The Cost of the Liquor Traffic

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 17, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 27.

The Cost of the Liquor Traffic

THERE are 206,394 persons holding licenses to sell liquor in the United States. Counting all persons engaged in the business, there are not less than 500,000 people. Eighty-one million dollars is paid into the treasury as revenue, but this traffic costs the consumers over $813,000,000. This would build four continental railroads from New York to San Francisco, equipping them with cars and telegraph wires, and all needed paraphernalia. If all these people were usefully employed and this money wisely spent, what a rich and prosperous nation we would be!