Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-03-18
THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
The Growth and the COnsump-
ton for Half a Century.

What our Fathers Drank-The Sue
cessfui Emulation Of their Descend
ants-The Product Doubling Every
Ten Years-The Swelling Stream of
Lager-The Brewery Replacing the
DistiiIery.
From the New York World.
There are many indications which
show that the manufacture of domestic
liquors was carried on half a century
ago to a much greater extent in proper
to the population than it is to-day. In
1920 New York was the great grain
State Of the country, and its great dis
hllery as well, Just as Illinois is to-day.
The census returns of 1920 have no ia
bulated returns of manufactures, the
schedule being printed petty much as
they came from the deputy marshals, so
that no general statistics of that date
in regard to the productionorc onsump-
ton of liquor are accessible. On tabu-
latIng the returns for this city and
country it becomes evident that New
York was then as now the centre Of
trade IN distilled and fermented liquors.
The entire capital invested in manu-
features is placed in this census
at about S2,500,O00, and one
tenth of this is devoted to the manu-
facture of alcoholic beverages, seventy
times as great aratio as to-day. Lager
had not yet appeared on the scene, but
ale and porter had, and four breweries,
with a capital of S1S5, 900, were 'eon-
stantly employed" says the census, in
supplying town of about the size Of
two good-sized wards. If the compar-
ison be made between the population in
1920 and 1870, the capital now invest
ed in the production of fermented
liquors is only twice as large now as
fifty years ago, while the population
has increased ten-fold. The returns of
1920 are by no means the colorless alb
straetiOns of to-day. Tne census taken
gives running marginal notes on the
manufactures of New York, and it is
of some interest to find that; when
Canal street was away up town and
Fifth avenue an open farm, sales of ale
were generally good" that it was ''in
fair demand, with good profit on the
article" that the call for rum was
steadily increasing" and whisky was
I'm good demand, " while on the ada
cent shores of Kings county gin was
in constant demand" Only two in
dustries IN the eity-a sugar refinery
and machine shop-haVe a larger cap
ital than the breweries of the town.
Distileries were scattered thickly over
the State, and the capital which they
represent reachse the respectable figure
Of S647 1876, or about half as much as
the State has now. This includes the
distiueries of the city which represents
nearly twice as much capital IN the
census of 1920 as In that Of 1870. The
brewers of the State, on the other hand,
had then scarcely fifteenth as much
capital to-day. During the half CEN
fury which separates these returns the
State. has increased from population
of 1,372, Ill to 1882, 759.. Both distil-
leries and breweries were much more
widely distributed then, and every
township in the State was furnished
with one or more. This continued to
be the case until 1910, when 1896 dis
tilleries and 400 breweries are returned
for the whole country. The figures are
reversed III the last census, and stand
10 distilleries and 1872 breweries; but
the change took place IN the decade
from 1910 TO 1850, and at the
latter date the distilleries and brewe-
ries together only amounted to 1899.
Relatively to the wealth and popu-
lation the amount Of capital invested in
the manufacture of alcoholic stimulants
IN the twenty-five years from 1920 70
lS45 was fnlly as great In the next
quarter century, and the fact that every
knot of farmhouses seems to have had
its worm and still must have made
whisky an article of frequent consump-
ton. The first opportunity to compare
the amount manufactured with the pro-
duct of the to-day is afforded by the
census of 1870. TheproductiOn during
the year IN which the census was COM
piled and that during the last fiscal
year, with the population at each pc
Rod, are as follows:
Fermented Pop.
Spirits, gals. liquors. gals. 20 4 20
1si0.-.......-.4l ,i126Zl - 81 $50 ICES, 423
Ratio Of in
In other words, the fermented
liquors have increased under demand
which grew FIVE times as fast as the
population, while the manufacture of
spirits has fallen behind the same in
crease. A heavy tax has something to
do with it, but the tax is felt by the
beer as well, and without any apparent
result. If the Treasury returns during
the 81 tax gallon on whisky could be
relied on, it would be found that the
production.in 1868 was scarcely a third
Of that twenty-eight years before. Ex-
cept that the production of whisky
moves steadily to the West, having
New York and Ohio for the States of
greatest production up to the census
of 1860, and thereafter Illinois and
Ohio, each region retains the manufac-
ture with which it begins. In this
State, with the exception of New
York, each county which man.
Ufactured the largest proportion
of fernented and distilled liquors in
1920 retains the same position in the
census of 1870, Albany heading the
list In fermented liquors. Milwaukee
beer is family foreshadowed even in
the returns gathered on the very edge |
of an advancing population, IN 1910; |
when the Territory of Wisconsin" is
credited with a yearly production of |
brewed beverages which places her on
a level with some of the older and |
weather. States. The great centre of |
watts and beer-barrels then was Penn |
sylvania. Half the total production |
came from that State, a third from
New York, and Ohio, Illinois and New |
Jersey supply the rest. 1t was not till |
ten years later that the State regained |
the position it held twenty years earlier,
and brewed again about half of the |
beer In the Union. The city has kept |
about the same proportion all through |
the half century, and has manufactured |
an eighth or more with aregniarity which |
seems to indicate a somewhat similar |
fraction as about its usual consump-
ton.
In the manufacture Of spirits and fer
mented liquors within the city there
has been a marked change in the last
thirty years, theproduction in 1910 and |
in 1873 having been as follows:
Fermented
Spirits, liquors, population i
1910 gg Gals g. aS5 400 i'io- 5ias1o
80 . f1o 40 - eco of5' 300 i