Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-04-23
DRINKING HABITS.
American People Consume Large
Amount of Spirits in Year.

American People Consume Large
Amount of Spirits in Year.
Interesting details concerning some
of the small vices of Americans-if
consumption of spirits or tobacco is
yice-are given in the Statistical Abb
stract of the United States for 1902,
which has just been published by the
bureau of statistics of the treasury de-
partment. The book is entirely COM
posed of rows and columns of figures.
with the proper explanatory titles, and
is wholly without ordinary reading
matter But the stories which the fig
ures tell are many and varied.
1t is learned, for instance, that
whereas half century ago-in 1850,
to be precise, when the first report was
compiled-the American of the times
was satisfied to get through the year
of 4.OS gallons of wines and liquors,
his successor today requires 19.4S gal
Ions. This comparison, however,
would not be complete without the fur
Their information that in 1850 the
Am erican citizen consumed, take him
all around, 2.23 gallons of distilled spir-
its whisky and brandy--as against
only 1.36 gallons by the American of
1902. 1t is in malt liquors, beer, that
the American of nowadays has so far
outdistanced the American of 1850,
raising the average from an insignifi-
cant 1.5s gallons to 1749 gallons.
In the matter of wine, the citizen Of
the United States has never been a
very large consumer. In 1850 the pei
capita average was but paltry .27 Of
a gallon, and in 1902 it had risen to
only .63. Parenthetically it is noted
that during the last ten years there
has been very considerable falling
off in the quality of wine imported
from other countries. In 1893 the i'm
ports amounted in value to $10,205, 353.
while last year the value was only S.
921 ,13S. Concerning champagne fig
ures show that in 1893 the value of
the imports of champagne amounted
to S5,579,054, and that in 1902 the
value was but s4,903,76S.
That American taste in whisky
has undergone a change of recent
years is probably known to those
who have an interest in such mat
tiers. 1t is graphically shown in the
figures in the statistical abstract.
Ten years ago-in 1S93-the produc-
ton of bourbon whisky in the United
States amounted to 40,S35,S73 gallons
against 16,702,240 gallons of rye
whisky last year the production was
| 20,336,250 gallons of bourbon whisky
and 21,5S7,22 gallons of rye
| 1t is, perhaps, not uninteresting to
know from the same source that to
Illinois belongs the distinction of be-
ing the greatest whiskey making state
| in the Unoin. This is no new honor
which has come to Illinois, for she
has maintained her lead from as far
back as the records go, and well in
advance of that great whiskey state,
Kentucky. Last year Illinois pro-
duced 39,742,S76 gallons of distilled
spirits, and Kentucky, which ranked
second, 26,019,166 gallons. But then,
the Statistical Abstract takes no ac-
count of whiskey which is, made by
moonlight, so after all Kentucky may
have been first.
! New Workers may derive whatever of
pride there may seem to be in the
distinction from the information that
this state, though only seventh as a
maker Of whiskey. ranks first as a
/ UiGNST u Deer. DSSE Ildy nave mdu6
| Milwaukee famous, but the state in
which the latter city is produced only
3,705,046 barrels last year. as against
10.473,640 barrels by New York. Penn.
4 sylvania stands second on the list, with
a record of 5,567.064 barrels.
Just how much tobacco the present
day American smokes as compared
with the American of the past is not
so easily determined from the figures
given. Duties and taxes are paid on
the quantity of the weed imported and
grown each year, but, of course, con
siderable quantities remain in the
stock at all times. In imported tobac
cos and cigars there has been no APP
preciable increase. In 1893 the value
of all importations was S1761S,546:
last year it was $17,715.4 93. In tobac
co. of domestic growth, however. the
increase was, apparently, at, least
marked. Deducting the value of the
| tobacco from the value of the crop
grown, there remained in this country
i in 1902 tobacco to the value of $685..
591, 261; in 1893 the value of the CROP
retained amounted to $26,S62, 73S.-
/ New York Times