The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1888-02-28
THE LIQUOR PROBLEM III.

In the former papers published I'M
der this heading | have discussed the
principles which justify special legis-
lation on the Liquor Problem, and
also, briefly, the workings of the
license system. But it remains to
consider the system, frequently advo-
Gated in the Honolulu press, of curing
intemperance with beer and light
wines.
In former paper / called attention
to facts which left no room to doubt
that drunkenness and its attendant
crimes prevailed in the German En-
pire just the same as in other countries,
notwithstanding the well known beer
drinking proclivities of the German
people. The fact is beyond doubt that
beer has not cured drunkenness in
Germany. And if it has not succeeded
in Germany where can it be expected
to succeed?
The Federal Council of Switzerland,
a few years ago, published a table,
compiled from official sources and pre-
sumably reliable, showing that the
people of Belgium drink, on an aver
age, 1892 quarts of beer per year for
each individual, and the people of the
United States, who, as the advocates
of light wines and beer generally tell
us, drink to get drunk, drink 31.3
quarts. II we may expect to find
difference the amount of wines and
spirits CO ed by the two peoples.
And we all find the difference, but
not such an one as we might be led to
expect. The people of the United
States consume 3.21 quarts of spirits
and 2.64 quarts of wine, as against
consumption of s. quarts Of spirits and
81 quarts of wine consumed by the
people of Belgium. Perhaps the peo-
pie of Belgium are exceptional in their
use of spirits and beer.
The people of Great Britain and Ire
land drink 1882 quarts of beer, and
4. 10 quarts of spirits and 2.09 quarts of
wine. The people of Switzerland con-
sumo 1929 quarts of beer, and S.21
quarts of spirits and 80. quarts of wine.
Denmark requires SO. SO quarts of beer,
/ quart of wine and 17.63 quarts of
spirits. So if the people of Belgium
are exceptional in their use of beel
and spirits, those of Switzerland, Great
Britain and Ireland, and those of Den
mark must be equally so. In fact of
all the countries here reported which
consume more beer per capita than the
United States, not one but consumes
more spirits, also. 1t is the rule, not
the exception.
If not beer perhaps wine will prove
to be the antidote for drunkenness.
The introduction of California wines
has been seriously advocated as a tenn
perance measure in the press of Homo
| lulu. Let us see how that theory
works.
France is undoubtedly the country
of wine. The people of France con-
sumo annually 1872 quarts of wine,
per capita, and Gal quarts of spirits,
against a consumption of 2.64 quarts of
wine and 3.21 quarts of spirits in the
| United States. Switzerland, as we
| have seen, consumes annually 90.
quarts of wine and S.27 quarts of spirits
per capita. Austria-Hungary requires
22.4 quarts of wine and 5.0T quarts of
| spirits per capita for her annual sup
ply. Again going through the list, it
Will be found that every country
which consumes more wine than the
| United States, consumes more spirits,
| also. No, neither beer nor wine will
save people from intemperance, IN
less the teachings of the past are to be
reversed.
One thing more remains to be con-
sidered, the prohibition of the indis-
criminate sale of spirits and the icen-
! sing of the sale of beer and wine. This
is the scheme advocated by the liquor
dealer whose words quoted in for
mer paper. 1t is the system tried for
MANY years in Iowa. The results OF
this system as compared with prohibit
tionwill be considered in later paper.
For the present l viii only say that
the results were far from satisfactory.
But it should be remembered in all OF
these discussions that no system has
yet attained perfection. 1t is for us to
compare the systems now in vogue and
already tried and choose that which
promises the best results. Fortunately
the different systems have been tried
in the same places and among the
same peoples, so that it is easy to make
| the comparison. But this paper Is
now too long to admit of any compar-
isons until a later date.
HENRY S. TOWNSEND.