Durango semi-weekly herald., 1906-12-06
DRINK EVIL MENAcEs '- -
FUTURE OF ENGLAND


the official figures last snrips is ,,ar,
largely due to intemperanca amor,
the working classes The free trad
ers claim that It is almost entirel,
uue 10 that cause. The protectionist,
attribute portion of the responsible
ity 10 the fiscal policy of the govern
ment and argue that the adoption o
protective tariff upon imported mer
chandise will go very far toward re
te'ihs the situation. In measure
'hey may be right, but as long as
there Is "a public house on every cor
her. as the temperance agitators say
and the working men spend an aver
age OF $40 year for drink, poverty
ana pauperism must be expected. Ex
cepting the Belgians, the people OF
the United Kingdom are the heaviest
drinkers in the world in proportion
10 their population. and the working
people spend larger per cent of
their wages. for beer, gin and other
alcoholic poisons than those of any
other country except Belgium. The
people of the United States are very
NN'HpNiate III
Mr.. Lloyd George. president of the
board of trade, talks very plainly on
this subject. He is not a temperance
agitator, but a statesman and polit-
ical economist of high reputation. He
Is free trader. He said the other
day that 100000 people in the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland habitually lack the necessar-
les of life and do not receive suffi-
clet nourishment to supply the de-
mands Of nature. The reason for this,
he declared, was the improvidence,
the intemperance and the lack of
thrift among the working classes.
Drink, he siad was responsible for rs
per cent of the poverty in the king
dom; gambling was responsible for
much more of II. He announced that
the present government proposed to
take up the problem and endeavor to
do something to suppress or reduce
the liquor traffic. He did not say
what ii was going to do. He merely
made the general announcement,
which has caused great rejoicing
among temperance advocates.
The amount of money expended for
liquors in the United Kingdom is not
given in the Official reports. but it
can easily be calculated by multiply
ing the number of gallons consumed
by the average price of liquor The
London Times recently published an
estimate that the total drink bill in
1903 was $S73, $50, ,1S9 and In 1904 1t
was $S4S,997, ,90S, reduction of about
S25.000,000. The total for 1905 was
not given. The falling off in the
quantity consumed, however, as
shown by the official returns. is con
siderable and, of course, that means
decrease in the expenditures. On
that basis the drink bill of the British
people in 1905 was nearly $4,000, 900
less than in 1903. There was an ac-
tual decrease in consumption of near
ly 32,000,000 gallons in two years,
which, at an average rate of $130
gallon, means a saving of $50, 900. 900
chiefly among the working people
According to the official figures 1O5..
Sl5,SGS gallons of all kinds of liquors
were consumed in 1909 and 1880, ,5S6
gallons in 1905.
This decrease was not entirely vol
untary. Business was very lively in
1903, owing to the Boer war, and 1t
was very duh in 1905. A large num-
ber of worlSingmen were out of en-
ployment, and they buy the whisky,
the gin and the beer.
The average expenditure per capita
in the United Kingdom for drink in
1908 was $20.03. In 1905 it was 1927
counting men. women and children
in England, Scotland, ireland and
Wales. The economists assert that
AZ per cent of the British population
are total abstainers, chiefly women
and children. Hence the expenditure
for liquor must be charged to the re-
niainng SO per cent, which would raise
the average individual expenditure to
about nearly $40 a year.
The report of the commissioner of
inland revenue for 1905 shows a CON
tiual gradual decrease in consump
tion, and, although no reasons are
given. the newspapers attribute 1t to
one cause or another, according to
their political bias. Whatever the
cause. the figures are gratifying. and
1t may be hoped that the decrease is
not temporary, and is due to some
extent at least to a change for the
better in the habits of the people.
The following official table shows
the total quantity of beer-which is
the principal drink of the working
classes-consumed in the United
Kingdom from June 80. 1899. to June
80, 1906. by years. also the number
Of gallons per capita-that is, for
every man. woman and child in the
population:
Total Gallons
gallons. per capita.
1900. ..............3 .36,57S, 1856 1926
1901. ...............35, 35,9932 24G 31.4S
1902 O2............... 81, 1888 ,1G0 30.66
1903. O3.............35. 35.369,7i9 30.34
1904 34,7SS, ,637 29.51
1905 .33.s1O,124 2S.44