Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-07-01
EHsIand's Drink Bill.

EHgIand's Drink Bill.
Once a year the London Times makes
room for detailed statement of Eng
lands drink bill. That statement has
Just appeared. 1t shows a reduction
from 1884, for last year, but not reduc-
tion of q character to encourage the
friends of temperance. For many years
the statement has been made by Mr.
William Hoyle, F. S. S., but this time
another member of the Statistical Soci-
ety. Mr.. Dawson Burns, D. D., signs bis
name to the report. The British expen'
diture upon drink in 1885 was S616,343,'
500: a decrease of about $15, 100000 from
the preceding year. But Mr.. Burns says
"In regard to the causes of diminutiOn
we must, fear, look to the continued
snd in some quarters increasing-de-
preston of trade, rather than to the
growth of thrift and temperance iu the
country. With the removal of this de-
preston we should most probably find
the drink bill become heavier, and its
social seouen oes become darker" This
is reasonable inference from the sta>
tistics of preceding years. The state of
trade in England always reflects itself
in the drink bill Mr.. Burns gives the
footings from 1860 to 1885 inclusive, and
they show this very plainly.
In that quarter of century the drink
bill has mounted from S425.O00,0OO to
$616,OOO,OOO. Mr.. Burns says: "The
years of commercial prosperity brought
with them vastly augmented expendi-
ture upon strong drink, and even when
that prosperity began to decline, the spe-
cial impetus that had been given to
drinking habits resisted for time, and
Welded bu. slowly to the stress of di :
minishing resources" That is to say
that people began by economizing in
ether directions, and only cut down the
drink expenditure when they were COM
pelled to do SO; even then continuing to
consume largely. Of course the increase
between 1860 and 1885 is partly account
ed for by growth of population, but Mr..
Burns holds that allowing for this the
increase in the drink bill shows decline
rather than progress in temperance. at
is clear" be says, "that the amount of
the National drink bill is still enormous
being equal to the Nations expenditure
for bread, butter and cheese; is not far
short of the rents paid for farms and
houses in the United Kingdom; is three
times the amount spent for tea, sugar,
coffee and cocoa; and is six times the
amount of our expenditure on linen and
cotton goods" Taking the families OF
the United Kingdom at six millions, the
gross expenditures for drink in 1885
gives an average expenditure per family
of S1025O; or reckoning five persons to
q family, $20.50 per head. OF course if
those who do not drink at all are sub
tracted, the average is very much great
er; rising in fact to $40 per family of
five persons.
This is an enormous expenditure upon
drink; an enormous waste of capital to
put the fact plainly, for the money spent
upon drink is as rule not only thrown
away, but much worse than thrown
away, being expended in the creation of
a swarm of evils which would not other
wise have existed. 1t may well be ask
ed what effect upon the general we'll
being of Great Britain would be produc-
ed by the expenditure of this six hun
dred millions of dollars upon productive
industry, upon the necessaries of life,
upon land and houses, upon education,
books, pictures, all that ministers to and
develops the higher life of nation.
There can be no doubt at all that large
percentage of the poverty, destitution,
ignorance. misery, which now perplexes
society, would disappear if the constant
leak of the drink bill could be stopped
But though there is much movement in
thinking circles at this time; though So
cial problems have never been studied
more seriously; the development of lux.
ury and gross material enjoyments pros
ceeds even more rapidly than the evolu-
sion of patriotic solicitude and intelli-
genee, and the example set by the rich
is in no way such as to incite the poor
a self restraint. England's drink bill is |
a document which has for Americans a
deep interest. for our own expenditure
in the same direction is a duplicate of
that of our cousins across the ocean, and
every consideration or argument spring
ing from and relating to the one case has
equal significance for the other. How
to get rid of this annual record of gross
indulgence and suicidal vice is the most
pressing question in both branches of
the great Anglo-Saxon family.-N. Y.
Tribune.
An Enferprising, Reliable Firm.
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