Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-07-01


ment. True reform has its Foundation
In morality. Upon this foundation the
anti.slaycry reform rested, and upon this
basis rests labor, tariff and civil service re-
forms. Take the moral elemen, out OF these
reforms aud nothing OF importance remains.
i'ht who proposes to remove these reforms
rom the sphere Of politics because they po-
sess moral principles
The sphere ut reform, if IL is to be effect
i've, must he as wide as the sphere OF the evil
It seeks to remove. How wide is the sphere
OF the evil we are seeking to remove We an
swer, 1t is as wide as the sphere of our nation.
There is not an interest in our Nation, NOR Il
or material, that the liquor traffic does not
menace with ruin.
First II destroys the hrss Of east numbers
| Of OUr p0pUidtiOR.
1t is estimated that not less than loo, 900
perish Annually IN our land, at the hands OF
this traffic. This gives 27l deaths every day !;
fraction over | | every hour, or one every
five minutes.
During the war for the { mons, according TO
statement published some time since by Com.
missioner Dudley, OF the Pension Bureau,
there were 304 369 deaths in the Union army ;
as an average OF 76,092 deal he each year Tor
tour years. This was justly regarded Us a
great destruction OF human life. When We
estimate the cost Of our great civil war, it is
not upon the basis of dollars but Of lives.
Our orators, during political campaigns, grow
eloquent over the lives that were sacrificed TO
save our national existence. and il is theme
worthy OF the loitiest oratorical gilt.
But shall we be eloquent over the victims
| OF the great rebellion, and client over the far
more numerous victims Of the American
| Saloon2
The ravsges of war ceased two score years
ago, but the ravages OF the saloons 20 on day
and night through all the years of our his
| tory.
second. This traffic strikes with devastat-
| ing effect, the mlterial resources of ehe
| nation. Ga the one band it prevents pro-
| due ion, and on the other it wantonly de-
| struys large quantities OF what Is produced
| 1t prevents production by interfering with
| labor. 1t is estimated that there are | 6 900.
| 900 OF moderate drinkers and drunkars ia
| the United States, elassed as follows: 10000.
600 of moderate drinkers; 100000 OF i'm
| moderate drinkers, and ], ,000, 900 Of drunksrds
| There are constantly 100000 idlers iu the
| land, from intem yerance. Hsrgrave's stats.
tical tables show that the labor OF these idler:
would be worth $56S,s6l, 592 per year. All
this vast sum is now lost, while at the same
time these drinking idlers must he supported
at public cost. As 10 the destruction OF what
| is produced, know OF no way OF presenting
it 80 iorcibly as by quo,irg paragraph from
| DR.. Dorchcsters "Liqupr Problem in al
| Ages in which be sums up the waste fol
the last twelve years.
! lie says: "The $lo,3Os 92l 26l worth OF
| liquor, tdireCt cost to cousumers), consumed
| II, In, al ~. T,,,t
according to careful methods OF compu'at
rep;e 'ent ! ,949, ,56G, ,2l3 bushels OF grain. OF
It's equivalent, destroyed IN the manufacture
| AT 3! bushels OF grain for each inhabitant
the yearly average for each ind ,vid1s, as
determined by political economists in Great
| Britain, il would supply the whole popula.
ton of our country with bread, Tor four and
half years. Or allowing one pound Of
| grain to make one pound and two ounces Of
bread, (this will include discount tor waste
and we have T4,495 3S7 450 pounds of bread
equal 10 1888 4iG SG2 iour-pouud loaves
| Supppsiug there are 10000, 900 families in
lnc United 5 ates, it would give daily on,
| Uur-pound loaf OF bread to every family fol
five years and thirty days, and u
all were baked in one bakery, at Il
rate OF 800 loaves per hour, suc
ten hours each day, 1t would take 10, 2O4
years before all OF it wolId be baked On
the supposltion that thirty bushels of graf
would De produced per acre, il would rcquir,
1852 2O7 acres, GO, osl square miles, which
would be equal to n belt Of land two ant
three -hiths miles wide, extending round th,
globe
The direct cost of this traffic per year i
| 500 ,0O0 600. This vast sum does not in
cluie the cost OF keeping liquor paupers, pun
l0Hiug liquor criminals, and the many Other
financial burdens The traffic imposes upor
society.
AS compared with other and Legitimate
| sxpen litutes 1t stands thus
| THE GREAT DRINK WASTE Diagram com
| PaIins the annual expenditure for into, Icatinl
liquors in the United states, with variouS OF the
items OF expenditure for the necessities Of life
| taken from the United states census and othe
| official documents.
I'M toSicattng Liquors............ 5000, 900, ,OOU
| only SG6,WJOOJ less than One.hsf these tel
leading articles Of commerce combined,