The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-08-08
TEMPERANCE READING.
THE DRINK PLAGUE.

In recent article in these columns
on Labor in Europe" based upon a
volume of Consular reports, we spoke
of the effects of intemperance on the
condition of the laboring classes in the
various countries as evidenced by the
statements and statistics furnished by
the COnSuls. Since writing the article
mentioned, an extract from the London
Times has come to our notice which
adds still more abundant and startling
testimony on the point under consider
alton. The statements of the Times are
based upon Parliamentary reports from
her Majesty's Diplomatic and Consular
officers on the special subject of the use
of Intoxicating liquors on the Continent
Of Europe. We quote a few of the
more striking statements: 1.-The con-
sumption of spirits in North Germany
is very great, and out of yearly av-
erage of /, $50 suicides in Prussia for
five years, 50S have been due
to dipsomania and delirium
tremens. The percentage of sui
C des u among males due to alcohol
was 1910, whereas among females it
only two. With regard to fatal acct
dents also, large number of them
were attributable to drunkenness Sim
liar statistics were furnished in connec-
ton with the lunatic asylums. Taking
3,lO6 cases yearly treated in the gem
eral hospitals for dipsomania, $50 cases
OF delrium tremens in the lunatic
asylums, 597 private dipsomaniacs, 508
suicides and 81 drunkards accidental
ly killed. there is total of 5,2l2 cases
yearly of alcoholism in a fatal form.
The Prussian States alone showed l, 921
men and 80 women treated yearly for
delirium tremens 1t appears that seven
tcnths OF those suffering from alcohol
We're in the prime of life that is be-
tween twenty and fifty years of age. In
the kingdom of Prussia in 1882, the es.
innate expenditure on spirits alone was
500, 900, 600, while all the direct State
taxes for the same period produced but
S37, 800, 900. Taking the whole expend-
iture upon beer, wine and spirits, it
amounted to S23l, 900, 900, or more than
double the amount realized by the Prus-
sian eXchequer for its taxes and stamp
duties. etc"
In Belgium the showing is even
worse. The use of spirits increased
66 per cent. between 1851 and 1881,
and of beer increased during the same
period l5.7 per cent. The consump-
ton of spirits, wine and beer for 1881
amounted in value to about 800, O0O.-
GOO. Although the country is 50 small
itecontained in 1880 no fewer than 125,-
600 places devoted to the sale of intoX-
icating liquors. There was public
house on the average for every twelve
or thirteen grown-up males. The sui
cides rose from tiftyfour per 1000, 900
inhabitants in 1913 to eighty in 1880.
The lunatics advanced from 720 per
100000 inhabitants in 1910 to !, 40 in
1881. The Inspector-General of Bel
gian Prisons reports that four tifths of
the crime and social misery during the
last quarter of century has been di-
rectly attributable to intemperance.
These statistics are only a part of
those given summarizing the effects of
intemper ance in the different countries
of'Europe, but they are sufficient to in
dictate to some degree the extent of the
ravages of the scourge of drink. If we
pun Ohtl sllIi>l llltNC ldClS anu IL uIcS
the statistics of such an epidemic as the
cholera now raging in Spain, we shall
see that the latter is far less to be
dreaded than the plague of the rum
traffic. One single days number of
deaths from cholera in all Spain was
over six hundred aud the total deaths
for single week have reached some
thousands Startling rs are these
figures, they appear positively insigniii-
cant by the side of the number that
yearly fall before the drink scourge.
Cholera kills its victims quickly and
does not convert them into murder
Gus tiends or raving maniacS, or
throw Il burden of lifelong disgrace
and misery over the helpless and inno-
cent. Should any epidemic cause one
half the sorrow and anguish of which
the figures we have quoted give but the
faintest indication, :. cry of horror and
alarm would 90 up such as never yet
has been heard on the earth. What an
awful visitation is this-this evil that
doOms its victims to years of pain and
torture, that destroys them pecemeal,
until they become objects of loathing
and disgust, that converts some into
maniacs and imbeciles, and others into
outcasts, beggars, thieves, murderers
and criminals of every stamp and dye!
This evil empties the homes, the
churches and the workshops of the land
and fills the iails, the poor-houses, the
usylums and penitentiaries and brings
to thousands of hearts grief and
desolation to which mere bereavement
by death is a JOY in the comparison.
And this awful plague is devastating
not Europe only but all parts of the
civilized world. We can not quaran-
tine against it, for it has been in our
midst for many years Staying its thou
sands. 1t stalks like specter of death
up and down the streets of our towns
and cities and claims for its own many
of the best and modest of the land. 1t
haunts the purlieus of the towns, the
alleys and byways, where squalor and
misery, hunger and cold, crime and
shame ever follow in its train. Thou
sands of men under the protection OF
the law are engaged in spreading the
rum epidemic, carrying the infection
into the homes and households of the
land and drawing new victims daily
into its power.
q