The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-01-23
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE.
The Saloon and Drunkenness-Facts
From a Massachusetts Official
Report-Pauperism and I1sani-
ty Caused by Liquor.

Report-Paupcrism and I1sani-
ty Caused by Liquor.
Under the authority Of an Act
passed by the Massachusetts, Legis-
lature of 1894, the Bureau of Sta
tistics and Labor was instructed to
make a thorough investigation of the
liquor traffic in that State as to
drunkenness, %pauperism, crime and
insanity. The collection of informa-
ton occupied twelve months, closing
with August, 1895. We give a sum-
mary of the results obtained.
The Bureau made a careful inves-
tigation and comparison Of the ar
rests for drunkenness in License and
No-License cities and towns. Of the
353 cities and towns of Massachr-
sets there were SO which were under
License policy during the year, and
260 that were under No-License,
while there were 40 which, owing to
a change of policy, were partly under
License and partly under No-License.
The first group contained one-half
Of the total population of the State.
The License cities and towns showed
1924 arrests for drunkenness to
every 1000 of the population; the
No-License communities showed 9.94
such arrests to every 1000 of the
population. Arrests for offenses
other than drunkenness were 1884
to each 1000 of the population in the
License cities and towns; in the No.
License cities and towns they were
1926 to every 1000 of the popula-
ton.
Another comparison, fairer in its
conditions than the foregoing, be-
cause it deals in each case with the
same communities, is that of arrests
in given cities and towns during Lii
cense and No-License periods. OF
the towns which changed their policy,
the larger number showed more ar
rests for drunkenness ard other
crimes under License than under No.
License, and in cases where the re-
verse was true the difference was
slight and the whole number of ar
rests was small. The five cities which
changed that year were Haverhill,
Lynn, Medford, Pittsield and Salem.
In Haverhill the average number of
arrests for drunkenness per month
under License was 81.63; under No
License, $3.50; in Lynn, under Ii
cense, 315; under No-License, Ill.,
63; in Medford, under License, 90
~; under No-License, 1925; in
Pittsfeld, under License, 1925;
under No-License, 36.75; and in
Salem, under License, 140.50; under
N~o-License, 1868.
These figures point to a direct con-
nection between the open saloon and
drunkenness which n advocate OF
License can explain away.
The Bureaus statistics of paupers,
where the inquiry covered all the
persons found in the State institu-
lions during twelve consecutive
months, show that, excluding minors,
about seventy-ive persons in every
100 among the paupers of the State
were addicted to the use of liquor,
and ~three-fourths Of these used all
kinds, or at least two kinds of liquor.
Nearly one-half Of the paupers had
m or both parents Incorporate.
About thirty-nine in every 100 at
tributed their pauperism directly to
their own Incorporate habits, and
about five in every 100 attributed
their pauperism to the intemperance
Of their parents.
In the case of the insane, the Bu-
reau found that indirect methods Of
inquiry were necessary, for obvious
reasons, and on that account the sta
tistics of this subject are less COM
plete. .
With reference to insanity, about
1Onn oocnc uyarn In UnSfjpQf06 with
such thoroughness as the circum-
stances permitted. In %sixty-nine
cases in every 100, where the facts
could be determined, me OF both Of
the parents of the insane person were
intemperate; and in twenty-five cases
in every 100 the Incorporate habits
of the person himself were consid-
cred the cause of insanity. Fifty
n per cent. of the adult insane was
caused by the saloon.