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CONSUMPTION PER HEAD OF
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See also:CONSUMPTION PER See also:HEAD OF See also:POPULATION See also:Wine in Gallons . Countries . 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 See also:United See also:Kingdom 0.39 0'38 0'37 0.35 0'37 0.40 0.39 0.41 0.41 0.38 0.37 0.36 0.33 0.28 0.27 See also:Russia .. . . . . . . See also:Norway .. . . . . See also:Sweden . 1 See also:Denmark .. . .
.
.
See also:Germany 0.57 1.01 P89 1'43 1.06 2.29 1.34 0.77 1.03 1.45 1.14 1.14 1.61 1.74 P61
See also:France 23•0 21.0 31.0 24.0 18•o 29.0 22.0 22.0 31.0 40.0 34.0 24.0 22.0 40'0 33.9
See also:Belgium 0.90 0.84 0.75 0.86 0.90 1.03 o•86 o.88 0.90 I.0I 1.03 1.0I I•o8 0.95 1.03
See also:
United Kingdom 1.03 1.03 0.98 0.97 1.00 I.02 1.03 1.04 I.09 1.11 I.09 I.05 0.99 0'95 0.91
Russia 0.89 0.89 0.89 0.95 0.92 o•89 0.92 0.92 I.00 0.97 0.92 0.92 1.00 0.95 •
.
I
Norway 0.70 o•62 o•68 0.73 o•66 0.44 0.42 0.48 0.62 0.64 0.64 0.64 0.62 0.62 0.511
Sweden 1.28 1.30 1.30 1.34 1.34 1.39 1.45 1.56 1.63 1.67 1.65 1.52 1.43 1.34 1.361
Denmark 2.67 2.79 2.90 2.71 2.79 2.86 2.71 2.6o 2.77 2.58 2.69 2.69 2.50 2.44 2.42
Germany 1.67 1.67 1.69 1.69 1.63 1.67 1.63 1.63 1.69 1.67 1.63 1.61 1.54 P54 P43
France 1.68 1.74 I.65 1.54 1.55 I.59 I.63 1.79 1.75 1.77 1.33 P24 I.35 1.50 1.37
Belgium
.
1.87 P85 1.83 1.83 i•94 1.63 1.72 1.63 1.63 1.8o 1.89 1.61 1.OI 1.14 1.10
Holland 1.72 1.72 I.69 1.69 1.65 1.65 1.61 1.58 1.54 1.58 1.56 1.54 I.50 1.50 1.43
Switzerland 1.19 P 2 I I.19 1.08 I.08 I.12 I.14 I.17 I.12 1.06 0.92 0.95 0.99 I.OI
..
Italy 0.28 0.29 0.21 0.24 0.19 0.21 0.23 0.21 0.22 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.25 0.28 0.29
Austria I.98 2.20 I.98 1.98 1.98 I.98 1.98 1.98 2.20 1.98 1.98 I.98 I.98 I.98 I.98
United States 1.24 I.27 I•I2 0.99 0.84 0'85 0.93 0.98 1.04 1.09 I.13 I.22 1.23 P21 1.26
Canada 0.74 0.71 0.76 0.76 0.69 o•65 0.75 0.56 0.69 0.71 0.76 0•8o 0.83 0'95 0.94
Australia 1.13 0.97 o•68 0.75 0.73 o•82 0.78 0.79 0.83 0.89 0.97 0.84 0.79 0.87 0.96
New Zealand 0.70 0.71 0.70 0.65 0.63 o-64 o•66 o.66 o•69 0.72 0.76 0.75 0.75 0.76 0.73
See also:anti-intemperance. its See also:objects are (I) the promotion of habits of See also:temperance, (2) the See also:reformation of the intemperate; (3) the removal of the causes which See also:lead to intemperance
.
Thus it embraces both the moral and the legislative See also:spheres, but the former takes first
See also:place; and this was emphasized in 1909 by the inauguration of a forward See also:movement " in spiritual activity
.
On the legislative See also:side the society supports See also:measures of reform rather than See also:prohibition, and particularly reduction of licences and popular See also:control of the See also:traffic
.
Its activity is many-sided; it carries on an extensive publication See also:department and educational courses, See also:police See also:court and See also:prison See also:gate See also:missions, missions to See also:seamen, travelling vans, and inebriate homes, of which there are 4 for See also:women and I for men
.
It See also:works locally through 36 diocesan branches, of which the aggregate See also:expenditure in 1909 was £41 ,353, exclusive of the central See also:office
.
It has See also:
The See also:total membership of the Church of See also:England Temperance Society in 1909 was 636,233, thus distributed :-See also:General See also:section, 35,901 ; total abstainers, 114,444; juvenile members, 485,888
.
The enormous number of juvenile members is significant
.
The numerical strength of the temperance societies in general, which is often greatly exaggerated, seems to be largely made up by the juvenile contingents, so far as See also:information is available
.
Other noteworthy See also:British societies are the Royal See also:Army Temperance Association and the Royal See also:Naval Temperance Society
.
The See also:special liability of soldiers and sailors to intemperance makes the See also:work of these bodies particularly valuable, and it is strongly supported by the See also: For other countries the number of journals is given as follows: See also:Australasia, to (one weekly); Canada, 7 (3 weekly); See also:India, 5; See also:South See also:Africa, 2; U.S.A . 15 (2 weekly) ; Austna, 2 ; Belgium, 2 ; Denmark, 1; France, 2 ; Germany, 8; Holland, 2; Italy, I; Norway, 2; Russia, I ; Sweden, 7; Switzerland, 3 . The list is no doubt imperfect . In the United States See also:newspapers of all kinds are many times more numerous than in the United Kingdom, and the See also:American Prohibition Year Book names 21 " leading " prohibition papers, of which 16 are weekly and daily . There are probably hundreds of temperance journals in the United States . Erect of the Temperance Movement.-The organized agitation against the abuse and even the use of alcoholic liquors thus briefly described is a very interesting feature of social See also:life in the See also:present See also:state of See also:civilization; but when a serious See also:attempt is made to ascertain its results the inquiry is found to be beset with difficulty . It has no doubt been largely instrumental in procuring the varied See also:mass of legislation described in the See also:article on LIQUOR See also:LAWS, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia; and these laws are in a sense results . Ardent See also:advocates of legislation, who are always See also:apt to substitute the means for the end, point to them with See also:satisfaction . Those who demand prohibition regard its See also:adoption by this or that community as an end in itself and a See also:proof o " progress "; more moderate reformers view the reduction of public-houses in the same See also:light . Facts of this See also:kind can be stated with precision, but they go a very little way . The real point is not the See also:law or the number of houses, but the habits of the See also:people, and what we want to know is the effect on them of legislation, of organization, moral persuasion and the other influences that go to make up the Temperance Movement . To this question no clear or general See also:answer can be given . There is a good See also:deal of information about the United Kingdom, where the subject has been much more fully studied than anywhere else, and about Norway and Sweden, but for other countnes valid data are lacking to show whether intemperance has increased or diminished . The fullest statistical See also:evidence available relates to the See also:consumption of drink . Consumption of Drink . International See also:Statistics.-In 1906 a return was published by the British See also:Board of See also:Trade giving the See also:production and consumption ofalcoholic beverages in different countries for the years 1891-1905 . The table on p . 581 is compiled from it . Information is also given in the returns for See also:Spain, See also:Portugal, the See also:Balkan States. and South Africa, but it is very imperfect and has therefore been omitted . The only considerable movement during the 15 years covered by the table is a marked increase in the consumption of beer . It has occurred in some measure in the following countries: Russia, Sweden, Denmark, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand . The rise is notably large in Sweden, France, Switzerland, United States and Canada; and the upward movement has been particularly steady since 1898 in the United States, Canada and New Zealand . Exceptions are the United Kingdom and Norway, in both of which the consumption has fallen largely and steadily since 1899 . In Germany it has also fallen somewhat since 1900, but not so steadily, and over the whole See also:period it has risen in that See also:country . It is impossible to connect these various movements either with legislation or with temperance organization . If the fall in Norway is ascribed to them, it must be pointed out that they are much more directed against spirits than against beer in that country, and the consumption of spirits shows no such movement, having risen since 1897 . No one who has studied the subject in the different countries affected can doubt that the general rise is due to the introduction and growing popularity of the light beers originally brewed in Germany and Austria, and commonly called " lager." This is notably the See also:case in France, Belgium, Sweden and See also:North See also:America . It is an instance of the force of popular See also:taste . The increase in beer has not been accompanied by a corresponding reduction of other alcoholic liquor . Wine might be See also:left out of See also:account in this connexion . It is largely consumed only in countries where it is extensively grown, namely, in France, Italy and Switzerland, out of the countries enumerated . The consumption is very irregular and dependent mainly on the abundance of the See also:crop . But the tendency of wine has also been to rise; it has risen in France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, the United States and Australia . With regard to spirits, the only general movement is that consumption has fallen in most See also:European countries since 1900 . But this does not appear to be compensatory to the rise of beer, which extends over the whole period and went on when spirits were rising too . Exceptions to the downward movement of spirits since 1900 are offered by the United States and Canada, and to a less extent by Russia, Italy and Norway . The only country in which all classes of drink have steadily fallen is the United Kingdom; this singular fact will be discussed presently, but its peculiarity should be noted here in connexion with other countries . Attempts have been made to See also:express the total consumption of each country in terms of See also:alcohol by allowing a certain percentage of spirit for wine and beer and reducing all three to a See also:common denominator . The calculation yields a See also:simple and See also:uniform measure of comparison and permits the See also:classification of the countries in the order of their alcoholic consumption; but it must be regarded as a somewhat arbitrary estimate, because the strength of both wine and beer varies considerably . The Brewers' Almanack gives the following table based on the returns quoted above:- Consumption of Alcohol at Proof Strength in Gallons . See also:Annual See also:Average per See also:Head, 1901-5 . Wine . Beer . Spirits . Total . France 7.70 0.63 1.36 9'69 Italy . 