The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-02
BLAME ALCOHOL
FOR RACE SUICIDE
=
Experts Say Heavy Drinking is nc
sponsiblc For Decrease of French
Birth Rate.

Paris. Aug. LIN an investigation
of the causes OF the depopulation OF
France, Monsieur Charles Benoist
took the canton Of Cruelty in the ar
reimbursement OF Caen, both OF Whlch
are gradually losing their population
and made a house to house inquiry IN
search Of data as to whether the de-
creased birthrate should be attributed
to physiological. judicial, polite or So
ciaI causes. In several cases he SAID
the reply TO his Questions was "alco-
hol." The several causes the eN-
haustlon of the race was given. with
out precision as to the causes OF the
exhaustion,
DR.. Levassort, head of the Bon-Sau-
veur Insane Asylum at Caen, Is more
categorc than the inhabitants IN
terviewed by Monsieur Benoist.
What alcohol has done TO this pop
uIstion. formerly so healthy and ro-
bust" he says. "one cannot realize
wit hout living in the region. Peasants
in the Valley of Auge, who produce a
great deal Of cider and distil 1t az
will, drink AT least a pint of brandy
per day; some, women as well as men,
drink double that
Blame Coffee Drinking.
TT is with coffee that the women
acquire the habit Whenever neigh
Dor pays visit, the hostess offers
drop of coffee: the cider brandy goes
with It, and after II until the quantity
surpasses by far the quantity of cof-
fee. No one thinks of stinting the
cider brandy, since it costs them
nothing Drinking at home leads TO
drinking In public, and this, perhaps,
accounts for the fact that the COM
munes of less than 1000 population
is 81 per cent of the lolita,
Whether drink may be considered
| the cause OF the decrease in the birth
rate or not, the progression of depopu-
| lation seems to have kept pace with
/ the progression Of alcoholism. Where
! the consumption of spirits was form
/ erly a gallon and a half a year pes
capita Il Is now more than three gal
Ions, while the decreased birthrate
/ traced back through many generations
in the same families by Monsieur Be
moist shows decrease from an aver
age of seven children a family in the
nneteSffth century to three in, the
twentieth.
Peasants DistiI Own Brandy.
The Department of Calyados. which
has given it's name to one Of the
liquors that inevitably accompany the
after lunch after dinner coffee in
! France, is one OF the departments
where fruit growers profit most from
the privilege OF their crop without
paying a government tax. OF the fifty
one million gallons Of cider produced
in France in 1912 CRlvados produced
five million, four hundred thousand
How much Of this was reduced to cider
brandy statistics do not tell. since pri'
waite Oscillation In subjected to ne
control
Statistics show, however tina
while Cslvaaos has only per cent OF
the population of France, il has
per cent Of the number of controlled
distillerieS. and that in 1912 they pro
duced 1T0.000 gallons of pure alcohol
equivalent to 5000 gallons o
Ibrandy-more than gallon a head for
each of the inha bitants, including chill
dren. Add to this the unknown guam
titles of private distilled and II /
! possible to credit the statement tina
in some communities the annual con
sumption OF brandy approaches tel
| gallons per capita per annum.