p. 7 | The Drink Bill

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 21, 1903

The Drink Bill

“SINCE 1880,” says the American Grocer, “the use of alcoholic beverages [in this country] has nearly doubled.” The use of other nerve-injuring drinks has also greatly increased. The Midland (Chicago) puts together some statements on the drink bill in the United States and in Great Britain, taken from the American Grocer and the London Times, which are worth noting. It says:—

Not long ago the London Times printed a statement, which it has published annually for some years, of the amount spent in the United Kingdom for drink, with a comparison of the figures for successive years. It estimates the consumption of British spirits at 35,339,523 gallons, other spirits 8,778,200 gallons, beer 35,243,472 barrels, wine 15,348,242 gallons, and British wines, cider, etc., 15,000,000 gallons. The total cost is figured for 1902 at $292,279,915 for spirits, $528,652,080 for beer, $69,067,090 for wine, and $7,500,000 for British wine and cider, making a total of $807,499,085. In the middle of 1902 the population of the United Kingdom was stated to be 41,952,510, which would make the average drink expenditure for that year $21.39 per head. From figures given by the American Grocer, as quoted in a daily paper, a comparison of our own expenditure in the same line may be made. The American drink bill in 1902, including coffee, tea, and cocoa, classed as light stimulants, reached the high-water mark, the total bill being $1,369,038,276, representing a per capita expenditure for stimulants of $17.33 for the 79,033,000 people of the United States, or 4.7 cents per day. The cost at retail of alcoholic and malt drinks was $1,172,565,235, of coffee $149,831,030, of tea $39,642,011, and of cocoa $7,000,000, amounting to a total of $1,369,038,276, as compared with $1,273,212,386 in 1901. Since 1880 the use of alcoholic beverages has nearly doubled.