature Is more than we can expect. Sixty
a year Is more than l0DS a week
l4i per day. six tor every hour. and one for
every ten minutes Could we have a bell
large enough, and swinging high enough in
the heavens to be heard over the entire
Union. and could it be tolled every ten min
utes for the death of a drunkard, its mourn
full dirge would ring in cur ears day and
night the whole year round"
Let no man who favors the linuor traffic
Of our age complain about taxes Rum
causes more taxation than all things else
combined. The Ulster County Temperance
Society, IN New Jersey, appointed a com
mlttee. Ill 1901, to ascertain, from reliable
sources, the percentage on every dollar tax
paid i'll the county to support her pa,lpers
and criminal Justice. The amount was
found to be upward OF sixty cents
on the dollar. This amount was re-
quired, according to law. to be paid by
every taxpayer as a penalty or rather as a
rum bill, for allowing the liquor traffic in
their emidst. What is true of Ulster
county is true, more or less. of every county
and parish in America.
Once more, intemperance is the persistent
and most terrible foe of every institution
that has for its object the intellectual or
moral culture of the people
There are nearly if not quite two millions
of children of suitable age in the United
States who do not attend school Our com
mon schools are the breath and life of our
institutions; yet, sad to relate, we have
more than four dram shops to one school.
No one cause does more to keep our youth
in ignorance than intempcrance. 1t OBJ
structs the road to the schOolhouse and
effectually bars its doors against the untor-
tunate child en- of the drunkard 1t strips
them Of decent clothing: rObs them of the
necessary text books. and turns them, fam
ished and destitute in mind and body. into
the highways and byways Of vagrancy,
lOaferism and vice.
What shall we say of the powerful effect
the liquor traffic has in hindering the moral
education OF the people! Every one of the
hundred and eighty thousand licensed liquor
shops in the United States is nothing
else than moral malstrOm, around
which greater or less number
Of immortal souls are crcling only to be
drawn nearer and nearer their certain and
fearful doom. No vice blunts the moral
susceptibilities more than the vice of in
temperance. No vice brings to bear so
many influences to keep people away from
the house Of God. No vice contributes so
much to the proclamation of Gods holy day
No vice does so much to encourage and null
tiply every form of social vice. Every grog-
shop is q direct enemy to the church
With these facts before us none will deny
that drunkenness is our national curse. it