Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1912-11-29
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ALCOHOLIC PERIL OF FRANCE
Drink EviI's Deadly Work in Provinces
--Absinth Taking Flrmer Hold of
People Every Year.

People Every year.
One of M. Rouvier's measures for
making up the budgetary deficit with
which he was faced is a proposal to
suppress the privilege accorded to pri
vate distillers, who in provincial
France still provide good deal of the
alcohol which under various names
the rural population consumes In large
quantities. M Rouyier's proposals
will in all probability become law,
and the private distillers will be sup
pressed. But the Temps points out
that, though the French treasury may
expect it's revenue to increase by such
measure, since the private distillery
had no duty to pay, yet there are 9TH
er reasons which initiate against the
adoption of this proposal and which
the Temps unites under the head of
''The Alcoholic Peril" 1t says that
the French countryman will certainly
not modify his drinking habits any
more than he can alter his inevitable
parsimonious character. Under the
old regime he at all events drank
good spirits, whereas under the new
regime, though the spirits may have
come from the licensed distiller, it is
of such character that its effect
upon the health of the inhabitants is
most disastrous.
In Normandy, says the Temps, every
one who is not absolutely a beggar at
oh -
luted with cider brandy. This cider
brandy costs the private distiller from
franc and half to two francs per
liter, and yet in towns spirit which
has paid duty both to the government
and to the local authorities can be
purchased for franc a liter. The
Temps admits that this concoction
may be a marvel of chemical science,
but it's moral and physical effect upon
the consumers is disastrous. Taking
the town of Caen, in Normandy, as an
instance, this journal says that before
the law making the drink trade free
was passed there were 200 cabarets,
or about one for every ESQ inhabitants,
whereas today there are nearly 500
such establishments, or one for every
20 inhabitants. The trade, however,
is prosperous, for whereas in 1889 the
town dues paid on alcohol amounted
to 10000 francs they have now in
creased to $4,000 francs, or Sc per
cent per annum. The population of
the country, however, is on the de-
crease. Last year in the Calvados de-
partment there were 1928 more
deaths than births. Crime and theft
are on the increase, as in 1890 the cor
rectional tribunals registered 1858
convictions, whereas last year they
noted 4,149.
The drink question, this journal
thinks, is not only fiscal one, but one
of national interest, and instead of en-
deavoring to realize the greatest pos
sible financial profit from it the Temps
thinks that the production and con-
sumption of natural and hygienic
drinks should be favored, while the
manufacture of spirits, the basis of
which is badly rectified alcohol, should
be watched over and hindered in order
to combat that which constitutes a
social and national danger.
The drink beloved of the modern
Frenchman has had the misfortune to
attract attention itself, and the eye
of the political economist has fallen
upon it unfavorably. The French
budget has need of several millions of
francs If it is to approximate to a
h11 fov
ors, who presumably do not drink alb
sinthe, have suggested to the finance
minister that he cannot do better than
put tax upon the liquid. 1t is point
ed out that absinthe pays no special
duty and is only taxed on the amount
of alcohol in It. The strongest absinthe
is five times as deleterious as ordi
nary brandy; the weakest, that which
is sold in the drinking shops, lis twice
or two and a half times as poisonous
as the brandy sold in the same places.
The argument therefore is that taking
three times as the average the duty
on absinthe ought to be three times
as high as 1t is, and so the hectoliter
ought to pay duty of $50 francs in
stead of only 220 francs The advo-
Gates of this increased tax point out
that absinthe is only very rarely of
use incidentally, but that its daily con-
sumption destroys the nervous system
and brings on epilepsy, paralysis and
madness. Every year more of the
stuff is drunk in France, and 1t is
stated that to its use is due the great
mortality from consumption in the
French army. 1t is agreed that alb
sinthe is poisonous and that the