Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1895-08-07
is NOT THIS

hhAp n VII
A gentleman living in Washington
has been investigating the whisky and
beer business of this country, from the
official statistics on file in the nations
capitol.
He sends the Atlanta Constitution
the following startling figures.
There is little wonder that our fac
tories are idle, our ~storehouses full OF
unsold products, while the cry of star
walton goes up from every portion of
our wide dominion. Here is at ono
the cause of the trouble, and the clear
indication of the remedy.
Read this carefully
Americans are accounted q fairly So
Der people in the hurlyburly of nations,
but the figures of the internal revenue
commissioners for the past year are
enough to make a temperance crank
stagger without a drop of whisky or
beer. The preacher who puruses them,
will HE him to the pulpit and tell his
congregation what a nation of drunk
ards we are, stupified with drink half
the year and drugged with tobacco the
other half. That each year we squan-
der upon these inventions of Belzebub
three times as much money as is re-
quired to keep this great Government
in operation and more than is repre-
scented by the circulating medium of
the United States. And when the
preacher goes to throwing moral bumbs
he can load them with interesting, if
not astounding facts, if he so chooses.
We distilled last year 81, 346, 1884 gall
Ions OF liquor not including 1,430, 1853
gallons of brandy, making in all 49,
77,lS7 gallons OF alcoholic spirits. Ex-
pert %barteneers estimate sixty three
drinks to the gallon. Therefore there
were 1904, O62 ,S91 drinks produced in
this country.
A conservative estimate of how much
was imbibed across counters is about
37,OOO,O 900 gallons of whisky, brandy
and other distilled spirits, or in other
words we drank 5000, 900, 900 glasses of
whisky for which we paid over the bar
500, OOO, 900, or $4,000, 900 more than
Gil the annual appropriations of Con.
gress combined.
This represents a consumption of
100 glasses of whisky each week for
every man, woman and child between
the rock bound Pacific and the storm
tossed Atlantic, or counting only the
mail adults 500 glasses per week each.
The peel figures are equally astound-
ing. The consumption was 81, 962, 943
barrels; that is 1875, 1863, 200 glasses,
representing an expenditure for this
mode of teutonic h~ilarity of $617, $685.
46O, or about ten cents for each inhabi-
tant. In the neighborhood of two hun
dred and twenty glasses are charged
up in this calculation against each of
us as our annual allowance, therefore
If we do not average our daily glasses
we may be sure that our neighbors are
getting the benefit of our abstinence.
BY estimating this years internal
revenue receipts from spirits on the
basis of last years product with the
increased tax of 80 10 per gallon, the
internal revenue receipts will be $685.
ga, 906.
1t will be remembered that not long
since, the Advance editor was slightly
criticised and his statement called in
question, when he stated that the an
nual retail liquor bill of the people of
this country is s 1000, OOO, 900. Here we
have the official facts and figures. to
prove that it actually cost 81, 226, $685.
AGO.
Can any figures be more startling
than these? In Heavens name, is it
not time for the nation to arise, and
annihilate this horrible national crimep
If the following is true of the United
Kingdom it is more than true of this
country, having nearly twice as many
people as Great Britain. DR.. Norman
Keer says: "a few years ago l insti.
tuted an inquiry to expose the falsity
OF the statement that 80, 1000 drunkards
died every yearin the United Kingdom.
l had not long pursued my inquiry be-
fore it was made clear to me that there
was very little exaggeration in the
statement, and at the Social Science
Congress l was compelled to admit
that at least 1873, 900 annually lost their
lives through alcoholic excess.
POVERTY AND DRINK
In the winter of 1S7S-79 an immense
soup kitchen was established in Glas.
gov, Scotland, and the Lcrd Provost
took charge of it. Thousands and
thousands of people went through his
hands, he giving them relief. He took
the trouble inquiring into the cases in
dividually, and he found that there
was not q ~teetotaler who came to ask
for soup.T
Children CRY for