6 27 .. 0.26 6.53 Belgium 0.25 3.84 I.35 5.44 Switzerland 3.35 1•1 I o•96 5.42 Spain 4.62 .. . . 4.62 Portugal 4.27 .. . . 4.27 Austria 0.97 1.23 2.06 4.26 Germany 0.36 2.08 1.75 4.19 Denmark I.64 2.54 4.18 United Kingdom 0.08 2.35 0.99 3.42 See also:Hungary ` 0.97 0.12 I.89 2.98 United States . 0• I1 1.23 I.2I 2.55 Sweden .. 1.00 I.46 2.46 Australia 0.32 0.94 o•88 2.14 Holland 0.09 .. I.50 1.59 New Zealand .. 0.74 0.69 I.43 Canada .. 0.40 0.85 1.25 Russia 0'95 0 95 Cape . 0.12 0.75 0.87 Norway .. 0.25 o•6o 0.85 See also:Natal .. 0.05 0.37 0.42 See also:Newfoundland .. 0.02 0.34 0.36 Apart from the gaps in the information, which speak for them-selves, See also:allowance must be made for other defects . In no case is the nominal consumption per head a valid See also:index to the relative temperateness of different peoples unless other conditions are fairly equal . The See also:distribution of the drinking has to be taken into account, and this is conditioned by the See also:age and See also:sex constitution of the population and by the habits of the people . A country in which every See also:person except infants takes a See also:minute quantity of drink at every See also:meal every day will have a far larger consumption per head and yet may be far more temperate than one in which a large See also:pro-portion of the population takes none at all and the drinking is concentrated in regard to both See also:time and person . The Portuguese and Spaniards, for instance, are more temperate than any of the nations below them on the list ; See also:drunkenness is never seen in Portugal and in the south of Spain (the See also:bishop of See also:Birmingham has publicly See also:borne testimony to the sobriety even of such a large seaport as See also:Barcelona) . The aggregate consumption is brought up to a cornparatively high level by the See also:national practice of drinking a little wine freely diluted with See also:water, a beverage which contains less alcohol than many " temperance " drinks . In like manner the See also:French and Italians, whose high place is due to wine, are more sober than most of the nations ranged below them . The writer has made extensive inquiries on this head in France . There is drunkenness, to which See also:Zola's l'Assommoir bears testimony, but outside See also:Paris and the seaports it is rare . Employers of labour in all the See also:principal See also:industrial centres, including the See also:mining districts of the north, agree on this point . The very high position of Belgium is mainly due to a prodigious consumption of beer, which is explained by the general practice of giving it to See also:children . On the other See also:hand, drunkenness is exceedingly prevalent in Russia, which is near the bottom of the list, and is due to the consumption of See also:vodka . The comparatively small amount per head put down in the returns may, if it is correct, be explained by the very large proportion of children in the population . The opposite See also:condition is illustrated by Western Australia, which has a consumption per head nearly thrice that of any other Australian See also:province . These instances will show the conditions that must be taken into account in making international comparisons and the See also:fallacy of measuring national sobriety by consumption per head . Consumption in United Kingdom.-Statistics of consumption for a longer period of time than that covered by the table given above are available for the United Kingdom, the United States and Scandinavia, and they are of particular See also:interest because these are the countries in which the Temperance Movement has been most active and productive of most legislation . The United Kingdom is distinguished by being the only country in the list which shows a distinct fall in the consumption of all three kinds of liquor since 1899 . To estimate the significance of this interesting fact it must be placed in See also:historical See also:perspective . The following table, compiled from the See also:official returns, gives the annual average consumption per head in decennial periods from 1831 to 1890, and subsequently for each year to 1909 . No continuous See also:record of beer was kept until after 1856 . United Kingdom: Average Annual Consumption per head in Gallons . Year . Wine . Beer . Spirits . 1831-40 0.26 .. I•II 1841-50 0.23 .. 0.94 1851- io 0.23 23.5 1.01 1861-7o 0.42 27.5 0.94 1871-8o 0.51 31.5 1.17 1881-90 0.38 27 7 0.99 1891 0.39 30.1 1.03 1892 0.38 29.7 I.03 1893 0.36 29.5 0.98 1894 0.35 29.4 0.96 1895 0 37 29.6 I•00 1896 0.40 30.8 P02 1897 0.40 31.4 I.03 1898 0.41 31.9 PO4 1899 0.41 32.7 1•o8 1900 0.42 32.2 I•18 1901 0.36 31.4 I.10 1902 0.35 30.6 1.01 1903 0 37 30 2 P03 1904 0.31 29 5 0.99 1905 0.2 7 2 8.4 0.93 1906 0.2 7 2 7.9 0.91 1907 0.28 27.8 0.91 t 908 0.27 27.6 0.90 1909 0.25 26.4 0.87 It will be observed that the consumption has oscillated up and down during the whole period of 79 years . More spirits were drunk in 1831-40 than in the three following decades, and more wine than in the two following decades . The decennial period of greatest consumption was 1871-8o; and the highest points reached were: wine, 0.56 gal. in 1876; beer, 34.0 gals. in 1874; spirits, 1.29 gals. in 1875 . Since then the consumption has always been See also:lower, though with fluctuations . The up and down movement is always associated with the state of trade, and the connexion is well marked in the last ten years . The progressive fall is striking, particularly in regard to beer, which is the See also:staple drink of the people; but the period is too See also:short to See also:warrant the inference that it represents a permanent movement which will continue . The fluctuations shown by the decennial table given above suggest the See also:probability of a subsequent rise with a revival of trade . Chronic depression and See also:unemployment have prevailed in many See also:industries since 1900, and these conditions always cause a diminished consumption . Nevertheless they do not fully account for the movement here shown, because the fall in consumption has been progressive, whereas the state of trade has fluctuated considerably; the curves do not coincide . Some other See also:factor has been at work, and there is See also:reason to think that it is a See also:gradual See also:change in the habits of the people . The facts of consumption agree with much other evidence in pointing to this conclusion . The expenditure in drink is not so high as it used to be in the past, whether periods of prosperity or adversity are taken . The calculation of annual expenditure prepared for the United Kingdom Alliance, and commonly called the National Drink See also:Bill, points to that conclusion . It is based on an arbitrary estimate of the cost of drink to the consumer and must not be taken to represent established facts; but it has some comparative value . The following table gives this calculation for the last 26 years:- National Drink Bill, United Kingdom . Expendi- Expendi- Year . Total tune per year, Total tune per Expenditure. head . Expenditure head . £ £ s. d . £ £ s. d .. 1884 144,734,214 4 1 o4 1897 174,365,372 4 7 6 1885 141,039,141 3 18 34 1898 176,967,349 4 8 o 1886 140,550,126 3 17 44 1899 185,927,227 4 II 8 1887 142,784,438 3 18 0; 1900 184 881,196 4 10 44 1888 142,426,153 3 17 24 1901 181,788,245 4 7 84 1899 151,064,035 4 1 34 1902 179,499,817 4 5 64 1890 159,542,700 4 5 II 1903 174,445,271 4 2 4 1891 161,765,291 4 5 74 1904 168,987,165 3 18 See also:I14 1892 161,527,717 4 4 94 1905 164,167,941 3 15 111 1893 159,020,709 4 2 84 1906 166,425,911 3 16 3 1894 158,932,134 4 111; 1907 167,016,200 3 15 9 1895 163,133,935 4 3 4z 1908 161,060,482 ~ 3 12 3i 1896 170,426,467 4 6 42 1909 155,162,485 1 3 8.114 The table begins and ends in two periods of marked depression, with one of marked prosperity in between; but it is to be noted that in the earlier See also:term of depression, although it was very acute, the expenditure never sank so See also:low as in the later one .
