The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-12-19
An Appalling Drink Bill.

An Appalling Ur1nk Dill
Verify, Americans are thirsty people.
The national drink bill is simply enormous,
and, FER capita, far exceeds that OF any otner
people on earth. We plume ourselves over
the yearly increasing strength OF the PROM.
bition movement and boast Of the number OF
States that are passing prohibitory laws, ouG
tho bad fact remains that we are pre.emlnent
for bibulous capacity. Take this one fact
alone as the startling evidence OF What we
mean: During 1887 the average consump,,
tion for every man over twenty-one years OF
age in the United States amounted, in round
numbers. to sixty gallons of beer and SIX
gallons of whisky, which cost to the con-
sumner at retail $4, or grand total pald Dy
the manhood Of the nation Of Isl ,OOo,O o,Ooo,ooo,
one thousand million dollars for whisky and
beer. Fancy it! We are paying enough for
sand millionaires every year! Ihls account
does not include wine, brandy, rum, gln,
vinerar btters, American drinks, soda water,
tce-cream, etc. There is no question
auuuL the correctness Of the data given. ANY
scbeolboy can work out the calculatlon, ana
ID ID worth the while Of all schoolboys !and
Of all old boys too, for the matter OF thatl
to work it out. The Bureau Of Statistics at
Washington gives the following hgures,
which. of course, are official and reliable:
. Malt LIQUORS consumed during 1857 IN the
United States 1--WE drop the odd fgures), T20,-
900, 600 gallons; distilled spirits Of home man
ufacture consumed during the same period.
12000,000 gallons. 1t is q fair estimate OF
the prices realized over the bar to say that
beer costs the consumer ~ cents per gallon
and whisky s6 per gallon. 1t follows that
the drinkers Of the nation paid 81 OOS. .OCO, 900
for beer and homemade spirits almost
, wholly whisky during the fiscal year last
past Taking the total male adult population
at tabout what it is, namely, IL, ,00O,OOO, It re-
suits that the men of the nation are paying
an average of $S4 per head per annum for the
whisky and beer they drink. 1t is stu
pendous and appalling account. As people,
We put into our r juths drinks that largely
steal our brains away, which cost us $5,OU,-
QUO during every twenty-four hours, Sunday
and week day; or three times the entire
revenue (the obnoxious surplus and ALL col
lected by the United States Government.
/ This money, if applied to railroad building,
would, at the rate Of s25, 900 mile, give us
no less than thirteen trans continental rail.
roads every year. If devoted to purposes OF
travel, it would enable every man in the
United States to enjoy two months trip TO
Europe once in every three years 1t would
pay off all that remains OF the nations IN
years the amount of our national drink
bill would suffice to extingulsh
the obligations of every government
on this globe of ours. and leave the nations
Of the earth free from debt our peer ana
whisky money, if saved and invested every
half year IN Government three per cents,
would provide fund more than sufficient 10
give every child hereafter born in the United
States fortune OF $4,000 upon arriving at
the age Of twenty-one years Then, again,
our drinking capacity is on the increase all
the time. In 1910 we consumed OF malt
liquors, per capita, one and thirty sixth
hundredths gallons. This consumption mas
,1o, i,o N ripcra cir ratio
until, in 1881, it reached within fraction or
twelve gallons per capita. In 1870 we were
able to drink but three and one-fifth gallons
per capita, so that our beer drinking capa-
city almost ouadrupled within seventeen
wears: and the end is not yet. If the con-
Seouential or indirect damage account were
charged UP in our national drink bill. how
vastly the sum total would be enlarged! The
hours lost to productive labor through drink,
the bushels Of grain turned to an inferior
purpose, the cost Of jails, ETC., who shall tell'
| San Francisco Ne'os Letter.
Worker from Switzerland.
! Rev. Mr.. Kempin, a minister Of the Evan
gelical Church. recently arrived from Zurich,
gave New York Voice reporter some inter-
est!ne facts about the organization OF the
foes Of the LIQUOR traffic and their methods of
work in the Republic Of Switzerland. They
have organized into total abstinence societies.
and now number 10, 0C0 members, divided
into about 81 local branches. Each of these
controls one or more coffee houses, supplied
with newspapers and reading tables, where
men can spend pleasant evenings.
Switzerland has three legislative bodies, all
now agitated by the LIQUOR question. Each
of these bodies takes a different stand. One
advocates letting the traffic alone, another
propt ses to place a high tax upon 1t, while
the third demands it's total eItermlnation.
Upon the outcome of the discussion depends
the question whether political frohlbltlon
party shall I've put in the field. -,
MIR. kempin hos come to this country with
the determination of entering the work or
Prohibition among tie Germans. 1.-The Ger
mans are not the beer. soaked race they are
supposed to be-" said he. II have talked
with many of them, and l have found them
generally eager to learn about the movement
There are a large number of Germans who
are opposed to the liquor traffic, and all that
prevents them from entering into this move
ment with alacrity is ignorance OF its
methods and objects"
White men, or, In the Indian phraseology,
"squaw men," should, in the opinion OF the
Indian Bureau and Of the Sioux Commission,
be removed from the Indian reservations
and kept out Of them. These intruders are
declared to be the curse Of every tribe. They
perpetrate fraud numerically upon their
victims, supply them with vile whiskey, and
degrade them with many Of their vicious
practices