The age-herald., 1898-09-25
LIQUORS CONSUMED
 IN UNITED STATES
Report Shows It to Be 16.42
 Gallons Per Capita.
OVER A BILLION GALLONS
Consumed Annually by the American People-Some Facts of Liquor Production in Alabama and
 Revenue Derived

If the amount of malt liquors consumed in the United States during the year 1896, had been equally divided among the popu-
 lation, each man, woman and child wou d
 have consumed fraction over sixteen gal Ions of "booze." To the white ribbon"
 society this will sound simply horrible," bu tthe government statistics bear out the | facts
 The twelfth annual report of the com
 missioner of labor just issued, treats of the economic aspects of the liquor problem, and contains many tables of interest. It shows that there were 61S7 distilleiies in operation in the United States at the close of the fiscal year 1896, which produced S9,-
 e92 ,555 gallons of distilled liquors. There were 1866 breweries, which brewed ILL.,
 6S6, ,75O gallons of fermented liquors. The production of domestic wines amounted to
 15, ,OOO gallons. The total amount of capi- tai invested in the establishments is shown to be $29S, ,27O ,249, and their product is
 valued at $2Ss 775, ,639. The number of peo- pie employed was fl ,425, earning $31 ,67S. 165 in wages
 The consumption of liquors Is where the | astounding figures are shown. The export
 and import of liquors is practically an off set The report shows the total quantity | of distilled liquors of all kinds consumed in. the United States was n,051,ST proof i gallons, wines 1S,701,fO6 gallons and malt i 1,060 ,62S,165 gallons. The per capita con- i sumption for 1926 was therefore one gallon | of distilled spirits, 0,26 gallon of wine and 1 15.16 gallons of malt liquors, making p IT 1 capita total of 16.42 gallons of all kinds of liquors and wines. The total amount used in the arts was 1o,976,s42 proof gallons. The number of establishments engaged in
 the liquor traffic is 161. .4S3, with an exclusive
 capital invested of $955, ,162,9O7 The number
 of proprietors is 19l,519, 95 per cent. of whom are male and per cent. female The num- Der of employees is 241, 755.
 The revenues collected by the govern
 ments, national state, county and munich pal represents many millions of dollars The national government collected s114.45O,- S61.17, the states received $lo,3ss,olo' the
 counties $5,O11,225, the municipalities $34,l55'-
 299,. total revenue to the whole country
 from fees and special taxes of s164ol6,4ol.
 The liquor traffic furnishes Alabama quite a neat revenue. This state ranks twenty
 ninth in the payment of revenue into the governments. The tabulated statements by counties of the amounts collected in the
 state furnishes some interesting facts. The state collects total of $1Of,o5o, the couii.ies $62 6S6, municipalities $192646, making total of $359 S39. Of this amount Jefferson coun-
 ty leads, paying S1,091. Mobile is second with $79,947. Montgomery is third, with 40l3. There are fourteen counties which collected no revenue at all, as follows; Chambers, Cherokee, Choctaw, Clay, Cone cuh, Covington, Escambia, Greene, Macon,
 Marion, Monroe Randolph, Washington, Wilcox and Winston.
 There are eleven other dry counties, but | they collected fines. These are Autauga. | Bibb, Chiffon, Clarke, Coffee. Dekalb, | Hale, Lamar, Lowndes, St. Clair and Sum- | ter Clay county has a reputation from it's geographical situation of being one of the | biggest "moonshine" producing counties in | the state, and for this reason, 1t is rather | surprsng to find it in the column as con- 1 tributing nothing to the government Maybe | Clay is not so bad as the reports say-or l they have expert "shiners" up in those l rugged hills.
 Forty counties paid licenses, as follows:
 Baldwin, $615; Barbour, $6, TIP; Blount, $l ,01S; l Bullock, $5296; Butler, $.287; Calhoun, l $6,725; Cleburne, $1 SS0; Colbert, $6142; Coosa l S1S25; Crenshaw, S2,1e0; Cullman, $2,3S7;
 Dale, sl,O5O; Dallas, $1S,39O; Fillmore, s2,212;
 Etowah, s7,397 Fayette, $1175; Franklin, | $S75 Geneva, $l ,530; Henry $5,762 Jackson, | $SS7 Jefferson, $S1 ,091 Lauderdale S5 ,162; | Lawrence, $1965; Lee, $6,S50; Limestone, | $l9S2; Madison, $11 ,065; Marengo, s5,325; | Marshall, $900; Mobile, S79,947; Montgomery,
 $44,O1S; Morgan, $6,100; Perry, s5,5O4; Plckens, 1 $l ,10o; Pike, $5,l0O; Russell, $1,450; Shelby, 1 $l ,750; Talladega, $6,575; Tallapoosa $7 ,106; 1 Tuscaloosa, $6,700; Walker, $7,375. The fines collected were: County, S7,2oO;
 municipality, $2,14l. Making a total revenue | to state, county and municipality of S369- | 1S0.
 As stated in the above, the municipalities l get the larger share of the revenue In
 Mobile county licenses are only issued in
 the city and the municipality gets $52, ,457 | This goes to the public school fund, as in | several other counties. Jefferson is second | in municipal collections, getting $42,045 It | is applied to the general fund in this coun- | ty. In almost every county the munich | pal governments get the major part of the | license money.
 The fines mentioned above relate only to | offenses committed by the manufacturers. | the dealers, or some person in their em- | ploy. They do not relate to offenses that
 are due indirectly to the traffic such as
 drunkenness dsorderly conduct or to mi
 nors misrepresenting their age in order to
 obtain liquor.
 All states collect taxes from the traffic,
 except California, where 1t all goes to the
 counties and municipalities.