The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-02-22

we have aYailed ourselves largely oi
. the labors OF others, as well as devoted
+ TO it much Of our own attention. Ac'
cording to Dr.. Young, chief Of The bu
rcau OF statistics, the bar bill of the
nation is 5000, 600, 900 per annum, oil
| Sc, O00 600, 900 for ten years. The as.
| sessed value of the real estate Of the
country is 50, 914, 78O, S25; the personal
property in the United states is put
at 81, 2G4, 29j, 9O7. Thus it is seen that
In ten years we pay for liquor two
thirds as much as the realty is worth,
while the personally would only pay
two thirds of the liquor bill. Accord
| ing to the census returns of 1870 the
value of all products of agriculture,
betterments and additions of stock
! (S2, 447, 53S, 65s)," and the value of all
our manufactures ga, 232, 325, 442),
making the sum of SO, G79, S64, 100, only
$679, SG4, 100 more than is spent every
ten years for liquor. In every eleven
years the nation spends in her bar.
rooms more than the value of all the
products of agriculture and all our me,
chanical and manufacturing industries.
If by fire and flood we were to lose all
these agricultural and mechanical pro-
ducts, we would not be as much In
jured as we are, for fire and food
would leave us sound in body and
mind, but the whisky traffic
leaves US diseased in body, obfuscated
in mind, and bankrupt in morals. The
property is not only lost, but there is
entailed upon our people the additional
evils of vice, wretchedness, crime and
demoralization that far, very far, out
weigh the value of the money expended.
Consider too this fact, that alcoholic
drinks do not compensate the con-
sumer. You buy pair of shoes, and
your feet are protected, your whole
body benefited; or a piece of furniture,
or book, they protect and invigorate.
What does alcoholic It may give q
momentary exhilaration, but leaves the
person physically, mentally and moral
ly worse for its use. If he had burned
up his money, or thrown his liquor in
the gutter, be would have been infinite
ly better off. BY examining the CEN
sus reports of 1870, we find that in that
year Texas had 2169 retailers of ardent
spirits-their ag yregate sale we will
say, $40, $40, 900. That is one side; on
the other, the farm products, better
ments and additions to stock, $40, 1856,
ITO. Total amount of wages paid in
Guiding board, 81, TIT, ,63s. So much
for agriculture. Manufactures reported
Wages paid d............$ 1,7s7, s35
Capital invested ...... 1884, 10
Cost of material. ........ 6,273, 1913
Value of production. .... II, SIT, 302
Total receipts of railways
Grom Poor's manual for
1S74-0 0.................$ SO, 147, 64S
BY studying these figures you will
see that liquor cost Texas in 1870, $40, =
$40, 900 which makes her liquor bill
more than a fourth of her farm pro-
ducts and stock additions, and some
5000, 900 less than her manufactured
products, and there was 81, $50, 900
paid for liquor more than was paid
your farm hands, and your
mechanics, throwing in the board of
the former; the liquor bill is but little
less than twice the receipts of her rail-
roads. Now, please examine the
figures of Massachusetts and Maine
Agricultural products in Massachu-
setts, $93, 1872, 373; of Maine, $3S, 47O,
044. Value of manufactures IN Massa-
chusetts, 1858, 912, 56s; Maine, $79,-
497, sci. Total wages paid in Massa-
chusetts, 1928, S72, 91S; Maine, ST.
1S5, 497. Cost of liquor to consumers
in Massachusetts, $50, 1876, 600; Maine,
4,215, 900. Receipts of railways
Massachusetts, $27, $50, ,453; Maine,
81, 1868, TAI. The liquor bill of Massa-
chusetts was five-sixths Of the value of
her agricultural products, one twenty
second part of the manufactures, and
rot one-ffth of the wages paid. In
Maine liquors cost less than one-eighth
of the value of the products of agri-
culture, less than one-sixteenth OF the
manufactures, and only two-sevenths
of the wages paid in the State. Now,
compare these three, or these last two,
with any of the liquor States, and you
will be forced to conclude that the
more nearly State approaches the
prohibition of the liquor traffic the
better it is for her.
Can Won study these figures without
having the most terrible forebodings
of the ruin that is in store for our
State Is it possible for any State or
nation to prosper whose people spend
so large a proportion of the value Of
their products for demoralizing drinks.
We are confident that satisfactory
evidence can be adduced to show that
but for the uSd Of Intoxicating drinks the
sick rate as 1ceu as the death rate of oar
country could be reduced to not less than
one-hdlf' lohdt it is at present. Take the
alcohol out of these drinks and what
have you left-nesrly $50, 900, 900 gal
Ions of spoiled water, or more truthfullY
decoction of vile poisonous drugs that
the very swine would refuse TO drink,
unless they had been starved to it in
a still house hog pen.
What else haze we for all the mil
lions thus spent 7 Drunkenness, with
all its follies, its revels, its obscenity,
its beastliness, crime and taxation.
These drinks are marshaled enemies of
civilization, liberty, justice, humanity,
morality and religion. In their train
is poverty with its attendant evils, ig-
norance with its vulgarity, brutishness
and vices; crime of every degree; acci-
dents on land and sea idIocy, insanity,
madness, disease, premature old age
and death. Are all these worth the
price paid for themi Does it pay :