The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1883-04-12

Some authentic and official figures,
covering the sale of drink throughout
the whole country have been obtained,
and can be given. They are, indeed,
startling. Mr.. Joseph Nimmo, Chief
of the Bureau of Statistics in the Treas
ury Department, estimates Che sale of
liquors in the United States for a single
fiscal year at S6O0,O00, 900, distributed
as follows:
Whisky, pO.OO0,000 gallons. ....... $3.50. .000000
Imported spirits, 2.J0O,OOO gallons. 25,O00.O00
Imported wines, 10, 10000 gallons. 53,iO0,000
Ale, beer and porter, 100000 bar
Native brandics, wines and corrdiais $4,000
Here are some comparisons that are
indeed "odious." The value of the
manufacturing industries for the same
fiscal year were:
Flour and grist mill products. .S4A, ,9s5, ,1f3
Nolasses and sugars raw and re-
nned) lIy.So,3.9
cotton goods OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. IIf4o5.I5g
mooien goods. ..-............-...-.. iso'fo9'sa
Boots and shoes. H9,7O4,6 80
1t appears by the same census that
the aggregate wages paid by all the
manufacturing establishments of the
country for the same year were S775,-
5S4, ,S43-not thirty per cent. in excess
of the drink bill.
The total income of all the schools of
learning, public and private, from
every source for the year is given as
S95, ,402, 726-not one sixth of the sum
spent on liquors.
The whole printing and publishing
bill is but S66, ,862, AL.
All the libraries in the country, pub
lie and private, are said to contain 49,
528, ,938 volumes. Reckon the average
value at two dollars volume and it
will give as the value S91 ,057 ,876, SO
that we drink up our books in less than
two months.
The entire church property of the
United States is valued at 1854, 483, ,581.
If it were all to burn up, about six
months of abstinence would replace it.
The census gives the total aggregate
of State taxation in 1870 Gncluding
therein all territorial, State, county and
municipal taxes) as $3.50, ,591 ,521-not
one-half the direct tax the liquor con-
sumers lay upon themselves; while the
whole public Indebtedness Exclusive OF
the National debt, of course) is set
down at 1868, 676, 75S-which could be
swept off by the direct saving. from less
than a year and half of abstinence.
Sales of liquor, wine, beer, etc., in
Great Britain for the year 1870 aggre-
gated CHOOSE. 285. This is some
what less sum than ours, but it repre-
sents larger consumption at much
less price per gallon. The sum for 1873
is reckoned at f140,014,712. The pop
ulation of the United Kingdom was 81
817, 108 in 1871, and that of the United
States 38,558, ,371 in 1870.
In 1872 there were 161, IA persons
paying to the United States Government
retailers license to sell liquors. Con-
slider the number who evaded, the num-
Der of bar-tenders who served employers.
and the increase since, and it is easy to
conclude that 200, 900 is moderate esti-
mate of the number who are now solely
or mainly employed in the business.
Thus, beside the spending of $500, ,OOO,-
600 per year for drink, an army of 2OO,-
600 are withdrawn from all useful in
dustry.
Judge Robert C. Pitman says: "Some
statisticians estimate the indirect cost of
Intoxicating liquors to a people as only
equal to the direct. But we have to
leave our figures when we ponder the
pecuniary losses and burdens which the
accidents, the impaired power of pro-
duction, the pauperism, the disease and
death, and the crimes which result from
alcoholic drink impose upon us. They
are not the less grave because they elude
computation. ."-Iosoa State Register.