SOME STRIKING RESULTS.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14838, 2 December 1913, Page 9

SOME STRIKING RESULTS.

TO THB EDITOa OP "THE!.'' '■ ;■■.'"'■"■:« Sir,—-Copies of the Statistical stracts of the Uhitod Kingdom, -and -v. the House of Commons Return No. 329, disclose some remarkable reaultar in con-; ; nexion with the consumption of ■Jp&l* holio boveragos in Great Britain. These ; in turn havo a 'striking bearing upon ■ r tho statistics of crimo, lunacy, and •;: pauperism. ■ ' : '•"•-","■ __'' _'_-_ '^■' x :-' i It is popularly believed that tnere ; should be a decrease in. -rim<yl-_u»cy ; ..v, and pauperism if it can Be shown thftf y the consumption of alcoholic beverages :;?; has diminished over -a series of years; r This is tho view that has been fondly-v taken by tho No-license party, and when\: tbe facts do not . square with their loudly-preached theories, they at. once y begin "to denounce tho facts for expos- ; ing tho utter fa_-x"o____sa of their a*-;..r sertions. •■■_„.•'• ..'"'■ _.» . " The establishment of.*"No-uc___*. *is.-.,;; to be the cure for lunacy; if liquor "coafA sumption is reduced there will be less; c'rimo; and if prohibition is established ; ! there will be no more pauperism. : It--was about 1854 that the British _Al-*,/-... liance was set up and-its chief object:, was expressed as "the immediate'"'Mijp> pression of the liquor traffic."trade since has nearly doubled, is a remarkable fact that as the ; *S-__l : : and educational conditions of .ihe people of Great Britain havo im_>rcv-ti,i thoir spending -power enlarged, they havo individually spent less on alcoholic: beverages; but : there has been no cor-? - responding abatement in crime, lunacy, and pa-perkm returns. - ' Lot us show how the consumption of theso beverages has diminished :-*- Consumption per head Population. Year. -Jpirits Beer. Wine. . Proof 6td. ■ Galls. Barrels. Gallons.----1857 1.28 .93 .53" 1890 1.02 .83 -40 ... 1911 .6£ .76 . -25 ~ Tho consumption of -pirits has been, reduced by about half; beer has fallen nearly one quarter of a standard barrell, and wino by fully ono half in -tho thirty-six. years covered by this review. If the theories of the prohibitionists wero correct, then there would be a de--cided failing off in the number of criminals, lunatics, and paupers in Grift-: j Britain. In spite of this diminution o. alcoholic consumption and the granting of age pensions, tho mean number of paupers in England and Wales has inoreased from 638,000 in 1900 .to 758,000 in 1911. Lunatics for the same period incr-ased from ,70.000 to 90,000, and all forms of crimo increased by SOOO ,

cases. , Thus with lose whisky we have ____-• crime, with less wine more lunacy, and. with less beer more pauperism. Whentho statistics expose their theories, when the facts remonstrate the fallacy; of their conjectures, how do tbo prohibitionists act? "They shuffle shamelessly to save their face," but tho people ; they have so long misled aro being convinced that tho way of betterment Is not along the lines of prohibition and No-license.—Yours, etc., DEMOCRAT.