The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-08-25
A Study of the Econ
omiG Phase Of the
Liquor Problem =: ::


crimes are committed. Mr.. Eugene
Smith, lawyer of New York, who has
| given the subject of crime statistics
In this country most careful study
says that the entire cost of crime
each year to the people of the United
States is $500, 100000 How much OF
| that must be charged to LIQUOR? Re
| corder Broyles said in the Thursday
Georgian that fully three-fourths oil
| the crimes of Atlanta are committed
by men and women under the infiu
ence of liquor. In this he is in &C
cord with leading judges everywhere
| though some would put the proportion
a little higher. Police Justice Glen
non, of Chicago, declared at meet
ing of the Chicago Citizens League
L know whereof l speak when | say
that three-fourths of the crime com
mitted in Chicago is due to the sale
OF liquor to minors and habitual
| drunkards." Let us charge against
| Intoxicating liquors, then, as the pro
portion of the cost of crime that may
| be charged against the trade, three
fourths of $500, 100000, or the enor
nous sum of $450,OOO,OOO.
Cost of Lost Time.
But that is not ALL We must
charge against it the non-productivity
OF men who are rendered incapable OF
| active work as result of drunken
ness. The prosperity of a community
| depends upon the ability of the mass
| es OF the people to produce wealth
and buy the necessities of life. Ii
| people can not buy, they will murder
and steal. Anything that hurts the
power of the common people to live
easily and buy steadily is injurious to
the prosperity of the country This
| whisky does. Employers do not want
dTunkards. Factories will not employ
| them. Property is not safe in their
| hands. They are not prompt and re-
| liable. They do not work. Employers
| everywhere are recognizing the harm
full effects of liquor upon laboring men
and all such men sooner or later reach
a condition where they become non
productive. They become idlers, to
be supported. This we must charge
up to the entire sum of the cost of in
| toxicating liquors to the community
at large.
Direct Results.
| There are other items we could add
| If we would. There are in America
half million paupers, made so di-
rectly or indirectly by drink. They
are dead weight upon the commun-
ity. There are also the idiot and in
sane children of drinking parents,
made so as the hereditary result of
| drink. They ough to be charged
against whisky, for they also must be
supported by the community at large
But We will let all this go. We will
only charge the non-productivity OF
drunkardS alone. Nor will we charge
| all of them.
There are in America today about d
half million habitual drunkards. and
all Of them are more or less non-pro-
ductive. But we will not consider ali
| of them OF the half million, one
! hundred thousand die in the United
States every year, and these die pre-
maturely, and certainly ought to be
charged against the trade that slew
| them Their wives and children had
the right to expect them to live longer
and care for those dependnt upon
thin. The community at large had the
right to expect them to live longer,
and by their labor add to the general
wealth and welfare. A states only
source of wealth. in the long run, lies
in its citizenship. Strike down its
citizens and YOU take from it its
wealth, though its hills be filled with
gold and its valleys with diamonds.
We must charge against whisky the
| amount which is represented by the
annual death of one hundred thousand
drunkards. But how much?
The Economic Loss.
The average wage of an American
citizen is $500 per year, representing
per cent income upon $4,000.
Each man. therefore, in America Il
an incarnate capitalization of $40, 900.
| Multiply this by one hundred thousand
men who die each year as the result
of drink, and we have the enormous
sum of 81 ZOO. 100000 as the economic
loss to America through the non-pro-
ductwity Of one hundred thousand
drunkards who die annually. This is
equal to an annual loss of five Chicago
fires. We might, of course, add to
this the economic loss represented by
those who are in our jafls, hospitals
and asylums, as the result of drink.
estimated at many millions more, but
We do not want to make the amount
too large, for we are already mounting
into fgures too large for us to COM
prehend.
Adding together the three amounts
which are justly chargeable to the
drink traffic, and we have the enor-
nous total of $2,450, zoo, 900, from
which the community at large derives