The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-11-29
THE USE OF ALCOHOL.
There is Less Drinking in This Coun-
try-Industrial Plants Particular
About Habits of Employees.

Advance sheets from the annual re-
port of the United States bureau OF
education contain an interesting state
ment on alcohol and alcohol drinkers
in the United States at the present
time.
A commission Of fifty distinguished
persons was some time ago appointed
to look into the moral condition of the
American people, and this commission
began with a study Of alcoholism, un-
der the direction of Carroll D. Wright,
Charles W. Elliot, Seth Low, James c..
Carter and others, who investigated
the matter from all Of its standpoints.
The United States is country fa-
vorable to alcoholism. The climate
with it's extremes Of temperature, in
vites the use Of stimulants and tonics.
On account of the large number Of
emigrants who are yearly flocking to
this country the annual consumption
of alcohol and it's compounds has
increased to marked degree with
the Irish and Scandanavians, but not
so much with the Jews, Italians and
other nationalities. These patronize
in large numbers the American free
lunch dinner which is now so COM
mon in all cities Of medium size. Five
cents, the price of a drink, means TO
many the getting Of dinner, and the
temptation is said to be too strong to
Withstand, especially with the class
of men mentioned.
Many industrial establishments in
the United States will not now employ
men who at any time indulge in the
drinking bit, as is indicated by the
inquiries sent to 1000 concerns
recently asking their view on this
matter. These 1000 establishments
employ 10000 persons. Of this
number of establishments 5,3O3 re-
pied that they never employed any
,ne without first being satisfied as to
his sooriety, not so much from NOR
al standpoint as from one entirely Of
business, 1874 replied that they ab-
soIutely prohibited the use of intoXi-
cants on any kind by their workmen.
The monopoly of the sale of liquors
with an alcoholic base by the State or
county is a system which is appar-
emily growing popular at the present
time in the United States. The limit
ed area, however, over which it ex-
tends, has not been Of sufficient
growth to tell whether or not the en-
tire country, as it is in the few sec
tions where it is now being tried.
Rural communities have, as a
rule, adopted absolute prohibition Of
the traffic, while the urban centres
have rallied around the system of regs
ulation and high license as being
more adapted to their necessities.
Raising the license has resulted very
generally in reducing the number Of
saloons. Where the police authori-
ties of different localities have failed
in their duty, societies Of citizens have
been generally organized for the pur-
pose Of taking the law into their own
hands.
Figures Of the internal revenue bu-
reau show that since the year 1S40
the per capita Of alcohol consumed
by people in this country has steadily
declined and that beer and hygienic
drinks have, to a large extent, been
substituted At this time there is
consumed on average of only 133 per
cent of alcohol in this country, while
beer drinking has gone to 1920 per
cent, from figures last obtainable.
*Mothers every where praise One