Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1904-09-13
a BILLION FOR LIQUOR.
Some Of the Sorrows Resulting From
This Outlay.


This Outlay.
In discussing the liquor question,
says Rev. r. T. Blight. many people
acknowledge that 1t is problem. but
fan to realize that it is an important
problem that America must meet
soon.
This traffic In alcoholic beverages
touches US on every hand. Like
dread cesspool fits dread efauyium
rises, and, like the white fever mist
Of the swamp settles on our national
life. communicating and blasting all
with whom it comes in contact either
directly or indirectly. 1t is the height
of absurdIty to declare, "lf you leave
liquor alone It viii leave you alone"
For an answer to this current fallacy
look at the millions of helpless chill
dren of drunken parents, who have
been denied by this devilish traffic
the right to be well born, well fed.
well clothed and well educated; the
millions of heart-broken wives. who
sit disconsolate amid the ruins Of their
homes, eating their hearts in silence
and enduring without complaint the
lasting agony Of life with drunken
brutes whose names they bear. The
grief-stricken mothers, the silver
haired fathers, the sturdy sons whose
lives are Swallowed, hopes blackened
and aspirations weighted by relation
to the product of the gin mills: and
the fair daughters who bear on their
virgin hearts the purple weals Of the
scorpion whip of shame laid on by
the cruel hand of this traffic.
When we reflect that over billion
dollars, according to government sta
tistlcs, are poured into the Golfers OF
the liquor traffic every year We may
gain some idea OF the vast financial
amount of money in circulation that
makes good times, but 1t is the value
received from that money. An arti-
ian spends his whole weeks wages
for bags Of smoke, but he is not
benefited thereby. He will have pow
erty and bad times in his home, and
that money going to fill the pockets
of the scoundrel who imposes on him
does not create good times. but If he
spends that money for groceries,
meat and other necessities he will
have plenty and happiness in his home
and the grocer and butcher and dry
goods merchant will have received
value for their goods and good times
will follow for all concerned. Now,
the pouring Of this billion dollars in
the liquor traffic places them in cir.
culation in truth, but good times do
not, and cannot follow, because the
customer has not in reality received
full value for his money in that he
is not benefited mentally, morally or
physically by the liquor he has drunk;
and the money. instead of circulating
through the many channels of trade
is concentrated in one. thus Cutting,
choking and gorging one to the detri-
ment and impoverishment Of the
others.
Not only does the customer fail TO
receive full value for his money, but
receives that which will in time un-
dermine his constitution. poison his
blood, unskill his hand and weaken
his brain, while starving his wife and
children. This makes bad times for
him and his family and good times
for the saloon. Good times for one by
making bad times for the many. Is 1t
right? T. v, Powderly, when Grand
Master Workman of the Knights OF
Labor. once said: 1.-The experience of
a lifetime has demonstrated that
drunkenness is a curse. 1t is the cause
OF more poverty than anything else
that can be named"
Again. the amount Of money now in.
vested in the liquor traffic II placed
in legitimate channels of trade would
employ from ten to twenty times as
many men as are at present employed
in the production OF Intoxicating bev-
erages, so political economists like
Hopkins tell us.