During the four lowest years (1885-88) the mean expenditure was nearly 4s. a head more than in the five lowest years (1905-9)
.
At the other end of the See also:scale the high-water See also:mark in the table, which is the year 1899, shows an expenditure of £4, IIs
.
8d.; but the previous high, water mark comparable with it, namely 1876, showed an expenditure of £5, Is
.
9d., when calculated on the same basis
.
The figures, there-fore, rather confirm than contradict the general belief that the people have grown more temperate during the last 30 or 40 years
.
With regard to the expression o national drink bill," which tacitly suggests so much See also:money thrown away on drink, it must be remembered that a large proportion is devoted to public purposes and would have to be found in some other way
.
In the year ending See also: 581 . The discrepancy is too great and too See also:constant to admit of any explanation, but that the two sets of returns are calculated from different bases . It illustrates the defects of these statistics and the need of caution in using them . The American figures show a far larger consumption in the United States than the See also:English . The most noticeable fact here shown is the continuous and large increase in the consumption of beer . Every year shows a rise down to 1908, when for the first time in 70 years a fall was recorded . It was continued in 1909, and being accompanied by a fall in spirits and wine also is no doubt mainly attributable to the See also:financial state of the country . Down to 188o beer was to a considerable extent taking the place of spirits, the consumption of which had previously been very high; but after that the steady increase in beer was not accompanied by a See also:reverse movement in spirits; and from 1896 to 1907 all three kinds of liquor See also:rose together, though not with equal steadiness . The rising consumption of beer has been accompanied by an enormous increase in home production, the See also:capital invested in breweries having risen from 4 million dollars in 1850 to 515 million dollars in 1905 . The consumption of spirits is at a much higher level than in the United Kingdom, and two considerations add greatly to the significance of the fact-one is that drinking takes place more between meals and less at them, and the other that it is more confined to men . Women, other than prostitutes, Consumption per head in Gallons, United States . Year ending See also:June 30 . Spirits . Wine . See also:Malt . Total . 1840 . . . . 2.52 0.29 P36 4.17 1850 . . . . 2.23 0.27 1.58 4.08 ,86o . . . 2.86 0.35 3'22 6.43 1870 . . . . 2.07 0.32 5.31 7.70 188o . . . . 1.27 0.56 8.26 io•o8 1882 . . . . 1.40 0.49 10.03 11.92 1884 . . . 1.48 0.37 10'74 12.60 1886 . . . P28 0.45 11.20 12.92 1888 I.26 0.61 I2.80 14.67 1890 . . . . 1.40 0.46 13.66 15.53 1892 . . . . 1.49 0.43 15.17 17.10 1894 . . . . I.34 0.32 15.32 16.96 1896 . . . poi 0.27 15.84 17.12 1898 1.12 0.28 15.96 17.36 1900 . . . . 1.28 0.39 16•oi 17.68 1901 . . . . P33 0.37 16.20 17.90 1902 . . . . 1.36 0.63 17.49 19.48 1903 . . . . 1.46 0.48 18.04 19.98 1904 . . . . 1.48 0.53 18.28 20.35 1905 . . . . 1.45 0.42 18.50 20.38 1906 . . . . 1.52 0.55 20.19 22.26 1907 1.63 0.67 21.24 23.53 1908 . . . 1'44 o•6o 20.98 23.02 1909 . . 1'37 .. j 19.79 .. do not frequent the See also:bar as they do in the United Kingdom, and children not at all . The expenditure in drink, so far as it can be calculated, has fluctuated somewhat, but shows a general tendency to rise . The following table has been prepared by Mr G . B . Waldron, an American statistician . It is taken from the Prohibition Year Book, with the American currency converted into English on the basis of 4S. to the See also:dollar, omitting fractions of a penny, for purposes of comparison with the British statistics given above . Annual Drink Bill, United States . Total Expendi- Total Expendi- Y~• Expenditure. tare per Year . Expenditure. tore per head, head . s. d . s. d . 1878 90,655,754 18 1898 208,312,573 2 17 I 1888 163,617.545 2 14 7 1899 214,137,995 2 17 8 1889 168,176,169 2 14 I I 1900 234,445,322 3 I 5 1890 180,529,173 2 17 8 1901 243,999,598 3 2 10 1891 195,916,560 3 I 4 1902 269,556,728 3 8 3 1892 202,978,872 3 2 4 1903 282,122,043 3 10 2 1893 215,896,634 3 5 I 1904 292,735,706 3 II 7 1894 204,924,298 3 0 7 1905 293,180,332 3 10 6 1895 194,189,466 2 16 4 1906 321,604,383 3 16 4 1896 192,418,995 2 14 9 1907 351,461,570 4 I ii 1897 198,640,711 2 15 6 __1908 335,167,639 .3 16 11 Comparison with the British table shows at a glance an opposite movement in the two countries . While expenditure has steadily fallen in the United Kingdom since 1899, it has as steadily risen in the United States; and whereas in 1888 the expenditure in the former was 41 per cent. higher than in the latter, the two had See also:drawn equal in 1906 and since then have changed places . Moreover the different See also:system of taxation brings back a much larger proportion of the whole expenditure into the exchequer in the United Kingdom (see LIQUOR LAWS) . The comparison is of much interest in view of the very different laws and regulations under which the trade is conducted in the two countries . It may he objected that the statistics are merely estimates, but both sets are put forward by the advocates of prohibition and are of equal authority, so that they hold good for comparison . Norway and Sweden.-The statistics for these countries are imperfect, because there is no record of wine, and in See also:recent years the use of spirits has been supplemented or replaced to a considerable extent by artificial wines heavily loaded with spirits . But, as they stand, the statistics derive special interest from the See also:peculiar conditions under which the traffic is conducted . The Scandinavian See also:company system was started in Sweden in 1865 and in Norway in 1871 (see LIQUOR LAwsi . Consumption per head in Litres, Norway . Year . Branvin . Beer, 1851-60 5.9 1861-70 4.6 1871-80 5.2 18.2 1881-90 3.2 16•o 1891 3.7 2I.7 1892 3'2 20.6 1893 3.5 20.8 1894 3.8 19.8 1895 3.5 17.7 1896 2.3 16.2 1897 2.2 17.8 1898 2.6 21.6 1899 3.3 23.2 1900 3.4 22.7 1901 3.4 20.0 1902 3.4 17.8 1903 3.2 14.1 1904 3.3 13.1 1905 2.7 13'7 Consumption per head in Litres, Sweden . 10.9 16.1 21.9 30.9 30'8 31.6 33'0 35.5 42.4 45'0 50.0 58.1 56'4 60.4 56.6 58.7 52.8 The difference between these contiguous countries is remarkable . The consumption of spirits has always been much higher in Sweden than in Norway . In the old days before any legislation the estimated consumption was in Sweden 46 litres (1829) and in Norway 16 litres (1833) a head . In recent years, under the company system, the figures for both countries are vastly less, but the See also:Swedish consumption has hardly ever been less than See also:double the See also:Norwegian and sometimes three times as great . This difference, observed over a See also:long period before regulation and after, points to different conditions and national habits; but such constant differentiating factors hardly explain the strikingly dissimilar movements shown by the tables . Both countries arc obviously affected by the state of trade . The high-water mark of spirit-drinking in See also:modern times for both was the same period, 1874-76, as noted above for the United Kingdom; Sweden then averaged 12.4 litres a head and Norway 6.6 . Both show also the See also:influence of the 1900 See also:boom in trade and the subsequent decline . But in Sweden the increase of beer-drinking, which in 1871-8o was less than in Norway, has been enormous . If the two drinks are put together it cannot be said that the consumption in Sweden was appreciably less in 1896-1905 than in 1871-8o, whereas in Norway it was distinctly less . This may in See also:part be explained by the substitution of the made wine, called laddevin, to which reference has already been made . The marked fall in the consumption of spirits which occurred in 1896-98 is attributed to this cause (Rowntree and Sherwell) ; the importation of wine rose from 2,320,300 litres in 1891-94 to 5,876,750 litres in 1898 . Subsequently importation was checked by heavier duties and reduced consumption followed . In 1886-90 the quantity consumed per head in litres averaged 0.88; in 1896-1900 it was 2.49, with a maximum of 2.75 in 1898; in 1905 it had fallen again to o•88 (See also:Pratt) . A careful study of the foregoing statistics of consumption in the three countries-United Kingdom, United States and the Scandinavian See also:peninsula-which have paid most See also:attention to the problem and have for a long period applied forcible but widely different methods of control, does not permit any confident conclusion upon the comparative merits of any particular system . The United States, in whose multitudinous liquor laws prohibition plays the most prominent part, has most conspicuously failed to check consumption . Norway and Sweden, both of which combine the Year . Branvin . 1856-60 1861-70 1871-80 1881-90 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 9.5 9'7 10.9 7'5 6'4 6.5 6'7 6.9 6.9 7.2 7'5 8•o 8.3 8.5 8.4 7.8 7.4 6.9 7•o Beer, principle of disinterested management, though not in the same form, with a certain amount of prohibition, show markedly different results . The British licensing system has been at least as successful as any of the others . The most probable conclusion to be drawn from the facts is that the movement in each country has been mainly determined by other forces; the rise of consumption in the United States by the rapid and progressive urbanization of the people and the great increase of See also:wealth; the diminution of consumption in the United Kingdom by a change in the habits of the people due to many causes, to which further reference is made below; while the difference between Norway and Sweden is largely due to See also:differences of national See also:character and habits already noted, though some influence must be attributed to the See also:superior system and greater stringency of control in Norway . But if we go back to earlier periods there is no doubt at all that an incomparably worse state of things existed in the United Kingdom and in Scandinavia when the spirit traffic was under little control or none at all . 1 neemperance.