STUBBORN FACTS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1666, 19 September 1887, Page 3

STUBBORN FACTS

The Hon Joshua h. Btiley, m an address delivered before the Pennslyvanian Legislature m Maroh last, when speaking of the numbers of men unemployed (n Harreßbury and surrounding districts, and discussing the oausea of the serious depression then existing, said ; — I imagine that there ha« never been a time when the drink traffic and ita relations to society were so widely and so generally considered among the people, as there has never been a time when the reasons for such consideration were so manifest. The manfactare and consumption of intoxicating liquors are represented by lar.er figures than ever before, and the consequences to the people at large were never so miiohievous and oppressive. . . . . A great deal has been said about ovar-prodntion. . . . . But after carefully considering the matter with the beßt light whioh I h»re been able to obtain, I have reaohed the conclusion that our present troubles are not the results of over-production, but are rather the results of underconsumption. It is because our people are wasting Buch a large part of their earnings on that which brings them neither health nor strength nor comfort, that they have not wherewith to buy the food and clothing and other necessaries, for the lack of which bo many are now Buffering Turn all the drink money into the channels of trade, m buying haiß and coats for the men, and bonnetß and dreasen for the women, and new euit3 and ahoca for the children, carpet a for the floor, and the thousand and one thing* which go to make up the comfort of family and horno — and how quickly the tradesmen's shelves would be unloaded ; how would the warehouses throw open their doors ; and the vast trains of the railways would be employed m distributing the rccumulation to every corner cf the country. The wheels of commerce would be eet m motion everywhere Every loom would bo started up to meet the demands for j,ooda, and every anvil would ting with the music of industry.

The Philadelphia "Textile Record," m diseasing the economic bearings of Borne trade questions, caya : — The trouble with the industries of this country and with those of England is nob overproduction, but ffasto. We do not grow too mu°h food or manufacture too much clothing material. This can never be said truthfully while there are multitudes that have neither food nor c'othlng m sufficient quantities. One of the forms of waste 1b the expenditure of money, which represents labor, for oseless or hurtful thlngs t and the most fearful example of this kind of waste is supplied by the rum traffic. The money expended for liquor to be used as a beverage amountß annually m this country to hundreds of millions ; and every dollar ia absolutely thrown away. That vast sum expended for focd and clothing last year would have given as good times instead of hard times, and it would have covered many a naked back and filled many a hungry stomach. This 1b even more true of England than of our own laud ; and the estimate doss not inolude the other hundreds of millions as positively wasted m the maintenance of prisons, almshouses, conrts, and insane asylums for the punishment and care of the victims of the ram traffic. Some day men will realise these facts more vividly than they do now. Some day society will rise up and throttle this monster coil. — " Economics of Drink."

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