Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-09-05
GROWING APPETITE
FOR STlMULANTS

Foh tiU IrNiN "
Washington.-St evidence Of
the growing appetite of the American
public for whisky and beer. tobacco,
cigars, cigarettes and even snuff, is
presented in the statement of the in
ternal revenue bureau for the fiscal
year that closed June 80. Prohibition
md reform movements. to say nothing
IF New Years resolutions, seem to
be failing of their purpose. The coun-
try year by year drinks more liquor
md smokes and chews more tobacco.
Worse still, much of the smoking con
sists in the consumption of the ciga
rette.
The fiscal year just closed has brok-
| On all previous record in the amount
n liquor and tobacco consumed. Be
margarine, renovated butter, process
,utter, filed cheese and other "unde
sirables."
The receipts of internal revenue for
he fiscal year that closed June 80
amounted to s269, 1864 ,O22, against s249,
l02,73s for the preceding fiscal year
Large increases are shown in receipts
or revenue on spirits, tobacco, fer
mented liquors, oleomargarine, adul
terated butter and renovated butter
But more impressive is the showing
When it is considered what quantities
If these various products were manu-
'actured. Beer drinking has increased
Enormously. The amount of beer with
Drawn for consumption, on which rev
enue was paid, was 5S,546,l1 zarrels,
| or $3.S49,47 barrels more than in the
preceding fiscal year. Expressed in
| gallons, this is an increase of 116 $780,
22O gallons. 1t appears the country
has consumed the enormous total OF
| lSl4,929,4 AL gallons of beer in the last
| fiscal year. If the country has a pop
ulation of 90,000,000 this means that
ia the twelve months ending June 80
there wa drunk in the United States
an average of more than twenty gal.
Ions of beer to every man, woman and
child. This seems high average, but
the internal revenue officials say it
was poor year for beer drinking,
the cold, wet spring driving folks to
strong drink and hurting the beer
| traffic
The consumption of whisky in the
fiscal year ending June 80 was 1884,
| l42,O7i gallons, or an increase of H.
4O9,252 gallons over the preceding fis-
cal year There was All increase also
in spirits made from apples and other
fruits, the consumption being 1893, ,6sS
gallons, against 1,7S1,644 gallons In
the preceding fiscal year
Along with drinking, folks have
been busy putting away at the noxious
weed. The country being prosperous.
cigar smoking grew at an amazing
pace. In the fiscal year there were
withdrawn for consumption 51,151 1862,
1870 more cigars of the class weighing
over three pounds to the thousand, an
Increase over the previous year of l.
36S,595,9l7 cigars of that class alone
That is, the public smoked about L.
33O,OOO,OO0 more of these cigars in the
fiscal year just closed than 1t did the
year before. The increase was nearly
as heavy in cigars weighing less than
three pounds to the thousand. 1t is
easy TO calculate that the cigar bill of
the nation is increasing enormously
Aside from cigars, the public chewcd
and smoked 1863, 1860 pounds of to-
bacco, an increase of 14,270.SO4
pounds.
In cigarettes the consumption In
creased heavily, the entire number
smoked in the fiscal year ending June
30 being so high that it is small
wonder the tobacco trust has thrived.
1t amounted to 5.151 .s62, ,130, an in.
crease of 1,36s. .595.917. As to snuff.
there was an increased consumption of
693.65s pounds.
Oleomargarine shows increased con.
sumption of 15,S42,191 pounds, the to.
tai consumption being 6S,9sS,S5O
pounds. and there were marked in.
creases in the consumption of reno
waited butter. process butter and adul.
terated butter.