The New York herald., 1921-01-08
HUNDRED CENT.
RISE IN ALCOHOLIC
CASES REPORTED
Municipal Hospital Records
Show Remarkable Jump
Aug. 1 to Dec. l, 1920.
COMPARED WITH 1919
Four Month Periods, Con-
trasted, Indicate Recent
Growth of Evil.
COLER WRITES TO HYLAN
His Letter Giving IL Month
Comparisons Explains Situa-
ton in This City.
COMPARED WITH 1919
COLER WRITES TO HYLAN

COII pdIlSOllb IAplulub IJACu6
ton in This City.
Alcoholism in New York city dur
ing the four months from August
to December / increased almost 100
per cent, or almost doubled. as COM
pared with the record of the corre-
spending four months in 1919. The
comparison is based on the records OF
the five municipal hospitals-Bellevue
and it's allied hospitals, the Harlem.
Gouverneur and Fordham hospitals,
and the Kings County Hospital.
At Bellevue, the largest hospital.
the increase in alcoholism noted In
these four months amounted to 9S
per cent. The Bellevue figures for the
month Of December were not available
at the hospital last night, but 1t was
said that the number Of cases treated
there last month exceeded those in
November, a fact which would make
the increase for the last Ave months in
1920 fully 100 per cent. more than the
same Ave months in 1919.
At the Kings County Hospital. where
the second largest number OF alcohohc
patients have been treated. the increase
for the four months ended December
was 1865 per cent. From August
to December the increase was 1865
per cent
Coler's Letter to Hylan.
An analysis not 80 detailed as that
shown above was made yesterday by
Commissioner Bird S. Coler Of the De-
partment OF Public Welfare. Commis-
sioner Coler compared the first eleven
months Of 1919 with the first eleven
months OF 1920, during which the In
crease In alcoholism In this city was
not so abruptly on the upgrade as In
the latter part OF 1920. But even those
statistics were 80 startling that Com
missioner coler addressed the following
letter to Mayor Hylan yesterday:
The hrst three months OF prohioi-
ton showed a perpendicular drop and Il
appeared almost as II the millennium
had arrived This impression was some
what misleading. and looking back I
think this due to three facts:
First. the fear put into the lower
types of people owing to the many
deaths from wood alcohol
Secondly. the saloons having liquor
for sale we're timid and took few
chances.
Thirdly, the bootlegger had not be-
come so we'll organized as at present.
The doctors also inform me that
the type of cases is different-that there
Is no fight whatever in them
that they are just down and out and
very unpleasant TO handle"
Kings County Hospital Report.
Accompanying his letter were the sta
tistics which had prompted II. prepared
by the Ave hospitals. Or. Mortimer d.
Jones. medical superintendent of tho
Kings County Hospital. accompanied the
figures which he supplied for that inei-
tuition with letter In which he said:
1T is interesting 20 note that the
number Of alcoholic cases for the 1920
period just about doubles that OF the
1919 period. notwithstanding the high
prices, the prohibited sale and the sup
posed difficulty In obtaining the liquor
ilicitly Our alcoholic patients now
come TO us as result OF the so-called
hard liquors, while during the 1919
period there were a great many beer
drunks.' owing TO the permissive open
selling of that beverage.
During the summer the patients
coming In began to show evidences Of a
more severe poisoning. as though the
liquors they had been drinking were not
as good In quality as that to which the
population had been accustomed; II
seemed as though they were poisoned
with some sort OF by-products. From
July TO December 1. 1919. there were
seven deaths In our alcoholic wards. Dur
ing the same period OF 1920 there were
eleven deaths. II is the writer's opinion
that anything and everything Is clandes-
timely sold these days for hard liquor.
and the consumers are as tolerant of the
quality as they are of the price"
Statistics at Bellevue.
An analysis OF the figures for Belle
vue and lts three allied institutions
shows that the number Of alcoholic
cases treated during the first eleven
months OF 1920 was almost exactly the
same al those treated In 1919. The 1919
figures were 2.235 men and women.
Those OF 1920 we're 2,234. but the jump
during the latter part OF last year was
amazing. not only at these four hos
pitfalls, but also at the Kings County.
The total number OF cases at all five
hospitals from August 1 TO December l.
1919, was 6s2. During the same period
last year the total was 1911. or these,
during this period In 1919. 5t7 patients
we're men, and 135 we're women. Last
year In the same period there were 1,1O3
male patients and 2OS women.
While there was an actual falling OF
in the number of cases at Bellevue in
the first six months OF i920--there wero
only a26 cases there for the first half
year. while there were i.i04 for the first
six months Of 191e--the last six months
OF 1920 made such a jump that they
upset this good showing completely.
There were s07 cases at Bellevue during
the last six months Of 1919. and approx
imately i,425 during the six months Just
ended