FACTS WORTH KNOWING

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 15, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 49.

FACTS WORTH KNOWING.

IN round numbers one billion dollars (one thousand millions) are squandered every year in the United States for drink. According to the census figures it takes in round numbers 200,000 men to make the liquor drunk and the raw materials which go into it. But close the saloons, wipe out the traffic in intoxicating beverages, and let the one billion dollars now wasted in drink be spent for the necessities of life, the products of useful labor, and the same census figures show us that one million additional workmen will be required to supply the useful articles demanded. What a factor in helping to solve the problem of the unemployed!

Another point: According to the census figures, of every $100 spent by the consumer for liquor, $3.80 goes to labor. But of every $100 spent by the consumer for the products of useful and necessary industry,—boots and shoes, bread and bakery products, carpets, clothing, etc.,—nearly $18, or more than five times as much, goes to labor. Thus besides the direct financial benefit to be reaped from prohibition, the working portion of the community would reap an indirect benefit of five times the wage value they now get out of the saloons.—Selected.