Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 7, 1908

Shocking Figures

THE statistics of the annual drink bill in England, compiled by Dr. Dawson Burns, shows a total expenditure for 1907 of £167,016,200 ($813,368,894) as against £166,425,911 ($810,494,186.57) in 1906. Referring to these figures Dr. Burns says:—

The nation as a whole continues to spend a sum greater than its annual revenue on drinks that not only constitute an economic waste, but are productive of many evils, for the removal of which all bodies of social reformers continue to struggle in vain. The plea that the liquor trade gives employment to a great number of persons is met by the proof that the expenditure on drink, if otherwise applied, would provide employment for a much larger number. The plea that the revenue would suffer is one that any wise chancellor of the exchequer could afford to ignore, considering that those who thus contribute to the revenue, tax themselves three times as much for the taxable liquors they consume.

No economic argument can justify legalizing the sale of intoxicating liquors. Those who desire to continue this wretched business are selfishly seeking their own benefit, rather than the benefit of any other people or the nation as a whole.