New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-02-22
OVritten for the Review.)
Effects OF Stimulants and Narcotics
on the Human System.

|
| 25. CosT OF ALCOHOL. - The read
ers of our daily papers are familiar
| with the diagram that sets forth the aa-
| yantages offered by ..The Burlington
railway. 1t is in the form of a rounded
Maltese cross whose center bears the
representation of circular railway
| track. At the extremities OF the cross
are placed the names of the twin cities,
and OF Chicago, St. Louis and Denver,
while along the track appearthe names
of other cities. Nobody will deny ssIhe
Burlington the right to advertise its
peerless dining cars and other advan-
tages by any diagram of its own inven-
| ton; b,lt it would be deemed preposter-
Gus if Mr.. Kenyon should ask us to ac-
cept and teach as a geographical fact
Oh the strength of his diagram, that
Boston is a halfway station between
Chicago and St. Paul.
During the last presidential cam
paign, there could be seen on the street
corners and in other public places
large posters bearing a diagram in
which the alleged expenses of our ma
ton were graphically classified and
compared by means of heavy lines
whose length was proportional to the
given figures. This diagram was ex-
tensively copied by educational journals
and other periodicals, and the state
ments embodied in it are to-day taught
in a majority of the graded schools Of
Minnesota. State Supt. Kiehle expects
every teacher to be familiar with the
contents Of the prohibition party's dia-
gram. [ clip the following from the
questions evolved by the department of
public instruction "Cost of alcoholic
drinks to the nation annually? Aver
age cost to each person. How does
this compare with the cost of bread?n
The statements embodied in the diagram
which are most extensively copied and
taught, are these: Alcoholic drinks,
5000, 100000 - bread, S5OO,OOO,OOO II
meat, $500, 100000 Teachers who may
have any doubt as to the propriety of
teaching temperance statistics under
cover of a law that requires instruc-
ton in physiology and hygiene with
special reference to the effects of slim
ulants and narcotics on the human svs-
TEN, will find, by turning to page 5 of
the State superintendent circular No.
s. that there is an intimate relation be-
tween the human system and the hu-
man purse '..The treatment OF the
subject.as required by law properly in
cludes the following :..... s. Effects
upon economic habits" This hint, in
connection with the questions, is suffi
cient for the wise.
& Willis J. Beecher, in an article on
Temperance Reform Statistics North
American Review, 1850, comments as
follows on the drink, bread and meat
items of the diagram mentioned above
''It is sufficient to say that this makes
the average cost of bread and meat to
an American citizen to be about thirty
cents q week! We may add that the
amount mentioned as that of our meat
bill is eGciesjUe of all retail butcbering
establishments, and that the total value
of our distilled malt and vinous liquors,
as giue1s IN the tables from a0zich the
above numerals a0e7e taken, is $144,-
000,O0O."
According to Mr.. Beecher, number
of years ago the State Central Commit
tee OF Illinois sent out a circular con-
tanning the following statement rela-
tive to the, liquor dealers of the United
States: Their retail trade upon which
revenue was paid for the year 1867,
was in round numbers 81, ,4S4, 900, ,000
This gives $43 for every man, woman
and child in the conntry." This
statements is made, not concerning the
combined direct and indirect cost of in
temperance, but concerning the retail
trade in beverages. In substance, it
has been often repeated, with its
amount growing as the years go by, by
men of whose good judgment and hon
est intention there can be noldoubt. There
may be a sense in which it is true but
repeated inquiry has proved futile for
difficult to imagine what it can possibly
be. In any meaning that it conveys to
the ordinary reader the statement is
certainly untrue, and grossly so !; it re-
quires no great insight to render one
certain of that. The sum of $43 for
each person was not far from one
third of the entire income of the ceun-
try. Less than one-third of our popu-
lation, certainly, are habitual patrons
of the retail trade in alcoholic beverag-
es, and as drink is a great impoverish-
er, the drinking class, on an average,
have smaller incomes than others. It
follows that, according to our commit
tee, one-third of the people in this coun-
try, in 1867. spent for liquors, on an
average, considerably more than their
incomes, leaving them less than nothing
wherewlth to pay for food, clothing,
house rent, and other supplies. CIV. j.
Beecher.)
According to the 'most recent inves-
LEGATIONS the direct and indirect cost
of alcoholic drinks to the nation is S2,-
50o,0o0,000 per annum and nobody
can tell to-day what sum will be sprung
upon the public in the revised edition
of the diagram which will appear DUR
ing the next presidential campaign.
With such terrible figures before US,
it may not be out Of place to inquire
into the methods employed in obtain
ing them. l shall for this purpose se-