The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-03-04
The ofllcIal statIslIcs show lbat There

The official statistics show that there
is great falling of In the amount of
liquor consumed in Great Britain last
year, as compared with the preceding
year. To give the result IN round
numbers, in 1873 the British people
spent S7il, 100000 for intoxicating
liquors of one kind and another, while
in 1879 they limited themselves to an
expenditure of S641 900, 900. 1t may
be said that this fast sum, which indi-
Gates an average outlay of about
twenty dollars apiece for each man,
woman and child In the United King
dom, Is sufficiently generous allow
an ,e, but yet 1t is significant that II is a
decrease of nearly ten per cent. on the
outgo of the previous year, and, as
prices ruled somewhat lower in 1879
than In 1878, the ratio of decrease in
actual consumption was probably
somewhat larger. A part of this
movement towards greater temperance
must be accounted for by bearing 10
mind that through most of last year the
business interests of Great Britain were
: at very low ebb, and consequently
there was great reduction in income
and an enforced economy. 1t has beer
said that among laboring men hare
/ times have a tendency to augmen
!. drunkenness, but this Is statement o
/ questionable soundness, especial,
when the great mass of working mel
are taken az o class. Among those o
larger incomes ii Is notorious that on
OF the first forms of retrenchment Il
personal expenditures is to cut dow
on the money usually spent for wine
and liquors, and, as great many wei
to-do Englishmen found 1t necessar
last year to economics, there mus
have been marked falling of In th
If sales of the higher grades of Frenc
Re aud Spanish wines. Still, after NAL
e ing these allowances, there is yet n
le mainder left, which must be credite
., TO the cause of temperance. The sale
=, Of coffee, tea and cocoa increased on a
1e average about two and ona-hslf pc
ID cent, which would clearly Indie tie IT,,
n with large number of people u sui
ID stitution had heen made of one form
i, ID stimulant for another. What lie eve
y. more open to demonstration Is II
decline in the habit of liquor drinkin
in the English army. The younger o
ficers who have the burden of work
ah nS'iNo SouPoikh ehtOWh uPou tilCil
such, for example, as Sir Garnet We
seley, are outspoken In their bell
that the effectiveness of an army
greatly impaired by the use by
members of intoxicating liquors. o.
be New England poet has recorded Il
lis saying of the Indian chief:
lie "Run from the white man when you nnd
alt He smells of Hollands gtn."
, a. but the scientific warfare of the pre-
a. ent day does not need that the soldie
r. should have their courage aroused |
nd "nghting rotations" II is the clea
ID. ness of head and steadiness of ner'
that are now looked for both amoi
officers and men, and this, as Sir Ga
net points out, can be better secured [
good feeding than by largo drinkin
On the whole, the temperance-not Il
abstinence-cause Is visibly gainil
Roadway in England, and though,
consequence of Improved business, Il
official results during the present ys
- may seem to show a reaction, this wi
be more apparent than real.