THE COST OF INTOXICATING LIQUOR.
An Appeal to President Roosevelt.
THE National Congress of the Lewis and Clark Exposition declares that the Internal Revenue system has developed and fostered the liquor traffic beyond the fondest dreams of its early promoters, until its invested capital exceeds $500,000,000, and its retail cash income from the people of the United States is nearly $1,000,000,000 yearly. That the Internal Revenue receipts from all alcoholic liquors is less than $200,000,000, and the license and tax receipts of all state and local governments is less than $200,000,000 annually, while its cost directly and indirectly to the whole people exceeds $2,000,000,000 yearly in money value alone; and— That the highest religious, educational, scientific, insurance, and commercial authorities of the age have unequivocally condemned and denounced the liquor traffic as the greatest and most terrible curse of modern civilization, and the Supreme Court of the United States, recognizing this judgment of the world, has officially declared (Dec. 5, 1887) that "we can not ignore the fact, established by statistics accessible to every one, that the disorder, pauperism, and crime prevalent in the country are in large measure directly traceable to this evil." In view of this President Roosevelt is asked to break the silence of the White House for forty years, and in his "magnificent courage and manly independence," champion the people's right in his next message.