Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1875-12-30
The Way We Waste.

sue Has recovered from the disastrous war
with Prussia, aud the promptness with
which she has met. not only her own, but
Prussia's enormous expenses in that war.
have surprised all her sister nations. Ev.
cry poor man had his hoard of ready
money. which he was anxious to lend to
the State. How did he get il? How did
he save 1t? Why is it, that, in country
iik ours, where wages are high and the
opportunities for making money exception
ally good, such wealth and prosperity do
not existg These are important questions
at this time with all of us. Business Is
low, industry Is paralyze1, and the ques-
tion of bread stares multitudes In the
| face.
Well, France is an Industrious nation, IL
is said. But Is not ours An industrious ma
ton too? Is it not, indeed, one OF the
most hard-wOrking aud energetic nations
In the world? We believe it to be hard
er working nation than the French, with
not only fewer holidays, but no HOLIDAYS
at all, and with only less play, but almost
no play at all. 1t is said. too, that France
is a frugal nation. They probably have
the advantage OF US In this, yet to feed
laboring man and to clothe a laboring
man and his family there must be deiin-
lite, necessary expenditure In both coun-
tries. The difference in wages ought to
cover the difference in expenses, and prob
ably does. 1.-THE American laborer spends
twice as much as the French, he earns
twice or three times as much; vet the Am
erican laborer lays up nothing, while the
French laborer and small farmer have
money to lend to their Government. Their
| old stockings are long and are full The
wine and the silk which the French raise
for other countries must be more than
counterbalanced by our exported gold,
| cotton and breadstutfs, so that they do not
have any advantage over us, as nation,
in what they sell TO other nations? We
shall have TO look futher than this for the
secret we are after.
DR.. William Hargreaves, entitled "Our
Wasted Resources" We wish that the
politicians and political economists of this
country could read this book, and ponder
well It's shocking revelations. They are
revelations ofcrminal waste-the expendi-
ture OF almost incalculabe resources for
that which brings nothing. worse than
nothing In return. There are multitudes
OF people who regard the temperance
question "a one OF morals alone The
men who drink say simply, I'VE will
drink what We please, and it's nobody's
business You temperance men are pes
tilent fellows, meddlesome fellows. who
intrude yoa tuppenny standard of moral
ity upon US, and we DO not want il, and
will not except it. Because YOU are
vlrtuous, shall there be no more cakes and
ae: Very we'll, let US drop it AS ques-
ton OF morality. lou will surely look at
II with Us as \ question OF national econo.
my and prosperity; else, you can hardly
regard yourselves rs patriots. We have
common interest In the national pros
perity, and We can discuss amicably anv
subject on this common ground
France produces its own wine and drinks
mainly cheap wine. IL IS drink which,
while 1t does them no good, according to
the showing OF their own physicians, does
not do them harm enough to interfere with
their industry. Their drinking wastes
neither life nor money as our, does, and
they sell in value to other countries more
than they drink themselves. During the
year 1870, in our State OF New York there
were expended by consumers for liquor
more than one hundred and six millions of
dollars, sum which amounted to nearly
two-thirds of all the wages paid to labor
ers in agriculture and manufactures, and
to nearly twice as much as the receipts of
all the railroads in the State, the sum OF
tn, latter being between sixty-eight aud
sixty nine millions. The money Of our peo-
pie goes across the bar all the time ia sster
than 1t Is crowded into the wickets OF all
the railroad stations of the State and
where does it go? What Is the return for
1t: Diseased stomachs, aching heads, dis
couraged and slatternly homes. ldleness
gout, crime, degradation, death. These, in
various measures, are exactly what We get
for 1t. We gain of that which is good, moth
ing-no uplift in morality, no increase of
industry. no accession tu health, no growth
OF prosperity. Our State is full OF tramps,
and every one is a drunkard. There is de-
moralization everywhere in consequence OF
this wasteiul stream Of fiery fluid that con-
stantly flows down TO the open gullet of
the State.
But our State is not alone The LIQUOR
bill OF Pennsylvania during 1870 was more
than siytyiive millions OF dollars, sum
equal to one third of the entire agricultur-
al product OF the State. Illinois paid more
than forty-two millions. aud Ohio more
than tifty-eight millions. Massachusetts
paid more than twenty-five millions. a sum
equal to iive-sixths of her agricultural
products, while the liquor bill of Maine was
only about four millions and a quarter. NJ
Hargreaves takes the figures of Massachu-
sets and Maine TO show how prohibitory
law does, after all, reduce the drinking :;
but 1t Is not our purpose TO argue this ques-
tion.
What we desire to show is, that with an
annual expenditure of $500. 900 900 for liq-
uors in the United States-and all the fig
ures we give are based upon the official
statistcs-it Is not to be wondered At that
the times are hard and people poor. Not
only this vast sum Is wasted; not only the
capital invested is diverted from good uses
a III ..,.l,
taken from beneficent pursuits, but health
morality, respectability, industry and lite
are destroyed. Sixty thousand Americans
annually lie down in drunkards grave
1t were better to bring into the field and
shoot down sixty thousand Of our young
men every year. than to have them 60
through all the processes of disease. deg
radiation. crime, and despair through which
they inevitably pass.
With six hundred millions of dollars saw
ed to the country annually. how long
would it take to make these United States
rich not only, but able to meet, without
dis urDance and distress, the revulsions in
business to which all nations are liable
Here is n question for the statesman and
the politician. Twenty y-nve years of abso-
lutte abstinence from the consumption Of
| useless. aud lworse than useless liquors,
would save the country fifteen billions Of
| dollars, and make US the richest nation on
the face of the globe. Not only this sum
beyond the Imagination to comprehend
would be saved. but all the abomina Bile
consequences of misery. disease, disgrace.
crime and death, that would flow from the
consumption of such an enormous amount
OF poisonous fluids, would be saved. And
yet temperance men are looked upon as
disturbers and fanatics, And we are ad-
jured not to bring temperance into pol
tiles. And this great transcendent ques-
tion Of economy gets the 90 by, while We
hug our little issues for the sake of party
| and Of Office. Do we not deserve adversi-
ty?-[Dr. ]. G. Holland; Scribner tor De-
cember.
CURE FOR LOVE OF LIQUOR.-At a
festival at q reformatery institution, re-