Evening star., 1928-11-18

TIME latest official figure relat-
ing to drink consumption In
England show the alcoholic
l. TIDE to be surprisingly on the
ebb Add sundry political ard
! economic factors to this fact and 1t be-
comes evident that the long battle be
tween vets and dryS there is rapidly
approaching a point where something
must happen.
The drys think they are about to
make big gain by way of the churches.
increasing teetotalism, preponderant
feminine vote and the advent to power
of Macdonald or Lloyd George tor
coalition Of these two), both as dry
as they dare be in nation which at
tributes its proud position on the planet
mainly to a diet of beef and beer
The vets are pressing for looSening
of wartime restrictions (Stlll in foTce),
and pin their hope of victory to weight
of money, a national network OF ell
trenched positions in saloons and CLUBS,
a preponderant influence in the Tory
party, really remarkable propaganda
organization and the English dislike OF
the word prohibition"
Almost everybody without financial
interest in the drink trade agrees that
something ought to be done to cut down
the national expenditure on hard drinks.
The feeling used to be based chiefly on
sentiment. Speakers evoked narrowing
pictures of hungry children, weeping
wives. husbands and fathers squander-
ing their wages in the public house.
Economic Side of Issue.
Now the economic side is more en-
phaSized. The tireless propaganda oi
the dryS, which is more effective With
it's facts and figures than 1t used to bG
with in old-fashioned over-colored pic
lures of starving children and beaten
up wives. has taught tens of thousands
of people a cold fact that they never
knew before-namely, that the nation
spends more on its alcoholic refresh
ment than on it's bread and meat.
Even a Tory, Comdr. Burney, the
airship expert, one OF the ambassadors
of heavy industry in the House OF Com
mons, got up in Parliament one day
lately and suggested that scheme TO
cut the expenditures on drink ana
divert the millions saved to aid the
depressed steel industry would be ma
tional godsend. He was cheered by half
the House, but the men of his own
party with fortunes sunk in breWerieS.
distilleries and saloons gaZed upon him
With cold eyes.
The true situation is not easily
gauged. Look at it from the drys'
standpoint and they appear like certain
winners. Survey it through the vets
eyes and the vision of bone-dry Eng
land looks like bad joke.
Business Cut Into.
Statistics, however, reveal that the
LIQUOR business is being steadily cut
into by a variety of hostile agencies.
ranging from high taxes and tight
money to restrictive legislation and
changed habits due to the movies" the
radio and the automobile. National
consumption is dropping so fast that
the whisky distillers depend now on the
export trade for half their sales. While
the brewers are planning a joint ad-
vertising campaign with the object OF
persuading the public that beer is the
healthiest drink
Beer consumption has dropped 500,-
600 barrels in the year. The whisky
tide has been diminishing since the be-
ginning of the century, and now
amounts to less than half the 1913
figures. And the annual drink bill
now stands at S20,000,000 less. These
are impressive facts.
But the decrease of beer by 100000
barrels does not bulk so large when you
put the figure against the 23,50o,000