—Police statistics are the best evidence we have of the prevalence of drunkenness, which is the most visible and direct result of intemperance . Like other statistics, they must be used with due regard to the circumstances of origin and compilation . They vary according to (I) the laws See also:relating to drunkenness; (2) the See also:administration by police and justices; (3) the method of compiling returns All these vary in different countries and towns and at different times, so that the statistics must not be used for minute comparisons . But properly handled they are of great value, and the discrepancies are less than might be supposed, because it is found on inquiry that the actual behaviour of the police towards drunken persons does not greatly differ . Neither exceptional zeal nor exceptional laxity lasts very long . The general practice is only to interfere with those persons whose violence causes disturbance or whose helplessness creates obstruction or annoyance . The mode of compiling returns is the most serious cause of See also:error . Many countries have no returns, and in others they are incomplete . Those available, however, throw considerable light on the subject . The following quinquennial table shows the movement in England and See also:Wales since the drunken period 1874-78 . The important See also:act of 1872, which increased the number of offences, vitiates comparison with the earliest returns, which are, however, given in the article on DRUNKENNESS . Drunkenness, England and Wales . Number of Persons proceeded against per Io,000 . 1874-78 81.2 1894-98 • 60.4 1879-83 . 69.7 1899-1903 . 65.5 1884-88 . 63.6 1904—08 . . 62.4 1889-93 . . 61.4 There has been a marked improvement since 1874-78, and on the whole a progressive one, though interrupted by a moderate rise in the period of prosperity about 1900 . The figures for the most recent years would be considerably lower but for the Licensing Act of 1902, which altered the police See also:procedure and caused a sudden rise, as shown by the following table, for the last 10 years: 1900 . 63.4 1905 . . 64.2 1901 . 64.5 1906 ` . 61.3 1902 . 63.6 1907 6o•I 1903 69.o 1908 59.3 1904 . 67.4 1909 53.2 When allowance is made for the act of 1902 it is seen that the movement of drunkenness corresponds broadly with that of consumption, but the decline of drunkenness is more marked; the level is lower than it used to be whether good or See also:bad times be taken . This plainly shows a large change in the habits of the people, which is further emphasized by the fact that police procedure has become more stringent and the returns more See also:complete . The exceptional figure for 1909 (estimated) is ascribed to the heavy increase of spirit duties in that year . The change has been accompanied by a continuous fall in the number of public-houses in proportion to population . Between 187o and 1909 the number of " on " licences was reduced from 53.3 to 26.3 per to,000 of the population; but the See also:correspondence between the two movements is not exact . The number of public-houses has fallen steadily from year to year, whereas drunkenness, like consumption, has fluctuated with the state of trade . The facts, therefore, demonstrate a connexion, but hardly establish one of cause and effect . The principal causes which have brought about the general decline of drunkenness are wider and deeper . The See also:standard of behaviour has gradually changed with See also:education and the See also:provision of alternative recreations in many forms, among which the See also:chief are See also:games, theatres, locomotion, public See also:libraries, institutes, See also:tea shops and eating houses . At the same time great social changes have taken effect and have tended to remove class barriers and See also:foster the aspirations of the working classes, who have more and more adopted the standard of conduct prevalent among the more highly educated sections of society . The old drinking habits of the latter, which were notorious at the end of the 18th See also:century, began to give way to greater sobriety earlyin the 19th century; and the movement was greatly promoted, as a feature of social life, by the influence of See also:Queen See also:Victoria's reign . Drunkenness went " out of See also:fashion," and the social standard has gradually permeated downwards . All this has no doubt been stimulated by temperance organization and teaching, which has constantly kept the question before the public and exercised an educational influence in spite of ridicule and abuse . The change has been very gradual, but far greater than can be shown in figures . It can be better realized by contrasting the present state of things with that described in the past, as in the evidence given before a select See also:committee of the See also:House of See also:Commons in 1834, when witnesses described the scenes that regularly occurred on See also:Sunday See also:morning in See also:London—the See also:crowd See also:round the public-houses, women with babies to which they gave See also:gin, and people lying dead drunk in the streets . The evidence given at this inquiry and by contemporary writers reveals a condition of things to which modern times afford no parallel; and in particular it disposes of the current belief that See also:female drunkenness is a comparatively new thing and increasing . The practice of frequenting public-houses and drinking to excess in England has been noted for centuries and repeatedly denounced . It was described at a See also:meeting of the See also:Middlesex magistrates in 1830, when the chairman said that of 72 cases of drunkenness brought up at See also:Bow See also:Street on the previous See also:Monday the majority were women " who had been picked up in the streets where they had fallen dead drunk." At the inquiry of 1834 Mr Mark See also:Moore gave the number of customers counted entering 14 public-houses in a See also:week; out of a total of 269,437 there were 108,593 women and 18,391 children . Of See also:late years the proportion of female drunkards to the whole has been perceptibly diminishing . In 187o the proportion of See also:females to the total number proceeded against for drunkenness was 25.9 per cent . ; in 1890 it was 23.4 per cent . The percentage of convictions credited to women in the last few years is: 1905, 20.42; 1906, 20.60; 1907, 20.26; 1908, 20.13; 1909, 19.79• The foregoing observations on drunkenness apply only to England and Wales . The returns for Scotland and Ireland are less complete, but they show the movement in those parts of the kingdom . In Ireland a diminution has taken place in recent years, but in Scotland an increase . Number of Charges of Drunkenness . Year . Scotland . Ireland . 1890 36,293 100,202 1900 43,943 97,457 1901 .. 88,295 1902 91,276 1903 36,930 85,502 1904 41,852 81,775 1905 43,518 79,968 1906 55,408 77,262 1907 58,900 76,860 1908 55,104 . . It is worthy of See also:note that police drunkenness is higher in Wales, Scotland and Ireland than in England . The respective number of proceedings per Io,o0o in the year 1907 was: England, 59.8; Wales, 65.2; Scotland, 123.3: Ireland, 175.6 . The figures for . Wales are strictly comparable, those for Scotland and Ireland less so; but the coincidence is striking . The greater prevalence of spirit drinking as a national See also:habit, particularly in Scotland and Ireland, may account in part for the discrepancy . Other points which distinguish the three countries from England are their See also:Celtic See also:blood and Sunday closing . No connexion can be shown between the number of licensed houses and the prevalence of drunkenness; they are fewer in Scotland than in England and Wales, but more numerous in Ireland, . though there has been a diminution there since 1902, which may have something to do with the fall of drunkenness . The same lack of correspondence is shown more fully by the de-tailed figures for England and Wales published in the official See also:volume of licensing statistics . Taking the See also:county boroughs in See also:groups according to the number of licences in proportion to the population we get the following: Licences and Drunkenness, County Boroughs, 1905 . Licences under 20 20 to 30 30 to 40 40 to 50 over 6o per to,000 . Convictions 71.05 55.89 62.4 36.6 35.27 per 10,000 . The corresponding figures for the counties are as follows: Licences and Drunkenness, Counties, 1905 . Licences per Io,000 Convictions per Io,o0o under 30 57.39 30 to 40 36.74 40 to 50 over 50 40.0 33.2 If any other year be taken similar discrepancies are shown . In 1909 the six counties with the highest and the six with the lowest number of licences exclusive of county boroughs, gave the following results: Li- Convic- Li- Convic- County. cences tions County. cences tions per per per per 10,000. isms . ro,000. moos . See also:Huntingdon . 91.51 2o'6o Middlesex . 11.84 33'32 See also:Cambridge . 74.04 II.18 See also:Northumberland 19'09 133.12 See also:Oxford . . . 63.68 9.56 See also:Essex . . . 19.13 16.95 See also:Brecon . . . 63.28 54.34 Glamorgan . . 20.56 75.34 See also:Rutland . . . 61.79 14.14 See also:Lancaster . . 21.43 38'45 See also:Buckingham . 59.72 15.76 See also:Durham . . 2P67 80.49 Mean . . . 69•oo 20.93 Mean . . . 18'95 62.94 It is curious that the mean figures for these two groups at opposite ends of the scale almost exactly reverse the number of licences and convictions; but the individual discrepancies show that other factors really determine the results . The chief of these is unquestionably occupation . All the counties with the highest number of convictions are pre-eminently mining counties . Year after year Northumberland, Durham and Glamorgan occupy the same place at the head of the convictions, and other mining counties are always high up . These areas are not drunken because the public-houses are few, but See also:vice versa; the licences are kept down because of the drunkenness . The influence of occupation and character is further revealed by a broader survey . The following table from the judicial statistics for 1894 brings out these elements very clearly: Persons Proceeded Against for Drunkenness per 10,000 . Seaports . 126.07 Mining counties 113.67 See also:Metropolis . 