The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-10-08
eoSTON's DRINKING HABIT.
Interesting Statistics Gathered by Prof.
Peabody, of Harvard Uni gersitx.

Peabody, of Harvard University.
Prof. Peabody, of Harvard university,
publishes in the Forum for July some
extremely interesting statistics con-
corning the dimensions of the drink
habit in the city of Boston. He is sec
rotary of the committee of 50, of which
Seth Low is president, which is engaged
in the study of the liquor problem in
various parts of the country, and the
figures which he gives were collected
undeS the direction of that organiza-
ton:
n twUrold inquiry was instituted, one
to ascertain the average daily patronage
of the saloons, and the other the average
daily patronage of such resorts as could
be fairly described as social substitutes
for the saloon. The police patrolmen
were asked to give estimates, based upon
observation Of the average daily attend
ance at each saloon, and these were in
doubtful cases fortified with the evil
dence of the saloon keepers themselves.
The attendance at the substitute places
was obtained by an independent but
none the less thorough system of IN
quiry. No effort was made to ascer-
tain the attendance at hotels, private
clubs, or licensed grocers, SO that all
the drinking is not included in the re-
suits.
The figures are formidable enough,
however, to cause general astonishment.
The whole number of saloons is COG,
and the average daily patronage of them
is 226,752, or about half the entire pop
ulation of the city. This does not mean
that half the population is in the habit
of taking a drink daily, for some men
enter several times a day, and in this es.
innate they are counted as different
persons each time. The amount spent
by each person is put at ten cents, which
expert opinion says is the average sum,
so that the total daily expenditure is
$22, 675, and the annual outgo in year
of 300 days $6,S02,500. This is a gross
income of about $4,000 for each saloon.
Prof. Peabody points ont that the an
nual expenditure for the Boston public
school system is only little over S..
000, 900, and that the com bined public
school, fire, police and park depart
ments of Boston do not cost so much
as this total saloon income amounts to.
The sum of money paid over the Bos-
ton bars nine-tenths of which, it may
be fairly estimated, comes from per-
sons of modest incomes, is sufficient
to meet the total living expenses of
nearly ZOO families spending 5000
each" Prof. Peabody places the num-
Der of males above 20 years of age in
Boston at $3.50, and calculates that
the patronage of the saloons is as if
every man in the city drank every day,
and in addition treated friend from
the country every other day"
The returns from the substitutes for
saloons are quite encouraging. There
are 572 Of these, coffee-rooms, pool
rooms, lunch-rOoms, reading-rooms and
clubs, of "a reasonable degree of at
Effectiveness" and they have daily at
tendance of 96,91S, or, excluding the
pool-rooms, 76,26S. There is much
smaller proportion of nonresident WIS.,
itors at the substitutes than at the
saloons, so that these figures really
show a considerable element of the pop
ulation in regular attendance. Prof.
Peabody says the patronage is encour.
aging to the promoters of this flank
attack upon the saloon when one con-
siders the inadequacy of many of these
resorts, the meager provision for socia.
bility and comfort as compared with
the splendor of the saloons, and the dis
advantage under which some of these
substitutes are put by regarding so
ciability as secondary to moral or re.
ligious MISUNDERSTANDING Post.