The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-08-12
''THE GREAT DESTROYER"

When Gladstone declared before the House
of Commons that drink had inflicted on the
world greater evils than war; pesilence and.
famine combined, was he indulging In mere
Court of the United States solemnly declared
II its official decision in the case OF Califor-
mia VS. Christensen tlS90, that q greater
amount Of crime and misery Is shown by the
statistics of every State to be attributable &
to drink than to any other source." was II,
for the moment, induIging in a thoughtless
statement for the purpose Of pleasing the
Temperance peoplew Well, perhaps So.
Gladstone may have been out Of his head
and the Supreme Court may have been hyp-
Noticed. Let usmake little excursion into
mathematics to see In 1888 the British
Medical Journal published the result OF an
inquiry made by the British Medical Assoc
citation (the principal association OF the kind
in England or perhaps in the wofld). The
inquiry was conducted during q period OF
nineteen months MAY 9, 1885, to December
II, 1885,, and related to the effects OF drink
on mortality. Each OF the doctors contrib
uting to the inquiry (17S In all, in different
sections of Great Brittany took his death GER
tihcate book aud from the ,counteEfoils OF
three years gave, in the case Of each death Of
q male over twenty five years Of age the I'M
mediate cause Of death, the age at death
and the drink-habits Of the man who died.
From the data supplied by this inquiry has
been carefully reckoned lsee Prohibition.
the Principle, the Policy the Party,
by Wheeler Appendix, Note C) the
number 120,0O0 of intemperate per-
sns Ssns saSS dying Wales: svsfy from ysaF al causes a
what is more important, the number Of Theses
who are killed by drink. This latter mum
ber is little over 10000. 1t does not In.
clude those infants and others dying as e.
result Of crime or negligence on the part OF.
drinkers, or as result OF inheritsd defects;
but simply those who kill themss elves with
alcohol. The number Is about the same Tor
the United States. estimating on the basis OK
the ratio OF absolute alcohol consumed IN sne
two countries. Thirty thousand killed each
year in the United States, $4,000 more IN
England. LeG us 90 further. In the report
Of the Swis. Federal Council, in 1885, after
special and exhaustive investigation, it ap-
pears that the amount Of alcohol consumed
in the countries of Canada, Norway and
Sweden. United States, Great Britainand Ire
land, Austro- Hungary, France, Russia, Ger,
man. Zollverein, Belgium. Switzerland, the
Netherlands and Denmark, Is 676, I24, 9s5 gal.
Ions or aboutsix times as much as In England
and the United States alone. The same
amount of absolute alcohol can be safely
reckoned as causing an equal amount Or
mortality, on an average, in all these coun.
tries. Six times 90, 900 Equals $40. OO0-the
number Of deaths each year caused In these
countries by drink. Three hundred and six
ty thousand yeari In an average genera
ton Of thirty-tbres years the number Is
nearly twelve millions III 1886, ,000. In the
lifetime Of a man & seventy years, the ag-.
eregate death roll will reach the amazing
figure Of over twenty-five millions Ia, 2U9-
COO. Remember, in looking at these stu
xLok ,pf q
number Of drinkers who have died, hut the
number who were killed by drink Rsmen-
Der, the estimate is based on reliable data
, furnished by one Of the best scientific asso-
Citations on the face OF the earth. Re-
member that in these figures is not
included the large, but indeterminate
number Of those dying as the re-
suit Of inherited defects due to drink, or the
result Of CRIME and negligence on the part OF
drunken men and women. Remember tnat
the estimate above Is lower by one-half than.
the usual estimates given OF all persons slain
by drink And remember that the above
countries do not comprise by any means al
those in which the devastation OF drink Is
spread. Among those not included are Aus
tralia, South America, Spain, Italy, Portu-
gal, and Oriental countries. How ola are
yous The young man of twenty can truth
fully say that in his lifetime drink has slain, Z
in the countries named, over seven millions
The man Of thirty can say that 1t has siam,
over eleven millions. The man OF forty can
say over fourteen and one-half millions;
the man Of fifty. over eigh-5
teen millions; the man OF sixty,
over twenty-ons and one-half millions; the
man of seventy, over twenty-five millions.
These are figures for which reliable data are
in hand. II we could obtain reliable data
for an estimate OF the millions not included
in the above reckoning. we should stand, II |
possible, still more agast before the known
ravages Of this gigantic destroyer But
even then the story would not be half told.
For every man who goes to his grave through
drink, how many are there whose lives are
shadowed by the disgrace and sorrow? mo
man liveth to himself and no man dieth to !
himself" These are the millions: who are
slain. how manv are the millions who
aourn! And to think that, from first to last,
this amazing curse is created by man and
can be removed bv man-all Of ite7ery ves-
rige of 1.-THE Voice.