47'09 Manufacturing towns . See also:Pleasure towns . 28.93 Agricultural counties- 24.50 (1) Home counties (2) South-Western 20.94 (3) Eastern 10'99 In other countries the same distribution is observed; drunkenness is most prevalent in seaports and mining districts . It is further fostered by a northerly situation, and these three factors go far to explain the condition of Scotland, as of Northumberland and Durham . The United States.-The See also:Census See also:Bureau at See also:Washington issues from time to time statistics of cities, which contain a good deal of information concerning drunkenness . The last return, published in 1910, contains details of 158 cities having a population of over 30,000 in the year 1907, to which the statistics relate . It appears from these returns that drunkenness is exceedingly prevalent in American towns . The figures are not comparable with the English ones, because they relate to arrests, which are more numerous than " proceedings " and still more than convictions . The number of women included is very considerable, but the data are too imperfect to permit the calculation of a general percentage . In New See also:York the proportion of women arrested for drunkenness and disorder was 24.3 per cent. of the whole number . The cities are divided into four groups according to population:-(1) over 300,000, (2) 100,000 to 300,000, (3) 50,000 to 100,000, (4) 30,000 to 50,000 . The average number of arrests per Io,000 inhabitants in each See also:group and in all cities together is-(1) 191.0, (2) 193.6, (3) 245.8, (4) 244.8; mean of all cities, 205.1 . The comparatively small range of difference between the groups is remarkable, and indicates a general prevalence of police drunkenness . The higher figures for groups (3) and (4) are explained by the excessive number of cases in certain manufacturing, mining and See also:Southern coloured towns of small and See also:medium See also:size . These figures are for drunkenness alone, so that they cannot be confused with other offences; but on examining the details of individual cities it becomes clear that the practice varies considerably in making up the returns, and that in some places nearly all the arrests of drunken persons are charged to drunkenness whereas in others a large proportion are returned under the head of disorderly conduct . In considering the relation between drunkenness and the number of licensed houses, therefore, it seems desirable to put both sets of figures, as in the following table . 
It will be seen that there is no correspondence between the number of licensed houses and the amount of drunkenness alone or of drunkenness and disorderly conduct together, except that the See also:fourth group has the largest number of licences and the most disorder . Arrests and Licences per 10,000 . Cities . Arrests, Arrests, See also:Retail ts Liquor Detine Conduct . Dealers . . Group 1 191.0 Io8.8 30'3 Over 300,000 Group 2 193.6 112.8 27.7 100,000 to 300,000 Group 3 245.8 78.7 28.4 50,000 to See also:Ioo,000 Group 4 244'8 121.4 31'5 30,000 to 50,000 Mean 205.1 io6.8 29.6 There are large discrepancies between different cities, but not greater than among British towns . The following table gives the figures corresponding to the above for each of the great cities included in group 1, with the exception of See also:San Francisco, the population of which could not be estimated Arrests and Licences per 10,000 . Cities . Arrests, Arrests, Retail Drunkenness . Disorderly Liquor . Dealers . New York .
.
.
105.9 120.2 25.5
See also:Chicago 169'1 5'3 34'2
See also:Philadelphia 287.5 81 •o 13.1
St See also: In all of them the drunkenness is below the mean for the group and considerably below that of similar and neighbouring towns . For instance, See also:Brockton is a See also:boot-manufacturing See also:town, Group 3 Cambridge (Mass.) . . See also:Kansas See also:City (Kansas) . See also:Somerville (Mass.) . See also:Charleston (S . Carolina) See also:Portland (See also:Maine) . . Brockton (Mass.) . Group 4 See also:Topeka (Kansas) . See also:Malden (Mass.) . See also:Chelsea (Mass.) . See also:Salem (Mass.) . . See also:Newton (Mass.) . . See also:Wichita (Kansas) . See also:Fitchburg (Mass.) . See also:Everett (Mass.) . . 227.1 ioo•8 336.0 329.0 168.1 392.7 . 161.5 99.6 218.5 178.0 130.5 342'7 6o5 240.9 comparable with 'See also:Lynn in the same state; the respective figures are 240.9 and 561-I . The evidence here, so far as it goes, is in favour of local prohibition . On the other hand there are a number of licensed cities with lower figures, and two of those on the list—Chelsea and Salem—are very high up . State prohibition does not make such a good showing . Portland is one of the most drunken places in America—a fact confirmed by many observers—and Wichita in Kansas is above the mean . Kansas City is better . This place is peculiarly situated, being continuous with Kansas City in See also:Missouri; the boundary between the two states passes through the town . Consequently the inhabitants have only to go into the Missouri See also:half to obtain drink . Cambridge is very similarly situated in relation to Boston . Charleston, which is above the mean for the group, was under the state dispensary system . In sum, these police figures furnish some See also:argument for prohibition and some against; but they clearly demonstrate the limits of compulsion . Altogether the statistical evidence from the United States, whether of consumption, expenditure or drunkenness, offers no inducement to the United Kingdom to adopt any of the American methods of control in place of its own system . Norway and Sweden.—Police statistics for some of the principal towns in Norway and Sweden, which are the seats of the company system or disinterested management applied to spirit bars, are frequently quoted and we will therefore give them here . When all allowances have been made they show that drunkenness is very prevalent in these seaport towns, and that it fluctuates as in England but exhibits no general tendency to improvement . Convictions per moo in See also:Gothenburg . 1865 . 46 1886 31 1866 . 30 1887 32 1867 . 29 1888 31 1868 . 26 1889 34 1869 . 28 1890 40 1870 . 26 1891 44 1871 . 28 1892 42 1872 . 28 1893 38 1873 . 32 1894 34 1874 . 38 1895 31 1875 . 42 1896 35 1897 44 1877 . 40 1898 54 1878 . 32 1899 54 1879 . 31 1900 51 188o . 31 190I 42 1881 . 32 1902 45 1882 . . 29 1903 47 1883 . . 30 1904 45 1884 . . 29 1905 52 1885 . . 29 The principal feature of this table is the much higher level in the second 20 years than in the first, though the police procedure has been the same . Several times in recent years the figure has exceeded that of 1865, which was practically the year before the company system was introduced, as it did not begin operations until See also:October . Once more the influence of trade oscillations is well marked, particularly in the prosperous period of 1897-1900 . To convert convictions into arrests for comparison with the following tables about 3 per moo should be added; this difference is very evenly maintained in Gothenburg . Arrests per moo in See also:Bergen . 1877 . 26 1892 . . I2 1878 . 21 1893 . 14 . 19 . I6 i88o . 1894 . . 21 1895 . 22 1881 . 17 1896 . • 29 1882 . 13 1897 . . 27 1883 . i8 1898 . . 27 1884 . 15 1899 . . 26 1885 . 17 1900 . . 31 1886 . 14 1901 . • 29 1887 . 13 1902 . . 27 1888 . 14 1903 24 1889 . 14 1904 . . 20 1890 . 21 1905 . • 23 1891 . 19 Arrests per moo in See also:Christiania . 94 1890 . 70 1898 . • 1891 . 77 1899 Iot 1892 . 74 1900 . . 90 1893 . 8o 190I' . • 75 1894 . 75 1902 . • 1895 . 77 1903 599 5 1896 . Io5 1904 . 52 1897 . III 1905 . 43 Use and Abuse of Alcohol . The evils caused by the' abuse of alcoholic liquors have always been recognized by mankind; they are too obvious to be ignored . See also:Intoxication produces imbecility, bestiality, violence and See also:crime; continued excess produces incapacity, poverty, misery, disease, See also:delirium, See also:insanity and See also:death . But all these effects are produced by other causes and it is very difficult to estimate the precise See also:share of this particular See also:agent . In modern times scientific investigation has attempted to do this and to give precision to the conclusions drawn from See also:ordinary observation . We will briefly summarize some of the results . Crime.—Drink is associated with crimes against the person, but not with crimes against See also:property, which form in England nine-tenths of the whole (Judicial Statistics . 1901) . Dr W . C . See also:Sullivan, medical officer in the prison service, calculates that " alcoholic intoxication is answerable for about 6o per cent. of indictable crimes of violence and for a rather higher proportion of See also:minor offences of the same class "; and further that " it is probably the cause of nearly half the crimes of lust," but it " makes no appreciable contribution to crimes of acquisitiveness." He gives the following table: Annual Average per See also:I00,000--1891—1900 . Areas . Drunkenness . Homicides Attempted and Assaults . See also:Suicide . Agricultural 226.3 116.33 3'46 Mining . . . . 1091.2 237'34 2.43 Manufacturing . 479'8 265.73 6.42 Seaports 990.6 409.73 10.56 This does not show a See also:regular connexion . The mining areas, which have the most drunkenness, are only second in violence and lowest of all in suicide . Dr Sullivan explains this discrepancy by the theory that chronic alcoholism is less prevalent among miners, and that this form is chiefly responsible for the crimes in question . It is impossible, however, to establish any constant relation between drink and violent crime; the two do not vary together . It was pointed out in the judicial Statistics for 1901 that whereas in the drunken year 1899 consumption of drink was 8 per cent. higher and the police records of prosecutions for drunkenness 15 per cent. higher than in the previous quinquennial period, crimes of violence were I.62 per cent. lower . These statistics apply only to England . When other countries are taken it becomes still clearer that other factors are more important . Mr W . D . See also:Morrison gives the following table of homicides in proportion to population in different countries (Crime and its Causes) : Persons Tried for See also:Homicide per 100,000 . Italy . . . 