The Portland daily press., 1873-06-05
TIE Liquor Traffic in Great Britain.

In recent number of the Edinburg Re-
riec there is an interesting article on ''Drunk-
enness, Abstinence and Restraint The
writer finds no trouble in stating the extent
of intemperance in Great Britain but is evil
IDENTIFY befogged when he comes to the rene
dy to be applied to the great vice.
He puts the liquor traffic in Great Brit
ain INTO figures that are somewhat start
ling. He says: ''The people of this country
are spending in drink hundred millions ster-
ling year. trade has grown up in this
kingdom, with capital of hundred and sew
elteen millions sterling, and a constituency
OF million and half engaged in the man.
a<ement of its 10000 establshments-a
.de more powerful far than the cotton in
dustry with its capital OF eighty-f1ve millions,
OF the wooden trade with its twenty-five mil
lions, or the iron trade with its twenty-five
miions-a trade which consumes in the
manufacture of drink an amount of grain
equal to the whole product of Scotland
which returns to the revenue e29, 10000, or
nearly half the actual taxation of the United
Kingdom-and which, after all, in its legiti-
mate exercise, provides but luxury, and in
its Legitimate, the most insidious of all social
Temptations"
To put the matter in more tangible shape,
it is calculated that of the eS5 which consti-
tutes the average annual income of an Eng
lish laborer, be spends els in Intoxicating
beverages and tobacco. One can hardly real
ize how a man with family dependent upon
him can spend more than one-fifth of his in
come on dangerous luxuries, but there is no
reason TO doubt the accuracy of the writer's
figures, however astounding they may be-
He further declares that the vice of
drunkenness is still on the increase in. Eng
land at an alarming rate and also in France
and America. In the words of Mchelet he
describes the age as one Sin which the pro-
gressive invasion of spirits and narcotics is an
invincible fact, bringing with it results vary
ing according to the populations; here OBJ
securing the mind and barbarizing beyond re-
covery; there fatally penetrating the founda-
tons of physical life, and attaining the race
itself'
The next division of the subect-the re-
strant to be placed upon its use dwells
more upon the failures of the past than in
suggestion of any new scheme. Fifty years ago,
English statesmen thought free trade in liquor
was all the cure needed. There is, however,
one point in connection with the beer act of
1880 that is worthy of nsaeration by those
who are inclined to believe that a free trade
in lager beer will not be attended with direful |
effects. That we may not msrepresent the |
writer we will give his words. He says:
"There was an expectation that the beer
shops, first opened in 1884, would draw men
away from the consumption of ardent spirits;
but they caused an immense increase of
drunkenness; so much so that parliament re-
fused to extend the act to Ireland, and Lord
Brougham, ten years later, moved the to-
tai repeal of the mischievous measure. Va
rious causes prevented the abolition of the
beer shops, which continued to demoralize
the people. Sydney Smith said at the time:
The new beer bill has begun its operations,
Everybody is drunk. Those who are not
singing are sprawling. The sovereign people
are in a beastly state'"