The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1915-07-21
ALCOHOL A CAUSE
OF FRENCH LOSS
Investigators Have Been Trying to Find
the Cause of the Depopulation of
France and Have Learned
Some Startling Facts.

n Paris, July 2l.--In an investigation Of
the causes OF the depopulation Of France
Monsieur Charles Benoist took the can.
ton of Creully, in the ACCOMPLISHMENT
of Caen, both of which are gradually
losing their population, and made a
house to house inquiry in search OF data
as to whether the decreased birthrate
should be attributed to physiological
moral, economic, fiscal, judicial, polite
or social causes. In several cases he
said the reply to his questions was
alcohol. In several cases "the ex-
haustion Of the race" was given with
out precision as to the causes of the ex-
haustioL.
DR.. Levassort. head of the Bon-Sau
veur insane asylum at Caen is more cat
egoric than the inhabitants interviewed
by Monsieur Benoit. what alcohol
has done to this population, formerly
so healthy and robust" he says, lone
cannot realize without living in the re-
gion. Peasants in the valley of the
Auge who produce a great deal of ci-
der and distill it at will, drink at least
a pint of brandy per day. some, won
EN- as well as men, drink double that.
ut is with the coffe that the women
acquire the habit. Whenever a neigh
Dor pays a visit, the hostess offers a
drop of coffee; the cider brandy goes
with it and after it until the quantity
surpasses by far the quantity Of cof-
fee. No one thinks of stinting the ei-
der brandy since it cost them moth
ing. Drinking at home leads to drink
ing in public, and this perhaps accounts
for the fact that the communes of less
than 1000 population is 81 per cent. OF
the total.
Whether drink may be considered the
of the decrease in the birth-rate |
or not, the progression Of depopulation
seems to have kept pace with the pro-
gression OF alcoholism. Where the con-
Of spirits was formerly gal |
Ion and half year per capita, it is
now more than three gallons, while the
decrease birth-rate traced back through /
many generations in the same families
by Monsieur Benoist shows a decrease
from an average OF children a family
in the 10th century to 3 in the Goth.
The department OF Calvados, which
has given its name to one of the Ii
lueurs that inevitably accompany the
after lunch or after dinner coffee in
France, is one of the departments where
'ruit growers profit most from the priv
lege the Law aeeords them OF making
brandy of their crops without paying
government tax. OF the fifty -one
million gallons Of cider produced in
france in 1912, Calvados produced five
million four hundred thousand. How
much of this was reduced to cider bran {
" statistics do not tell since private |
listillation is subjected to no control. .
Statistics show, however, that while
'aIvados has only one per cent of the
population of France, it has four per
emit. of the number of controlled dis.
illeries, and that in 1919 they produced
10000 gallons OF pure alcohol equiva
INT TO $4,000 gallons of brandy-more
han gallon head for each Of the
including children. Add to
his the unknown quantities of private
istilled and il is possible TO credit the I
tatement that in some communes the
nnual consumption of brandy approach
) ten gallons per capita per annum.