Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-04-16
The Linnor Traffic.

This subject has been worn threadbare by
discussions and arguments. Various meth
DDS have been suggested, and, many Of them
tried, for suppressing this traffic and still the
evil exists. II sometimes seems as IL our
reformatory resources have met an obstacle
to high state Of civilization which they are
unable to overcome. There has been in
some quarters a great deal accomplished,
aud IN the country generally, we believe,
there is less drunkenness than there was
twenty years ago. But, in the large cities
especially, this vice is intreuched In what
Seems to be invincihle barbados, aud IL is
80 connected with other interests, in the pro-
motion Of which it is found to be powerful
ally, that thoughtful people look upon il with
feelings Of alarm, With the individual
drunkard the community has perhaps no
right to NEEDLE, except in cases where the
public peace is violated, but, as one of our
exchanges suggests, when myriad Of
dEdnkards are involved the case is entirely
different. The community then knows that
ihnetes Of jails and poor-houses are being
manufactured by wholesale, and it is bound
in self defense to take the matter in hand"
This, we are assured, is the feeling of good
citizens generally. 1t is difficult to present
this subject in any new light, but VIC have
recently found in the New York Times some
facts that need no comments nor explanation.
They are eloquent in themselves, and illus
trate the relation between liquor drinking
aud the labor question in the most emphatic
manner. These facts are taken from official
sources and are too plain to be mistaken.
There are in round numbers seven thou
sand licensed saloons ia New York, graded
from $3.50 to $50 per annum each for Ii.
cense tees, and yielding last year total rev.
enue of 1921, $50. Considering the high
rents which these saloons pay, and the other
heavy expenses to which they are subjected,
il is safe to assume that their receipts av-
erage $50 per day each. This would rep.
resent $4,000 per day, and as the liquor
traffic Of New York has solved the problem
of perpetual motion, this would give, in 365
days, the enormous total Of S51 100, 900.
But this terrible strain upon the resources
Of the city is not all, for it is we'll known
that there are at least two thousand unli-
censed saloons in the city, and these can
be fairly held to represent an equal proper
tionate waste, making further total of
$4,000, 600, or grand aggregate of $685.
7OO,OOO per annum wasted each year by a
population Of one million, for spirituous
liquors, or fraction over $50 for every
man, woman, and child in the metropolis"
1t is shown from these statistics that not
more than one.fourth Of the population con.
tribute in any way to the support Of the
liquor traffic, and that Of this one.fourth by
far the larger proportion is made up of the
laborlng classes. The grades of license
prove that this is the case. Out of the
70lO liquor-selling licenses 1928 were Of the
smaller classes, which include all the resorts
Of the former customers. In addition to
this number there are 2,059 places which
took out ale and beer licenses only, at thirty
dollars each, aud it is we'll known that these
are almost exclusively the resorts for persons
of moderate incomes. The Times concludes
from this showing that the vast majority Of
all liquor saloons in New York have there.
fore been established for and maintained by
the working classes. 1t is hardly too much
to say that four in every six dollars wasted for
intoxicating drink came out Of the pockets oil
those who are dependent upon their daily
toll for the means of subsistence. No citi-
zen can fail to comprehend what such facts
as these imply. They mean the steady and
rapid propagation OF crime and pauperism
They can by no possibility mean anything
else--Rutla,ld Herald.