Amount of Liquor Sold in the United States in 1869.
[The statements in the following article from the Iowa State Register, April, 1870, are truly appalling, Let those who are dreaming of a temporal millennium at hand ponder them well. D. M. C.] In an Eastern paper we find the following indictment against king alcohol. The counts in the charge, if true, are nothing short of terrible. The paper claims that the figures were taken from authentic and reliable reports for the year 1869, and recites them as follows: $1,291,865,000 were paid direct for liquors drank in the United States. $1,250,000,000 are to be added to this for loss of time and other expenses. This is estimated. 62,000,000 bushels of grain were used up to produce this liquor. 600 murders, and 400 suicides were directly caused by the use of it. 200,000 persons were sent to prisons directly through its agency. 200,000 more were sent to charitable institutions. 60,000 died drunkards, including 570 by delirium tremens and 350 by other forms of insanity brought on by rum, making at the same time 30,000 widows and 90,000 orphans.