Morning journal and courier., 1881-04-21
Thursday Morning. April 21, 1881.
A STARTLING DRINK BILL.


 The temperance workers of Great Britain find a powerful argument for their cause in the startling figures showing the money cost of Intoxicating drinks to the British nation. In 1860 this cost amounted to eS6, S97, ,583. With hardly an exception the following years showed 8 constant increase until 1876, when the enormous total of e147 ,298, 76O was reached, or over $736, ,OOO, 900. After that with the hard times came decrease, which has continued every year, with the exception of 1878, until it has reached e122, PTS, ,275, the amount expended for intoxicating drinks during the year 1880.
 There is at first sight crumb of comfort in the fact that intoxicating drinks cost the British nation e25, ,Oo9 ,4S5 less in 1880 than in 1876, but the statisticians do not regard the decrease as indicating any permanent re- form in the drinking habits of the nation, but simply as being a result of the hard times, the improved trade toward the end of the year 1880 being accompanied by cor responding increase in the consumption of alcoholic liquors, especially of beer. In the use of wine there was an actual in- crease during the year to the amount of over $4, 100000. The indications are that the some effective law against the liquor traffic should be enacted, which is not probable More than half the expenditure last year was for beer, about one-third for stronger liquors, and the remainder, nearly e16.0OO, GOO, for wines
 Notwithstanding the decrease in the amount spent for liquors since 1S76 the amount spent last year was more than dou- ble the entire rental of all the agricultural lands in the United Kingdom. In Ireland, which is chiefly agricultural and where so much Restitution and unhappiness exist, the rental of land amounts to e11, ,51s, ,392, while the average annual expenditure of the Irish people for liquor during the past ten years is e13, ,823, 1O2, or e2, 3O7, ,21O more than the entire rental. For the remainder of the United Kingdom the average drink expendi ture is even in greater proportion to the rental.
 The London 1tmes has been moved to make some remarks concerning these figures It shows that for the entire population of the O~-N~S~- ASASS is more than fifteen dollars head for every man, woman and child, and more than seven- ty-five dollars for every family. s'It is vast ly more than the public revenue vastly more than the most inflated and extraordi- nary expenditure for the past twenty years. :" It is more than ten times as much as is spent for the relief of the poor, and the whole property of the Church of England if sold at auction to-day would hardly bring the amount of last years drink bill. Two months abstinence from strong drink on the part of the whole nation would pay the cost of the Afghan war; one months abstinence would pay for the Abyssinian war. Half weeks drink bill would provide the city of London with the new parks it needs so much but is too poor to provide. The Tunes pro- ceeds to defend the workingmen not the greatest sinners and to censure the clergy men, professional and business men, who, while condemning the improvidence of the poor, set them bad example and are chiefly responsible for the growing evil.