The Nation’s Drink Bill in 1900
The amount paid out for liquors in the United States during the year 1900 exceeds that of any previous year in the history of the nation. According to the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the drink bill amounted during that year to the enormous sum of $1,172,493,445. The New Voice in commenting on these figures makes the following striking statements: “During the year we spent almost as much money for drink as the total value of all our exports of merchandise to all the world. We spent for liquor $320,000,000 more than for all imported goods. The sum spent by us for liquor last year, together with cash in the Treasury, would wipe out the whole public debt and leave $65,000,000 besides. We spent for liquor last year $400,000,000 more than the value of the entire coal output of the country at $5 per ton. We spent above $400,000,000 more for liquor than the entire valuation of the corn crop of the whole country. We spent more for liquor than the entire gold coin of the United States in circulation and in the Treasury. We spent almost as much for liquor as the entire receipts of all the railroads from all sources. We spent six times as much for liquor as for the public schools of the nation. Our drink bill was about nine times as much as our pension bill.” The Voice brings out the further fact that the drink bill for the year was nearly six times as much as the amount spent during the same time for carrying on the war in the Philippines. Lovers of humanity must stand aghast at the terrible conditions for which these figures stand. It is not so much the mass of money spent as the desolation, misery, squalor, murders, crimes of every kind, and the wrecking of manhood, womanhood, and home, which we read behind the figures, that should make the nation weep. The unrest in Russia has become intensified during the past week. The demonstrations and demands of the students and laborers have been more striking and menacing, and the government is beginning to realize that the situation is a critical one. There has been more leniency displayed during the last few days toward those who are demanding liberty, and the Cossacks and regular soldiers have shown a spirit of restiveness under the orders of the government. Following closely the assassination of the minister of public instruction came an attempt on the life of the procurator of the holy synod, who is regarded as the real bulwark of the old order of things in Russia. A serious riot occurred at St. Petersburg on March 20, in which several lives were lost, and many were injured. Wholesale arrests of both men and women followed. On the 24th another and more determined riot occurred. The police and Cossacks charged the crowd and many lives were lost, the exact number being kept secret by the government. Threatening letters are being received by various Russian officials, and as the disturbances are caused by the educated classes, it is quite generally believed that a crisis is at hand in Russia. After a diplomatic contest of over three years, the British director-general of the customs of Korea has been dismissed from that position on demand of Russia. England is protesting against the dismissal. Russia formally demanded his removal in 1898, and his position was made secure to him only after England had sent a fleet of her warships to the principal port of Korea. The Russian minister to Korea has been protesting against the employment of any foreigners save Russians in the service of Korea, and it is due to the continued pressure of Russia that the Englishman has been dismissed. Russia’s plan is that no other nation shall gain a foothold or even political influence in Korea or North China, and all her powers of force and persuasion are directed to this one end. Japan also has her eyes on Korea, and is laying her plans to become the dominant power there if Russia keeps Manchuria. Japanese officials declare that Japan is ready now to go to war for that object. English and Scotch steel manufacturers are reported to be forming a combination for the purpose of competing with the great American steel trust. American manufacturers of steel have been securing many contracts which formerly went to England, and have thus been cutting seriously into the receipts of the English manufacturers, who will now combine their interests for self-protection. But in this combination we can see the final victory of the general trust. Combinations for the purpose of opposing the trust are almost invariably brought into harmony with the trust sooner or later. The formation of the opposition is simply a step toward a greater consolidation, and makes the final rule of the trust more sure. It will work this way in the present case, and we will have an international steel trust as the forerunner of other international trusts. The German census which was recently completed shows a total population of 56,000,000 in the empire, which is an increase of about 35 per cent. since 1871. This is considered as a remarkable showing when it is remembered that many thousands of Germans have been leaving the fatherland to find homes in the Western Hemisphere and other parts of the world. Turkey has a small rebellion on her hands in the island of Samoa, off the west coast of Asia