The Washington herald., 1907-01-26

as, Have a drink with me-" unless it is
the remark of the other fellow to the bar
tender, Fill EN- up again" The fact
that New York spends million dollars a
day for drinks shows how expensive is
the age in which we are living. In the
time of Charles II the keepers of ale
houses in England used 10 advertise to
make a man drunk for penny, and find
him straw on which 10 lie until he recOv-
cred his faculties"
When / called on the man who sits up
nights figuring on the totals Of the liquor
traffic, he told me that the annual CON
sumption Of drinks in the United States
amounts 10 H.f0OO00,600. / asked him if
he could not dilute this statement so as
10 make il more understandable and the
next day I got a note from him, saying:
II all the beer drunk in the United States
since 1875 were brought together it would
MI canal, stretching from New York to
Denver-a canal twenty feet wide ten
feet deep. and 1888 miles long" If 1
could get some one else to figure out how
many 'schooners" might be hoated on
This canal the comparison would be COM
plete.
The nations drink bill figures out one
third more than the public debt. twice as
much as the capital stock in the banks:
little less than the capitalization Of all
our trusts and industrial combinations:
one-half the value Of our domestic ami
mails; more than one-half the value Of all
cur farm products; one-third more than
our total imported merchandise. and one
twelfth more than our total exports.
If each individual In this country. re-
gardless of age or sex had drunk his pro
rata of liquor in 1876, he would have con-
sumed about eight gallons. but now the
proportion is a little more than twenty
gallons. The great increase is attributed
10 the influx of foreign immigrants, who
drink much beer. It Is estimated that
tnree-fourths of our population are total
abstainers, which would make every
fourth person who does drink consume
on an average $40 worth OF liquor each
year. If that portion of our population
which has the drink habit should abstain
for year and provide a fund from the
savings, it would start every iIlterate
child in the United States on the way to
college education; and If the drinkers
eighteen months their savings would buy
every ounce of gold in existence.
Half Of the twenty million people who
drink In this country constitute the dan
gerous element of our population. and
arc confined largely TO the slums of the
larger cities Those who study the source
of crime and poverty assert that IS per
GF OIL rr.F 60.
ing. The use OF wines and spirits is on
the decrease in the United States, while
beer is becoming more popular. We have
fewer retail liquor dealers now than there
were a year ago while the number Of
places where beer is sold is increasing
rapidly.
As many railroad accidents were in
times past accounted for by employees
being drunk. 10000 of the 1000 railroad
men now on duty in the United States are
unde~ orders neither 10 drink nor to enter
place where liquor is sold. The penalty
IS dismissal from service In Canada. il a
locomotive engineer or a train cOnduc-
tor Is found drunk while on duty. he is
liable to ten years Imprisonment. \
significant comment on the abstinence
OF railroad men IS that when the lOComo-
live engineers held their annual cunven-
tion in Memphis last year, the papers
stated that in all the gatherings held IN
that convention city there had never been
a more orderly body of men.
just to see in what way the saloons
were superior to the other attractions life
might offer worF,ng man, or a home
less one, a prominent minister turned hobo
for while in order to study the question
nj first hand. Afterward he told of the
universal kindness Of the saIOonkeeper,
and of the various plans he had for en-
c0uraging patrons He told Of the drink
ing fountain at the front door for the
use of teamsters' horses; of the setting
forth of a free lunch equal to a table
dhote dinner, The minister told his
church people of the things they must
combat if they would win men from the
saloons, and added For five hundred
dollars men join exclusive political and
social clubs on the avenue of the metrOp-
Oils. For Eve dollars some men join
YOUNG Mems Christian Association clubs,
but for five cents the multitude of men,
whom only God and the saloonkeeper and
the ward boss know. nightly join the
American saloon
Southern States are more aggressive at
this time than those of any other part of
the country in attempting to curb drunk
enncss by law. Kentucky. whose very
name brings up the thought Of mint
juleps and apple toddy. has 10 counties,
and of these SO are without saloons. In
all kentucky there are but five counties
where liquor may be sold all over the
county In the matter of local option
elections, Illinois leads all other States.
with a record of 100 communities which
have voted the saloon out. Mississippi
and Texas are more than three-fourths
dry by virtue OF local option laws Texas
prohibits screens in drinking places. and
Indiana requires saloons to keep lights
burning all night with window shades
open.
Tennessee, another great whisky-pro-
ducing State, has had remarkable anti
saloon movement, with the result that
there are but nine towns in the entire
Commonwealth where saloons are per
mitted- Every candidate for State Of
fee in Tennessee, Democrat or Republi-
can, is a temperance refOrmer. Senator
Carmack. a Democratic leader. has
pledged himself TO a movement 10 drive
every saloon from the state. Califor-
mans say that great temperance lesson
was taught by the San Francisco earth
quake. san Francisco consumed much
liquor and was known as a wide-open
town. When the great seismic disaster
occurred, the saloons were closed and