The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-06-08
Lady Somerset Writes.

| desire TO append a portion of an ar
ticle bn Lady Henry Somerset. which ap.
peared in the November, 1899, number of
the Review of Reviews. The article as
a whole is most complete resume of the
objections urged against temperance leg
islatiOn, and a copiouS and unanswerable
array of statistics from the different
countries that have rid themselves of
this destroyer. She says in part as fol-
lows:
In Sweden before the local option law
of t<S5 the consumption or spirits
enormous, estimated at from to 10 gall
ions OF proof spirit per head. BY the end
| Of 1856 the amount had been reduced to
| little less than 2l2 gallons per head. Last
year IL sank to 1.6o gallons.
! In Norway local option was introduce
ed in 1915. Immediately beforehand the
! consumption of proof spirit per head was
| is liters; from 1916 to 1855 il was liters;
! from 1876 10 1885 it was 4 1iters; from 1890
to 1894 it was "a liters; and is at present
| only 22 liters O.S gallon). Since 1915
! there has been an increased consumption
Of wine and beer. averaging per head in
| 1897 0.59 gallon of wine and 49, gallons
of beer. In all. the consumption of al
cohol for 1897 was equal to LIS gallons
in proof spirit.
I'm striking contrast to Norway stands
Denmark, in so many respects akin.
Denmark has had no prohibitory legisla-
ton and drinks more alcohol now than
ever The alcohol consumed in Den
mark in 1897 in the form of beer, wine
and spirits was equivalent to SOP gallons
of proof spirit per head of the whole pop
ulation The present per head consump-
ton of spirits Is greater than that OF
any other country IN Europe
In Canada.
Canada is declared by the writer to be
the soberest Christian country in the
world" During 1S7i-75 the yearly con-
| sumption in the Dominion was reduced
; to i615 gallons per head during 1919;
to i.10 gallons per head. In British Co
lumbia there has been no prohibition eI
cept on Sundays, and the annual con
: sumption per head has averaged 2.3
, gallons of proof spirit. Prince Edward
, Island. which is mostly a prohibition
, area, shows a corresponding average o
, sumption in British Columbia with thu
. Dominion a whole, the local optioI
: law has reduced the Dominion's drinl
bill at least one-half:
THE half of England's drink bill 70
the last year was Ell ,000,00O, but, roughly
e170OO,OO0 of this sum was for duty. l
T We in this country had but had fail
= ure of the same character and tn
d same scale as that of Canada. We shout
r have thereby saved GD,00O,000 last yeal
e or five times the money necessary TO star
= an old-ase-penslon scheme Prohibitio
d prohibits on a large scale in Canada.
r In the United states.
. The writer will not admit that prohib
> ton has been a failure even in the Uni
I! ed States. Under the local option sys
p TEN in Massachusetts, for example, tn
y liquor traffic has been suppressed anon
- .200.G0 out of total population of
- 100000 AS to the case of Maine, 81
a | says:
In prohibition in Maine is said to
a AN unquestionable and abject failure
= Let us look at incontestable facts. TT
" population in Maine is $4,000. Prohib
Of ton is confessedly success througho'
70 the area inhabited by six-sevenths OF tn
ly number. . : There Is some question
ly TO the degree of success among the oth'
- ice COO