Down the Red Lane

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jun 23, 1904

Down the Red Lane

THE American throat is a capacious one. Statistics furnished by the United States Treasury Department show that the total amount spent for something to drink during the year ending June 30, 1903, was $1,451,633,379. The wise man of old speaks of certain insatiable things that continually cry Give, give, and that never say, It is enough. The American throat is a good candidate for a place on the list of insatiables. But we must hasten to say that by something to drink we do not intend in this instance to imply intoxicating liquors only. Of the large amount mentioned, $208,690,261 was expended on drinks that do not intoxicate, at least in the ordinary acceptation of the word. But sad to say, $727,042,245 is set down to beer, while $417,915,513 more went for spirituous liquors, and wines reached a total of $97,985,360. Alcohol used in the arts is not included in these figures. So that the very considerable sum of $1,242,943,118 is the drink bill of the United States for a year. And now we mean the bill for intoxicating drinks.

This is a startling sum, look at it which way we may. It might be interesting to show how many pairs of shoes, how many suits of clothes, how many meals, it would have provided, how many homes it would have built, how many churches, colleges, schools, and various other institutions for the elevation of the people it would have established, but time and space fail us just now. One does not need the details of such comparisons, nor does one need to be an ardent prohibitionist to suggest that a large portion of the money might have been better expended. The figures to a certain extent indicate the tremendous prosperity of the country. A country must indeed be wealthy that can long stand such a strain. But such figures are certainly not necessary to prosperity.

. . . Allowing that we have a population of eighty millions, who will say that we need to spend $1,242 a year for every eighty persons, old and young, within our borders? This is fifteen dollars a throat for man, woman, and child. As a very large proportion of our population consumes no alcoholic drinks of any kind, the average quantity consumed by those who do use them is very much larger than fifteen dollars a year. Surely the great god Bacchus can not complain of his annual tribute. It is large enough.

The sums expended in a year for purposes unqualifiedly wise and good, shrink into insignificance when compared with the alcoholic total. And this total threatens to increase, and it is what it is in spite of all the efforts of the prohibitionists and other temperance workers. What it might be had there been no effort at restraint we hardly dare to think. It is claimed in some quarters that in spite of the great aggregate, there is not so much drunkenness as formerly, but is there not reason to fear that many human constitutions are being undermined, and many minds being befuddled by the constant use of stimulants even where their use does not cause ordinary drunkenness? It is not so very long ago that we quoted expert medical testimony to show that the use of stimulants often does more harm where it does not cause drunkenness than in numerous cases in which it does. The periodical drunkard, who only occasionally drinks, and is sure to quit his cups for a considerable while after his drunken fit is over, often inflicts less harm upon himself than does the continuous moderate drinker upon himself. Moderate drinking is upon the increase. The ranks of the moderate drinkers are not re-enforced by the reformation of the drunkards so much as by the addition from the ranks of those who were previously abstainers. As a people we are learning to imbibe without making beasts of ourselves. May the brute creation kindly pardon the use of the word beasts in this connection! The fact that we can drink and not show it by open inebriety is not to our advantage. The hustle and bustle of business and social life is responsible for the consumption of a large amount of stimulants, and the result can not be anything but disastrous. Uncle Sam should control his throat. He is pouring too much money down the red lane. Fire statistics are startling; but the drink statistics outvie all our unfortunate waste bills. We can reduce them all if we will.—N. Y. Observer.