Minor; and has sent forces there for its suppression. She has recently made a demand on the government of Bulgaria for the dissolution of the Macedonian Revolutionary Committee. This demand at the present time places Bulgaria in a difficult position. The English Government has made public its decision in regard to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty and the proposed Hay-Pauncefote treaty concerning the Nicaragua Canal. It is in the form of a communication from the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne, to Lord Pauncefote, the British ambassador at Washington. England holds that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty is still a valid document; that it cannot be abrogated without the consent of both the signatory powers; that if it were abrogated England would regain whatever rights she surrendered when the treaty was entered into; and that the fortification of the canal when it should be built would be a violation of the principle of neutrality. A dispatch from Washington declares that the Isle of Pines is to be held by the United States because of the great commercial value of some of its natural products. That was the reason given for our holding the Philippines in spite of the prior rights and claims of the Filipinos. Russia, England, Germany, and France have natural products of great value. Why does not America make seizure there?—Because they are able to protect their rights. The Filipinos and Cubans are not; therefore we harass them and spoil their possessions. The greed for gold has supplanted the sense of moral obligation. The Turkish troops who are “restoring order” in the province of Macedonia are reported to have massacred the inhabitants of whole villages. A priest declares that at one place over 600 persons were burned alive in their homes or cut to pieces by the soldiers after setting fire to the houses. Men, women, and children perished in the flames. Others corroborate the tale of the priest, and give most harrowing details of these latest massacres. Christians are fleeing from the regions occupied by the Turkish troops. A serious strike of laborers and street-car men is reported from Marseilles, France. The riotous strikers are held in check only by the mounted gendarmes, who have had difficulty in suppressing the demonstrations of the rioters. So serious has the situation become that vessels usually docking at Marseilles have made arrangements for discharging their cargoes and passengers at other ports. General Botha has formally rejected the peace propositions of Lord Kitchener, and there has been renewed activity during the week among the Boer forces. A few small engagements have been reported. At Ventersdorp the Boers were defeated and followed up so closely that they lost 9 guns, 77 wagons, and 140 prisoners, with a considerable amount of ammunition. A destructive cyclone swept through the city of Birmingham, Alabama, on the morning of March 25. The cyclone cut a path 150 feet wide, smashing or carrying away stores and dwellings. Seventeen persons are reported dead, and a much larger number are more or less seriously injured as a result of its work. The property loss in the city is placed at $250,000. There will be no negroes in the legislative halls of the Capitol at Washington during the next session. The last Congress contained only one, George E. White, of North Carolina; and owing to the movement which is now spreading in the South for the disfranchisement of colored voters, it seems probable that he is the last of his race to be elected to that position. The Spanish minister at Washington received from Secretary Hay, on March 23, a treasury warrant for $100,000. This is to pay for the islands belonging to the Philippine group which were not included in the treaty of peace signed between America and Spain on December 19, 1898. The Chicago Great Western Railroad has issued a sweeping order to its employees prohibiting them from using intoxicating liquor in any form or at any time. They must not enter saloons whether on or off duty, under penalty of dismissal. A woman and her two sons, of Seattle, Wash., claim to have discovered the long-lost secret of tempering copper. They have made copper knives and other utensils which seem to be as hard as tempered steel. The latest advices from the republic of Colombia state that there is renewed activity on the part of the rebels in the vicinity of Panama, and that the government is hard pressed to keep the rebels out of the city. For several days the middle western States have been in the grip of a most severe snow storm, which has caused considerable suffering and materially interfered with railway traffic. The Oregon and Oriental Steamship Company has decided to establish a monthly steamship service between the ports of San Francisco and Manila. A big furniture trust is in process of organization in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to be capitalized at between seven and eight million dollars. The latest news from Venezuela is to the effect that the western part of the little republic is in a state of practical anarchy. There is to be a congress of American republics held in the city of Mexico in October next. Attorney-General Briggs has resigned from the cabinet of President McKinley.