15.40 France . . . 2.73 Spain . . 11.91 Scotland . 2•II Austria 4.01 Germany . 1.51 Ireland . . . 3'35 England . . . 1.6o Belgium . . . 3.02 Holland . . . 1. to Except that England, Scotland and Ireland are in the order of relative drunkenness, the table shows no correspondence between drink and homicide . National character and See also:climate are evidently more important determining factors . Some calculations of the proportion of crime associated with drink have been made in different countries . In Germany 36.5 per cent. of the prisoners in one See also:gaol were found to be drunkards (See also:Baer); assaults, 51.3 per cent.; resistance to the police, 70.I per cent.; offences against morality, 66 per cent . (See also:Aschaffenburg) . In Italy 5o, 6o, and 75 per cent. of crimes against the person have been attributed to drink . In Switzerland 40 per cent. of male criminals in 1892 were found to have been under the influence of drink when their offences were committed . In Denmark 43 per cent, of the men convicted in 1903 were drunkards . These estimates, some of which are official, suffice to confirm the connexion between drink and a great deal of crime, but the basis of investigation is too narrow to permit more than a general conclusion . There is, however, one form of crime for which drink is almost wholly responsible, and this furnishes the blackest of all indictments against it . The intensity of suffering and injury inflicted on children by the atrocious See also:cruelty and neglect of drunken parents cannot be overstated . The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children finds that 90 per cent. of the cases which come under its See also:notice are due to drink . .Poverty.—Much poverty is undoubtedly caused by drink, but it is even less possible to establish any constant connexion between the two than in the case of crime . See also:Pauperism and drink stand to a great extent in inverse relation; in good times the first diminishes and the second increases, in bad times the reverse takes place .
For instance, pauperism in England, which has had a general tendency to fall for many years, rose rapidly in the period of low consumption after 186o, See also:fell still more rapidly In the great drinking years 1870-77, and rose again when they gave place to depression
.
With falling consumption after 1891 (see the table above) it rose till 1894, when
the opposite movement began; and during the steady fall of drink since 1900 pauperism has been rising again
.
The only exception to this regular inverse movement is the very depressed period 1884-1888, when pauperism was stationary
.
The conclusion to be drawn is that while drink is a chief cause of poverty in many cases and the See also:sole cause in some, it is swamped in the aggregate by the larger influence of work and wages
.
Mr See also:
When poverty is examined by local distribution it is found to have very little connexion with drink
.
In 1901 the average proportion of pauperism to population in England was 5.3 per cent
.
The exceptionally drunken districts of Northumberland and Durham were all below it, the sober eastern counties all above it (See also:Blue-book on Public See also:Health and Social Conditions, See also:Col
.
4671)
.
Insanity.—Dr See also:Robert See also: . My own experience leads me to believe that alcohol is either a direct or an indirect factor in the causation of at least 5o per cent. of the cases of insanity." Dr T S . Clouston estimates that alcoholic excess is the cause of about 20 per cent. of all the insanity in Great See also:Britain and Ireland . These are the opinions of experienced medical men in charge of the insane . On the other hand, those in charge of inebriates are inclined to attribute See also:inebriety to a great extent to See also:mental deficiency of some kind . Dr Branthwaite, government inspector under the Inebriates Acts, observes in his See also:Report for 1908, published in 1910, " There is no doubt whatever in detaining and treating persons sent to us under the Inebriates Acts that we are dealing to a large extent with a class known as ' feeble-minded.' . . . It would be difficult to find many more than about a third of all persons under detention capable of passing See also:muster as of average mental capacity." In support of this statement he gives the following classification of 3032 cases Classification . Number . Percentage . (I) Insane; persons since See also:admission certified and sent to asylums 63 (2) Very defective; persons more or less See also:con- genitally See also:imbecile, degenerate,or epileptic 377 (3) Defective; See also:eccentric, See also:silly, dull, senile, or subject to periodical paroxysms of un- governable See also:temper 1487 49'04 (4) Of average mental capacity, on admission or after six months' detention II05 36'45 Insanity is therefore a cause as well as a consequence of excessive drinking, and the estimates given about it must be qualified accordingly . The following are given for foreign countries . In Italy a report from 26 asylums returned 18.6 per cent. as directly or in-directly (by See also:heredity) due to alcoholism . See also:Professor Seppili reports from the See also:Brescia asylum the following: 1894-98, 15.7 per cent.; 1899-1903, 19.8 per cent.; 1904-08, 27.6 per cent . Experts in such statistics will recognize at once in this enormous rise a change in the method of classification . In Switzerland, of the admissions in 1900-04, 21.1 per cent. among See also:males and 4.37 per cent. among females were alcoholics . In Denmark, of the admissions in 1899-1903, 21.37 per cent. were alcoholics . In Austria, of the admissions in 1903, 14.0 per cent. were alcoholics . In France the proportion of all persons in asylums in 1907 with an alcoholic See also:history was 12.5 per cent . Mortality.—The influence of drink on mortality is an urascertainable quantity, because it may be associated with other causesto an extent which varies in an See also:infinite See also:series of gradations . All attempts to estimate it are more or less plausible guesses . We have, however, some See also:positive data . The Registrar-General's Returns contain the heading " alcoholism, delirium tremens," as a cause of death . The following are the rates per million recorded in quinquennial periods from 1870 to 1905: 37.6, 42.4, 48.2, 56.0, 67.8, 85.8, 78.2 . This is unsatisfactory for two reasons: the first is, that alcoholism does not nearly See also:cover all the mortality directly caused by drink; and the second is that, being a very vague term, its use in certifying the cause of death depends largely on the views of the practitioner and current opinion in the medical profession . The attention paid to the subject has led to a growing recognition of alcoholism, which, indeed, does not appear at all in the older See also:text-books . This accounts for the steady increase of deaths ascribed to it, which is otherwise inexplicable, being quite at variance with the consumption of drink during the same period . The Seventy-first Annual Report of the Registrar-General states that the mortality from alcoholism in the years 1900 and 1901 was materially increased by the transference of deaths that had been originally certified as from See also:neuritis . It is now usual to classify alcoholism and cirrhosis of the See also:liver together, since the latter is most frequently caused by intemperance . The following are the crude death-rates for twenty years: Death-Rates to a Million Living—England and Wales . Alcoholism . Cirrhosis . Year . Male . Female . Persons . Male . Female . Persons . 1889 72 39 55 140 103 121 1890 94 50 70 144 105 124 125 94 148 1892 49 671 142 14 122 7 1893 93 55 73 139 103 120 1894 76 47 61 136 96 I15 1895 84 51 67 133 104 118 1896 91 52 71 140 1o6 122 1897 97 58 77 151 115 133 1 898 98 59 78 152 112 132 1899 113 69 90 167 I19 142 1900 132 95 113 162 127 144 1901 113 8o 96 151 I15 132 1902 105 65 84 144 104 123 1903 91 62 76 136 See also:loo I17 1904 85 55 70 135 so' I17 1905 79 52 65 131 104 117 1906 8o 53 66 127 98 112 1907 79 48 63 123 101 112 1908 65 45 55 120 88 104 These figures dispose of the current belief in an enormous increase of female intemperance based on the progressive rise of the death-rates . Discussing this question some years ago the present writer pointed out the defects of the statistics and said that the returns of the next few years might upset the whole argument . They have done so . The statistics of alcoholism and cirrhosis, however, are very far from covering all the mortality due to drink . Dr Newsholme calculates by inference from the returns of Denmark and Switzerland that the deaths directly attributed to alcohol in England and Wales should be some six times higher than they appear in the returns, and that they would then amount to 5 per cent. of the total deaths of adults instead of about o•8 per cent . He adds: " This percentage probably greatly understates the real facts." It may be so, but the calculation is based on too many assumptions to be accepted with confidence . In addition to the direct mortality there is an unknown See also:score against alcohol in predisposing to other diseases and in accelerating death . Consumption is one of the diseases thought to be particularly associated with alcohol, but there are several others . The following table shows the comparative mortality of males aged 25 to 65 from certain classes of disease in different groups of occupations . They include those with the highest and those with the lowest mortality . The heading " diseases of the circulatory system " includes See also:heart disease and aneurism; diseases of See also:respiratory system include See also:bronchitis, See also:pneumonia and See also:pleurisy, but not See also:phthisis, which is separately given; diseases of urinary system include See also:Bright's disease . The table is compiled from the supplement to the Sixty-fifth Annual Report of the Registrar-General, published Ipo8 . No other country has similar statistics . There are some partial ones for Switzerland, which attribute 2.47 per cent. of the deaths of males over 20 years directly or indirectly to alcohol, and for Denmark, where the corresponding figure is 42 per cent . The association of a high degree of alcoholic mortality with weakness of all the See also:organs is clearly shown by the figures for unoccupied males, general labourers, dockers, costermongers, innkeepers and See also:inn-servants . Potters and See also:file-makers, with a comparatively low degree of alcoholic mortality, alone show a similar condition, 14.51 Comparative Mortality-England and Wales . E a w 7 y E El C .d 8 ova 8 2 q a A~ A . All males 1,000 16 27 186 105 144 174 52 Occupied and retired 1,004 i6 27 187 103 146 177 52 males . Unoccupied males . 