The Red Cloud chief., 1884-05-02
National Drink Bills,

Few people can have a realizing 1dca
of the enormous consumption of liq-
UorS and of their cost to consumers I'M
til the figures are placed before them
GThis the Christian Union has been DO
ing, and it finds the entire bill for drink
in TIL. country To be $500. 600, 900 In
round numbers. The Union bases its
Is imateS on the last census and other
official authoriti s. and it arrives 1T its
estimates in the following manner
The internal revenue ON distilled spirits in
lsS3 WAS Sai.;6s. 30: the RATE il ~ cents II gai-
ion aud the quantity of liquor taxed - there
lore S1.6ii.gI2 gallons a certain part of this
was used for mechanical and scientific pur-
poses. but most OF II WAS drank Is IA beverage
Sold hS T. e glass 10 would cost the consumer
about 81 Il gallon. The who g amount AT this
m ew"ul1 aggregate $40. .el,S}:- tn" tax on
icrmcntci liquors N the same year amounted
10 Sii :sl.6lj. which. az 81 per barrel. repre-
SCENTS an equal nunberof barrels containing at
fhIrty-one gallons to the barrel 53.9I9.0t gall
IONS. NJ I'VE cents a glass and twcfVe glISSeS
To the gallon this costs the consumer SSIL-
..bi.f5- The imported liquors est mated on y
similar basis cost the consumer ut least SIO1.-
uO.OOt. which brings the total Gust no 10 more
Than $NC.u1.0u. No account IL taken of ma
tive wines. nor of liquor, crooked whisky
and other which ESCAPES taxation: and the
cost of these may be taken IA u fair offset IT,
the dlstlIieI liquor employed Tor mechanical
AMI scientific purposes"
n recent statement in the L0n.iOn
Times enables l. To compare the dr. nix
bill of Great Britain with our own. In Z
1883 there were 5000. I'D gallons of
intoxicating liquors consumed. and
60. 1872, ~ gallons of wine and beer. or
u total of l,tO2.lil. 19S gallons, IL COM
pared with 6o6, j51.037 gallons in this
country. representing IN expenditures
Sb2I.dS6.J1", rs against 5000, uUHI. OOu in
this country, which goes to show that
liquors are considerable chrap,r in
Great Britain thar here, and adui;era-
on much more frequent here than
there. Estimating the amount coz
Sumed per capita. rs represented bv
these totals, the results are quite az
founding. While the sixty millions. of
people in the United states CunSgmc
about min" gallons Of beer and wine and
Ii and a third gallons of liquor per
capita. the thirty-six millions in Great
Brita n consume n the rate of about
one gallon of intoxicating liquors per
capita and about twentv-spven Gallons
OF beer and wine. There is one feature
of the drink bill. however. upon wuich
Great Britain can plume It's H.. While
the expenditure in this country is in
crea>in~ year by year it is diminishing
m Great Britain. In 1867 the drink bill
bill was Siz6. %St.SJO. Year bv wear
the expenditure rose. until 1876. when
IT reached $3.50. i43. 49,. In those sin
teen years the population hal grown IL
per cent. and the drink bill - per cent.
Since 1870. however, ii has steadily de
cIined, and Is now S6z1. jS6.;i7.,. a fall
ing of OF $3.50. l2O rs compared with
1852. Wh!e q portion of tbs was ow-
ing to depression in trade. il was ma II
~ due To the vigorous efforts of Tenn
pcrdnce refOrmrrS.
The enormous noun OF money spent
Tor LIQUOR in tie United States may be-
more clearly realized when compared
with other expenditures which are es-
Innate Nv the Union. such a. SJtLJ.
O0.ptO for read, and 500, nm. 900 for
meat. showing that more is paid out Tor
liquor than for bread and meat toretb-
cr; S29O.oUO.WD for iron and steel
S23I.UUo,Gp for wooden goods. S2i3,-
600. 900 for sawed lumber, $40. 900, OOo
for cotton goods. 1896. 900, 900 for boots
and shoes. sljj. 900. 900 for sugar and
moiaSseS. IS, 0Ul. 900 for pdblic educa-
ton. and Sj.5'D,pO for missions. This
expenditure is only the direct cost. It
does not represent the cost of pauper-
ism. idiocy. insanity and crime which
are entailed upon the country by liquor.
Chicago Tribune.
The following diagram is a conIpar-
ison OF the annual expenditures in the
united States for Intoxicating liquors
g with various other of the largest
e items of expenditure. 1t is based
El on the census of 1880 and other re
liable authorities. Scale: Each
three fourths OF an inch represents
"a an expenditure of SlUo,UN. UOD. We
are Indebted to the Christian Z mon
forthe measurements and statistics.
The liquor bill represents the cash
II paid for it by consumers. and is.
in our opinion. not an exaggera-
ton of the facts. We consider
il just about the actual mount.
Comments upon a showing so APP
Trailing would only weaken tho
HlOwer OF truth.-Interior.