The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-03-02
WORLDS DRINK STATISTICS,
Eag.;sisncn Arc Greater Eecr Driniser
Than Gcrm2cH.

Eag:;sisncn Ara Greater Eecr Drinkers
Than Germans.
The country owc; thanks to Sir
Courtenay Boyle. Most blue books
are dry, and but few Of lis care to
master their contents. Sir Courtenay
Boyle has succeeded, however, il
producing one that might almost ba
described as fascinating-the drink
statistics of the civilized world, or,
to give it its official and rather long
winded title, 'The Production and
Consumption of Alcoholic Bevcr-
ages (wine, beer, spirits.
A study of the paper leads to one
conclusion-namely, that not only
will people drink as long as they can
afford to pay for it, but that they
will drink. France produces ten
times as much wine as Germany; it
also exports ten times as much, and
yet more German wine is imported
into the United States than French
wine. The answer is obvious; there
are in the States many successful
German settlers, and they, having
the money, will have hook of the
fatherland no matter what they pay
for it. Thus also in prosperous Bel
GUM people put scarcely any limit
on themselves in the matter of drink,
and whether it be beer or spirits
Belgium stands at the head in the
matter Of consumption per head,
while even as regards wine, although
it is not a wine producing country,
the inhabitants consume as much as
do the Germans, whose country is
wine producing.
One point that is brought out very
clearly in these tables is the fact
that the drink trade is almost every
where 4 home industry-tnat is,
that by far the greater proportion OF
tho drink consumed is made in the
country consuming it. We in Eng
land import so much wine and bran
dy from the continent that we are
perhaps not altogether in position
to realize the fact, and yet even in
England by far tho greater portion
of the drink consumed is home
made. This is proved by the relative
proportions of the customs receipts
from imported liquors. The Gus
toms receipts amount to e5, 500, 600
and the excise receipts to 427, 000,-
600, OF in the proportion of II per
cent to SO per cent in favor of the
homemade. Perhaps very few real
ize to how great an extent France is
the great wine producing and also
the great wine consuming country
of the world. The statement that
the quantity Of wine annually drunk
in the United Kingdom. Germany
and the United States, which, taken
altogether, have a population of
$50, coo, 900 souls, barely exceeds Il
tenth part of what is consumed in
France, with its 3e,O00,0OO inhabit-
ants, enables us to more fully rec
ognize the fact. Many, moreover,
will be surprised To find that the con-
sumption per head OF beer in this
country exceeds that OF Germany,
for while the German drinks 25 gal
Ions per annum the Englishman
drinks 30 gallons. IN both countries
the consumption of beer is distinctly
on the increase.
The following is an interesting
fact taken ut hazard: Soventy-seven
gallons of beer are consumed i'll this
country for every gallon of wine
that is drunk. Could any clearer
proof be wanting that it is the mass
es who drink, not the classesa
Scarcely the seventh part of a bot
tie of champagne per head is drunk
per annum by the Inhabitants OF
this country, in the United States
scarcely tho twentieth part.-Pan
Mall Gazette.