2,884 42 68 583 879 294 310 112 See also:Clergy . . 524 2 14 55 64 88 53 38 Agriculturists 602 7 13 85 62 96 86 29 Railway See also:engine-drivers 610 4 18 65 74 107 84 36 See also:Civil Service . 723 5 40 129 8o 102 78 51 Navvies, &c . . . . 740 6 9 95 63 113 154 29 Shopkeepers 872 19 34 161 96 124 139 51 See also:Coal-miners . . . 885 5 17 89 87 134 196 35 See also:Building trades . . 934 14 21 190 94 134 163 54 Metals 1,027 II 23 189 109 151 213 56 Textiles . . . . 1,055 10 21 190 123 165 193 61 Dockers . 1,481 50 22 308 I12 198 365 64 Potters . 1,493 8 21 285 131 219 473 53 I Seamen 1,646 26 34 262 170 238 220 83 File-makers 1,700 14 15 387 225 198 325 16o Innkeepers I,781 III 20I 271 188 207 252 I27 Inn-servants . 1,883 131 49 543 146 211 224 100 Costermongers 2,007 59 40 554 167 276 392 86 General labourers 2,235 40 37 491 233 324 444 96 and it is no doubt due to the inhalation or absorption of irritating or poisonous particles through the nature of their occupation . The clergy, who have the lowest alcoholic mortality, show a remark-ably low level of organic disease of all kinds; railway engine-drivers, who come next, suffer more from circulatory and respiratory diseases, navvies and coal-miners still more, while civil servants are more susceptible to phthisis . Agriculturists, though with a higher alcoholic mortality, nearly equal the clergy in general healthiness, which must be attributed to the open-See also:air life . The low alcoholic level of coal-miners and navvies is striking, because both are hard-drinking classes; their position can only be explained by the fact that they drink beer, and it goes far to prove the innocuousness of beer when combined with hard work . The enormous and absurdly disproportionate mortality from diseases of the liver among innkeepers, and in a lesser degree among unoccupied males, is obviously due to a preference for stating that cause on certificates in place of alcoholism . The condition of unoccupied males revealed by this table is See also:worth a volume of sermons . The mortality among them between the ages of 25 and 65 is higher than that of any other class of the community . It is also worth noting that poverty is good for health . The clergy are the poorest of the educated and professional classes; and agricultural labourers, who are the poorest of the See also:manual working classes, are nearly as healthy all round except that they are somewhat more liable to phthisis; their comparative mortality figure from all causes is only 621 . See also:Longevity.-A great deal of statistical information with regard to the comparative longevity or expectation of life at different ages among abstainers and non-abstainers has been collected by life-See also:insurance companies and friendly societies . The following table is given in the See also:syllabus of temperance teaching in elementary See also:schools issued in 1909:- Expectancy of Life . General General Recha- United Expectancy Expectancy Age. of Total Male based on See also:Odd- bites Kingdom Population Experience of See also:fellows . (abstain- Temperance (Registrar- Insurance ers) . Institution General) . Offices . (abstainers) . 20 41.0 43'2 41.4 48'8 46.9 25 37.0 39.1 37.6 44'3 43.0 30 33.1 35.1 34.0 39.7 38.8 35 29.2 31.2 30.3 35'1 34.6 40 25.6 27.4 26.8 30.6 30'3 45 22.2 23.7 23.3 26.1 26.1 50 18.9 20.1 19.9 21.8 22.0 55 15.8 16.7 16.6 17.7 18•I 60 12.9 13.6 13.6 13.8 14.6 Similar statistics have been prepared showing the relative mortality experience among insured persons . Mr R . M . Moore gives the following proportional figures at different ages for all the societies embraced in the See also:Institute of Actuaries tables, as compared with the abstaining section of the United Kingdom Temperance and Provident Institution, which is taken as 100:- Mortality Experience of Non-Abstainers to Abstainers as loo . Age . Mortality Age . Mortality Experience . Experience . 15-19 67 55-59 144 20-24 21 6o-64 132 25-29 172 65-69 120 30-34 194 70-74 116 35-39 190 75-79 91 40-44 181 8o-84 107 45-49 179 85-89 107 50-54 165 90-94 127 The United Kingdom Temperance Institution has a general as well as an abstaining section . The experience of the twenty-two years 1884-1905 gives the following result: percentage of actual to expected deaths-general section, 79'53; temperance section, 54.25 . Other offices having abstaining sections show similar results, thus:- General . Temperance . 53.05 46 See also:Pathology.-Dr See also:Sims Woodhead thus summarizes the results of experimental investigation into the direct See also:action of alcohol upon living cells and tissues . Alcohol plays a prominent part in bringing about degeneration of nerves, muscles and See also:epithelial cells; it determines the See also:accumulation of See also:waste products in the tissues by paralysing the See also:tissue cells, interfering with oxidation, with secretion and with See also:excretion; it induces the proliferation of the lower forms of tissue, often at the expense of the more highly See also:developed tissues, which in its presence undergo marked degenerative changes; it interferes directly with the production of See also:immunity against specific infective diseases, and reasoning from See also:analogy it may be assumed that it plays an equally important part in impairing the resistance of tissue to the advance of the active agents in the production of disease that may have already obtained a foothold in the See also:body . With regard to this aspect of the subject it must be remembered that laboratory experiments by which alcohol is placed in direct contact with cells and tissues are an entirely different thing from the dietetic use of beverages containing dilute alcohol with other things . It would be interesting to know how the tissues would behave when similarly treated with common See also:salt, See also:lemon juice, See also:vinegar, theine, See also:caffeine or other substances in general dietetic use, or with ordinary tonics such as See also:quinine, See also:quassia and dilute acids . Inebriety.-Much study has been devoted to inebriety as a diseased condition . It generally results from long-continued and excessive See also:indulgence in alcohol and is characterized by See also:dipsomania or a craving for alcohol, which is chronic or periodical and which the subject cannot resist . It is accompanied by organic changes in the See also:nervous system, which probably begin in the See also:stomach, but end in disintegration of the See also:brain cells with the, development of alcoholic insanity . The only See also:chance of cure lies in complete See also:abstinence from liquors with, at first, suitable medical treatment . The recognition of this fact has led to the See also:establishment of special institutions for this purpose, both of a voluntary and a compulsory character . An account of the laws relating to the. subject is given under the heading of INEBRIETY . In accordance with the law three classes of institutions have been established in the United Kingdom:-(1) Certified inebriate reformatories, to which patients are committed by the courts for various periods of detention . They are I I in number, and during 1908-the last year reported-the committals to them numbered 262 (218 women and 44 men) . The total number committed since their establishment in 1897 is 3002 (2548 women and 484 men) ; the highest number in any one year was 493 (428 women and 65 men) in 1907 . (2) State Inebriate Reformatories, more of a penal character, for persons committed but too refractory for the previous class . There are two, one for women and one for men; the average number under detention in 1908 was 74 women and 42 men; the admissions were 27 women and io men . (3) Licensed retreats, for voluntary patients . In 1908 they numbered 20, and had under treatment 493 patients (288 women and 205 men) . In all about 800 habitual inebriates are thus treated . The results cannot be stated with any precision, but they are certainly disappointing . The Inebriates After-Cure Association gives the following See also:analysis of 407 cases discharged from reformatories and looked after in the years 1903-8:-Satisfactory result, 82 (5o women, 32 men); unsatisfactory, 114 (78 women, 36 men); not known, 221 (162 women, 49 men) . One explanation of the failure of treatment and the frequency of relapses See also:Sceptre Life Association (25 years) . 79'67 Scottish Temperance Life Assurance Co . 64 (25 years) which has been revealed by longer and closer study of the problem is that many inebriates are really mental defectives, as already noted in connexion with insanity . Such cases constantly reappear in the police courts after See also:discharge . Heredity.