The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1876-05-26
The LiqaOr Traffic.
BY PARDEE BUTLER.
NUMBER i.

LIE. mcheubcy OF CnlcaSO;
has been investigating the liquor
traffic extensively. Here are some
of his conclusions:
"a period of eight years In
quiry has developed the statisti-
cal fact that seyenty-five per cent.
of the crimes committed in the
country were caused by drunken
ness or vice which liquor drinking
engendered.'"
"'Seventy-five per cent. of the
saloons are conducted by Ger
mans, chiefly from the kingdom
of Prussia; ten per cent. by Ro-
man Catholics of foreign birth !;
ten per cent. by Americans; three
per cent. by women, German and
Irish; two per cent. by negroes.
The nocturnal and sabbatical
dance-houses in American cities,
where the most vile liquors are
kept, and where cyprians ply their
vocation in shameless etfrontery,
are conducted entirely, with the
rarest exceptions, by German men
and women"
The editor of the Standard has
given an impressive portraiture of
the fall of Secretary Belknap, of
the fraud and bribery that have
been found in high places, and of
those evils that, like insidious ell
ements of disease, poisoning the
fountains of life, are corrupting
the whole body of the people.
Wise men will seek most earnest.
ly to know what are the occult
causes of these stupendous william
les, that, like these successive
shocks of an earthquake, make
the whole nation stand aghast,
and, the estimation of some,
are portents of utter and absolute
ruin.
Indulgence in intoxicating
drinks has been the rule, and not
the exception. in both houses of
Congress, aud in every State Leg
islature. A large number of our
leading men and leading states
men have been addicted to an in
temperate use of strong drink.
Champagne and oyster suppers
have heen a regular part of the
bill of fare and stock in trade of
the American lobby. Ii, then sit
is a statistical fact that seventy
five per cent. of the crimes com
mitted in this country were caus-
ed by drunkenness or vices
which iquor-drinking engender-
ed" is there not a vehement prob
ability that seventy-fve per cent.
of the defalcations, briberies, for
geries, thefts, frauds and perjur-
les committed in high places were
caused by drunkenness or vices
which iquor-drinking engender.
ed? And, granting this is so, it
follows that every scheme of re-
form that does not make proYis
ion for the cure of this evil must
be a CONSPICUOUS failure.
To corroborate the testimony
OF DR.. Mckinney, we will make
an appeal to the late United States
census. The whole number o
our native-born population in the
United States is 32,991. JAP; for
eign- born, 5,567, 229. OF forign
born Germans, there are ,690,533
From Great Britain and Ireland,
I,626, 24o. The census gives the
foreign-born population from the
British isles by ITSELF but does moi
give the Irish foreign-born popu
lation by itself. We will give tc
Ireland one-half; this would be
1,313,I51.
In round numbers, then, the ma.
tive born population of the Unit
ed States will be thirty three mil
lions, while the foreign born Irish
and German population will be
three millions. Native born
Americans are then eleven times
greater than foreign born Irish
and Germans.
Let US now look at the nation
atty of the liquor dealers under
the heads respectively of ''restaur.
ant-keepers," "bar-tenders," and
dealers in wines and liquors.
The whole number in the United
States is 81, 265. OF these the ma.
tive born are 25,899; foreign born
irish and Germans, 1882. Up
wards of fifty per cent. of the liq-
uor-dealers in America (where
liquors are sold as a beverage) are
foreign born Irish and Germans
while less than fifty per cent. are
native born.
Two additional facts must also
be noted. First: We have also
foreign born citizens, natives O.
Holland, Belgium, Switzerland
Austria and Bohemia, who are al
so Germans, many of whom art
engaged in the liquor traffic, whose
occupation the census does moi
give, and who should be added to
the number of German liquor
dealers. Second: The native
born children of foreign born par
ents do also largely follow TIT
business of their fathers. These
should be taken out of the accoun
CT American liduor dealers, anC
charged to the account of IrisI
and German liquor dealers. These
being added to the fifty per cent
found in the census, and it toll
lows with absolute certainty tha
seventy-five per cent. of the mer
that traffic in Intoxicating drinks
to be used as q beverage, are Irisl
and Germans, yet Irish and Ger
mans are not one-tenth part o
our population.
There are now two question:
before US of singular interest
First: How does liquor drinking
affect our criminal statistics
Second: Have these liquor deal
ers a special and peculiar right II
domineer in our politics?
We will quote from an editoria
in the New York Observer. EMIT
led "Curiosities of Crime:''
"The Board of Police Judge
In this city, is required by law t.
make an annual return of the sta
tistics of crime. Moralists an
taxpayers, that is to say Christia