Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-03-26
%. o. q. Column.
G. T. DIRECTORY OF ADD.
SON COUNTY.
WASTE OF lNTEMPERANCE.
By Rev. Benz. Swift

WASTE OF lNTEMPERANCE.
BY Rev. Benz. Swift
ave been asked for some words for
,olumn, and in reply shall consider
phases of the Waste of Intemper
rhaps you say this subject is stale
IDLY. But If you have not thought
through come with us.
Iillips Brooks once declared that IL
a cause justified fanaticism the
erance cause did; and that to him
was nothing more disgusting or
disheartening than the selfish, ease
g, luxurious man, INDUCING in dis
ion and denouncing temperance
icism. Doubtless each of us in
fe-time has met some of that class
red to by the lamented bishop, and
experienced something of his feeling
Pw of their spirit.
is certainly true that the facts
h obtain respecting the measure
waste of intemperance are such as
Btify one in taking a radical posi-
upon this subject.
st, the money waste. Who can
upon the charts now and again
ayed. which make clear what this
really Is, without deep STRINGS
4 nd and heart. The drink bill of
United States alone in 1891 was
billion, two hundred million dol
And this figure does not include
Ost of spirits used in the arts, man
ures and medicines. We say this
reat sum. yet how do we gain so
igent a conception of its magnitude
placing it alongside certain other
rs ordinarily thought Of as large.
instance, the amount contributed
same year to the work of home
oreign missions by all the churches
: country was about eleven mil
or less than one one-hundredth part
drink bill of our nation. The total
bsses of the year were one hundred
hirty-one millions, or about one
the sum paid for drink. Public and
he schools cost not more than one
The pension bill, about which
FAR so much, one-tenth the liquor
The total expense of our national
nment for its war, postal, pension
+ all other departments that same
was one-third the sum eXpen led
link; while the cost of the two
IS of our living. bread and meat,
PISS than the cost of the liquors by
hundred millions of dollars. Did
UNI, practically unthinkable in its
hess, add anything to our national
h?
will agree that whatever is eX-
Id for that which supplies no hu-
need is wasted. That vast sum
led no real need. 1t created a
pr need; it largely weakened our
it destroyed wealth and the ca
< for producing it. What can we
but a waste? Wasting enough
year to do the best mission work
christian church in the United
has ever done, for a century
ng enough to pay the total ex-
$ of our government for three
Is it not enough to make us
for our nation, that we who are
annoyed by the constant demands
nevolence, alarmed at the size of
Fnsion bill and apprehensive as to
lpense of administering our gov
int, should yet waste far more than
ese sums on that which debases
estroys.
these figures are not our only
f. of the vast pecuniary waste in
r. b in the habit of intemperance. OF
do the thousands of homes in This
bf plenty, so cherries and desti-
Is scarcely to warrant the name
speak, bat of earnings squandered
+ rink, earnings which by every
l right belong to wife and children
the money actually expended for
adly stuff is by no means the only
ial loss entailed by intemperance
- no drinks loses time from his work
hen engaged does an inferior grade
of our largest industries estimate
loss of productive power by reason
e intemperance of employees al
eight to thirty-three per cent
means an annual waste of many
ms the country over.
To be Continued.
EFFORT LODGE, NO. 72.
80