—It has long been generally assumed that the children of alcoholics suffer in body and mind for the sins of their parents, that they are weak, diseased and defective; and it is very often assumed that they inherit an alcoholic craving . The latter See also:assumption is not admitted by scientific students of the question, but the former has been generally held, though without any proof . It has been made the subject of a statistical investigation (1910) in the See also:Eugenics laboratory of London University by See also:Miss E . M . Elderton and Professor Karl See also:Pearson . The See also:object was to " measure the effect of alcoholism in the parents on the health, physique and intelligence of their offspring, " whether by toxic or environmental influence, but not by the transmission of See also:original defective characters, which is omitted from the inquiry . The material used is a report by the See also:Edinburgh Charity Organization Society on the children in one of the Edinburgh schools and one by Miss See also:Mary Dendy on those in the special schools of Manchester . The number of children is not stated, but so far as can be gathered from the tables the Edinburgh inquiry covered about 1000 and the Manchester inquiry about 2000 . The ages were from 5 to 14 (Edinburgh report), and both sexes are included in approximately equal See also:numbers . The general conclusion reached is that " no marked relation has been found between the intelligence, physique or disease of the offspring and parental alcoholism in any of the categories investigated . " The principal particular conclusions reached See also:ate as follows:—Higher death-See also:rate in alcoholic than in sober families, more marked in the case of See also:mother than of See also:father, but alcoholic parents more fertile, and therefore nett See also:family about equal; height and See also:weight of alcoholic children slightly greater, but when corrected for age slightly less; general health of alcoholic children slightly better, markedly so in regard to See also:tuberculosis and See also:epilepsy; parental alcoholism not the source of mental defect in children; no perceptible relation between parental alcoholism and filial intelligence . These conclusions, which run See also:counter to current opinions, have been much criticized, and it is true that the See also:scope of the inquiry is inadequate to establish them as general propositions . Moreover, the See also:chronological relation of parental intemperance to the birth of the children is not stated . But so far as it goes the investigation is See also:sound and it is the first attempt to treat the subject in a scientific way . Nor is there anything in the conclusions to surprise careful and unbiassed observers . The existence of a broad relation between superior vigour and an inclination for alcoholic drinks was pointed out years ago by the writer; drinking peoples are noticeably more energetic and progressive than non-drinking ones . It is the universal experience of shipmasters that British seamen, whose 'in-temperance causes trouble and therefore induces a preference for more sober foreigners, exhibit an See also:energy and endurance in emergency of which the latter are incapable . Similar testimony has repeatedly been borne by See also:engineers and contractors engaged in large works in the south of See also:Europe . And that acute observer, Miss Loane, has related a particular and striking case in regard to offspring from her own experience, which is curiously in keeping with the conclusions of the Eugenics laboratory . The question, however, needs much more elucidation . The whole subject has, in truth, got somewhat out of perspective . The tendency of the statistical and experimental investigations, summarized above into the relations of alcohol with crime, mortality, disease; &c., has been to obliterate the distinction between the use and abuse of alcohol, between moderate and excessive drinking, and to bring into See also:relief all the evils associated with excess, while ignoring the other side of the question . It is legitimate and desirable to emphasize the evils, but not by the one-sided and fallacious handling of facts . Alcoholic excess produces the evils alleged, though not to the extent alleged, but there is no evidence to show that its moderate use produces any of them . Yet they are all put down to " alcohol," and the inference is freely drawn that its abolition would practically put an end to crime, vice, poverty and disease without any counterbalancing loss whatever . The facts do not warrant that inference, nor has mankind at large ever accepted it . Both the statistical and experimental evidence is full of fallacies, and especially the latter . The pathological investigations on the action of alcohol referred to above elucidate the organic changes which the tissues undergo in the chronic inebriate who is saturated with spirit, but to draw the inference that alcoholic liquors taken in moderation and consumed in the body have any such action is wholly fallacious . In point of fact we know that they have not . But there is more than that . These experiments only take See also:cognizance of alcohol; they ignore the other substances actually consumed along with it . Some of these, and notably See also:sugar, are recognized foods; the See also:balance of opinion on the vexed question whether alcohol itself is a See also:food—which really depends on what is meant by a food—is now on the side of alcohol . But in addition to the principal constituents, easily separable by analysis, are many other substances of which See also:science takes no cognizance at all; they are not identified . They may be in minute quantities yet extremely powerful, as are many other See also:vegetable extractives . We know that they exist by their taste and their effect; they make the difference between See also:port and See also:sherry, between See also:claret and See also:Burgundy, between one vintage and another, between See also:brandy and See also:whisky, differences unknown to See also:chemistry—which only recognizes alcohol, and knows very little about that—but vastly important to the human organism .
Another group of experiments are equally fallacious in a different way
.
The effect of alcohol in mental operations is tested by the comparative See also:speed and ease with which work is done after a dose and without it
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The effect has been found to be diminished speed and ease; but these experimenters do not apply the same test to a good meal or a sound See also:sleep or hard exercise
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The writer finds in concentrated mental work that the immediate effect of even a small dose of alcohol is to impair efficiency, but the other three do so in a much higher degree
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The inference is not that these are injurious, but that the proper time for each is not just before work; after work he finds them all, alcohol included, beneficial
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The mortality statistics are treated in a similar one-sided way
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They clearly show the injury done by the abuse of alcohol, but what of its moderate use
?
Agricultural labourers are the most typical moderate drinking class, and they are one of the healthiest in spite of exposure, bad See also:housing and poverty
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If all the unhealthiness of those who drink hard is referred to their drink, then the healthiness of those who drink moderately should be referred to it too
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The See also:absolute condemnation of alcoholic drinks has never been endorsed by public opinion or by the medical profession, because it is contradicted by their general experience
.
That many persons are better without any alcohol, and that many more would be better if they took less than they do is undeniable; but it is equally undeniable that many derive benefit from a moderate amount of it
.
See also:Sir See also:
He represents the attitude of the medical profession as a whole and of temperate men in general
.
Attempts to support the case for abolishing the use of alcoholic liquors by denying them any value and by attributing to them effects which See also:spring from many other causes, do not carry conviction or advance the cause of temperance
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A much stronger argument lies in the difficulty of See also:drawing a definite See also:line between use and abuse; they tend to See also:merge into one another, and it may be urged that the evils of the latter are sufficiently great to justify the See also:abandonment of the former
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But the use of most things is open to the same objection, and mankind at large has never consented to forego the gratification of a natural appetite because it is liable to abuse
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or is there any sign of an intention to make an exception in favour of alcohol
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On the other hand, moderation is attainable by every sane individual
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It is in fact observed by the great majority and to an increasing extent, There is a line between use and abuse, and every one really knows where it is in his own case
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If he cannot draw it let him abstain, as Dr See also: In 1910 nine American states had adopted it—namely : Maine, Kansas, N . Dakota, See also:Georgia, See also:Oklahoma, See also:Alabama, See also:Mississippi, N . Carolina and See also:Tennessee; and it was estimated that nearly half the population of the United States were living under state or local prohibition . In Canada the province of See also:Prince See also:Edward See also:Island has adopted complete prohibition . In 1908 See also:Iceland by a popular See also:vote resolved to prohibit the manufacture, importation and See also:sale of intoxicating liquor . In Norway nearly half the towns have adopted prohibition under the law of 1906 . In Belgium and Switzerland the manufacture, importation and sale of See also:absinthe was forbidden in 1908 . In New Zealand the principle of prohibition has gained ground, and in 1910 was in force over one-seventh of the See also:colony . AuTnoRrrIEs.—Licensing Statistics Home Office (annual) ; Statistical Tables of Alcoholic Beverages, Board of Trade, 1905; Report of Inspector under Inebriates Acts (annual); Judicial Statistics (annual); Registrar-General's Annual Report; Statistics of Cities, United States Census Bureau; Alliance Year Book; Church of England Temperance Society Annual Report; American Prohibition Year Book; Brewers' Almanack; New See also:Encyclopaedia of Social Reform; " The Drink Problem " (New Library of See also:Medicine); Eugenics Laboratory See also:Memoirs; Morrison, Crime and its Causes; Pratt, Licensing and Temperance in Sweden, Norway and Denmark; Rowntree and Sherwell, The Temperance Problem and Social Reform; A . See also:Shadwell, Drink, Temperance and Legislation . (A . |
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