The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-10-07
Size of the Temperance Question.

IL uOCo uO SOOu lOl luSu " ollCSi "'
the agitation in regard to the liquor
traffic. The subject is too important
to be laughed down. 1t may be that
prohibition is not the right way to
settle it, or that license is not, or that
taxation is not these are fair ques,
tiOns upon which a difference Of Opin-
ion between sincere and candid men
is possible. But the subject has be-
come altogether too important to be
| ignored, or passed over without any
serious attempt to settle it. Aside
from the laWdefying spirit which it
has elected, aside from all its moral
and religious aspects, the question
considered purely as one of dollars
and cents, in its effect upon the Na-
tIonal prosperity and wealth, is. one
of the most imPortsnt that Gs9s -
named.
Directly and indirectly, this coun-
try spends in the liquor traffic every
year a sum exceeding half the Ma
tiOnal debt. The cost Of that traffic
to the country, direct and indirect, is
greater than the profits of all its capi
tai not invested in real estate. 1t
costs every year more than our whole
Civil Service, our Army, our Navy,
our Congress. including the River and
Harbor and the Pension bills, our
Wasteful local governments, and all
National, State, county and local
debts, besides all the schools in the
country. In fact, this Nation pays
more for liquor than for every func-
ton of every kind Of government.
How is question of that size to be
put aside with a sneer?
AS these statements may seem sur
prising to those who have not looked
into the matter, few figures may be
of service. A glass of beer costs the
consumer cents, and there are at
least twenty in the gallon, and $40 in
the barrel, so that beer retails at
about $50 barrel, while ale costs still
more. The consumption of beer and
ale last year was about $4,000, 600
barrels; cost to summers about $780,
1000. The cheapest kind of liquor
used, ordinary Whiskey, is rarely sold
at 5 cents, and averages at least cents
a drink at half a gill to the "hOrn,"
this makes S4.48 per gallon. The con
sumption last year was about 10000
900 gallons cost to consumers about
S3l3, 600. Adding wines, there is
certainly spent for drink more than
$500, 900, 600, and the entiresum raised
by taxes of all kinds. National, State,
county, city, town and school dis
trict, Is stated on authority of the
Census Bureau to be not more than
about SOC, 100000.
But the cost of the liquor drunk is
not by any means the whole cost of
the liquor traffic. An official report,
prepared with much labor by the
Bureau of Statistic of Massachusetts, |
under authority from the Legislature.
states that 81 per cent of all the crime
and criminal expenses in that State
comes directly from the abuse of
liquor. There are at least one in
twenty of the able bodied men in this
country who are rendered idle by
their habits or incapacitated for work,
and these persons, at the ordinary
wages of Wnrkmen, would earn, i'll
industrious and fairly employed, oveI
5000, 600. 900 yearly. The proportion
of persons IN hospitals who reach
them because of excess in drink is
very large, but cannot he definitely
A traffic that costs in actual pay
ment and in loss of productive labor
more than half the National debt
every year is not to be ignored by the
economist. 1t may be assumed that
the entire wealth Of the country has
risen from 100000, 1000 in 1870 to
$40, 900, 900, ,000in 1880, but tone-halfbe-
ing in real estate. Probably it does not
average profits exceedings per ceLt
yearly, taking bad investments with
good, but at that rate the yearly in
terest on all personal property of all
kinds is only $1,000, 100000, and the
direct or indirect cost of the liquor
traffic must be greater.
These comparisons do not consti.
tute reasons for doing any unjust or
unwise thing. What ought TO be
done about the liquor traffic is not to
be decided hastily or without due
regard for the rights Ofall classes of
citizens, But the time has gone by
in this country when Il serious dis
cussion of a question that involves
such vast expense to the Nation
can be prevented by bullying, in
tolerance, ins0lence or ridicuie. This
very practical people, having begun
to think about the matter in earnest,
perceiYes that it is much too impor-
tant to be put aside at the dictation
~ loo l.