The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-23
as these are affected by

communities as these are affected by | a limitation or non-limitatlon Of l drinking places, but we have a won derfulIy illuminating illustration on this very point in the findings of the Statistical Bureau of Switzerland af- ter an investigation conducted under the authority of the Federal Coun- cil of that Republic. As result of that investigatlon-and it is fact that no government in the world has made so exhaustive and scientific study of the drink question as the officially reported that the worst forms of inebriety are often most prevalent in the very localities where the number of drinking places IS the smallest. Thus in the Canton or va lais, where the number of drinking population, the proportion of deaths from alcoholism was only one in ev- cry 1000 of certified deaths, where as in Bern, where the number of drinking places was only four to every 1000 of the population, the propor- was eight to every 1000 of certified deaths. And, to make the illustra- ton more vividly illuminating, let me add that in Bern there is limitation law fixing the number of saloons in proportion to the population, where ek restriction or regulation of any kind bearing upon this point. But even more strikingly significant was the finding in the case of the Canton of Thurgau. Here the number or 1 GOO of the population, the largest in all Switzerland, and yet the propor- tion of deaths from alcoholism was the smallest of all, being actually nope Let me quote for you the ex- act words of the Statistical Bureau as showing it's conclusions in the mat ter:
 .Tn the course of our investigation we have not found any data warrant ing the assumption-now become aI- most a degree in many places that a reduction of the number Of drinking places tends to restrict the consump- ton of ardent spirits on the con trary, we are constrained to state that we have frequently found the evil eff fleets of alcoholism most prevalent in the very localities where the number of drinking places was smallest-an apparent anomaly which finds it's ex- planation in the fact that in the ab- sence of a sufficient number of con- veniently located public bar-rooms the people of the localities in ques- ton became accustomed to hppling at home, laying in store greater or smaller quantities of spirits accord
  saloons is not criterion Of the con- sumption Of spirits.
 And in view of the experience that those Of our American communities that have tried it have had with pro- hihition, it is more than probable that results like those in Switzerland would follow the passage of 8, law re- ducing places in Connecticut. AS concrete example showing the eS- treme probability of such result let me quote the comparative experience of Cam bridge and Lowell In the mat ter of drunkenness as shown by thS number of arrests in both cities. Cam bridge has the distinction of being the largest city in America that has been continuously dry for long period of time, and yet the average number of arrests there for drunken ness was for four license years 12 in every 1000, while for six no-license years it was 20 in every 1000 of the population. Tn Lowell, which has been almost uniformly a licensed city, and is slightly larger than Cambridge the average figures for drunkenness show a decrease of 25 per cent in the ten years from 1898 to 1907. and that, too in the face of a large float ing population. for the rapid develop ment of rural trolleys has been bring ing a large number of out of town people into Lowell every day. A very marked decrease in the figures for Lowell has taken place in the last three years, as a result no doubt of the liberal Sunday hotel law that has been in force. The figures for no- license and residential Cambridge ran from 12 up to 26 in every 1000 of the population, while in license and manufacturing Lowell, the hub of a large rural population, they ran