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The Commoner
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VOL. 15, NO. 5
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The Case Against Alcohol
Speech Delivered by Mr. Bryan at Carnegie Hall, New York, April 30, 1915,
Under the Auspices of the National Abstainers Union
This Is the second central meeting in the in
terest of total abstinence hold under the auspices
of tho National Abstainers Union, the first be
ing at Philadelphia on the 15th of March last.
Tho organization is non-partisan and non-sectarian,
its purpose being to bring all of the peo
ple of our country without regard to politics,
church, or race, into active co-operation in be
half of temperance.
Before presenting arguments in favor of total
abstinence I ask your attention to certain figures ,
and comparisons which will show the enormous
amount expended in the United States for intox
icating liquors and therefore the great import
ance of the subject with which we are dealing.
As the body becomes insensible to pain when
a certain degree is reached, so the mind ceases
to comprehend tho meaning of figures beyond a
certain point. A thousand million, for instance,
does not seem to us much more than an hun
dred million or even a million. I have tried,
therefore, to translate into every day language
the figures that set forth the cost of intemper
ance. COMPARISONS USED AT PHILADELPHIA
At Philadelphia I used four comparisons, based
upon an expenditure of the sum of two and a half
billions of dollars a year that is, an average of
twenty-five dollars per capita or one hundred
twenty-five dollars per family. The comparisons
then -used showed (1) that there is daily spent
for drink in the United States one-tenth of the
sum expended for tho carrying on the war now
raging in Europe; (2) that the amount expend
ed for drink in the United States would build
six Panama canals each year; (3) that the
amount annually spent for drink is more than
three times the entire amount spent for educa
tion in the United States; and (4) that the
amount spent for drink is almost double the an
nual expenditures of tho federal government.
I shall tonight present four other comparisons
which can not fail to impress you with the heavy
burden that tho use of intoxicating liquor
throws upon our population.
DRINK BILL VS. "COTTON, WHEAT AND CORN
First: According to the statistics compiled by
the department of commerce, the value of three
of tho great agricultural crops, on the first of
December 1914, was as follows: Cotton, $520,
000,000; wheat, $878,000,000; corn, $1,700,
000,000. (These crops vary in valuo from year
to year; in 1913 tho cotton crop was worth.
$825,000,000 and the wheat crop only $610,000,
000; I havo used the last year.)
Consider the land employed in the raising of
cotton, the amount of labor required and the
number of persons interested, and then remem
ber that wo spend for liquor, each year, more
than four cotton crops. Survey the broad wheat
fields of our land, estimate the number of per
sons engaged in the production of this staple of
life, and then remember that we expend almost
three wheat crops a year for intoxicating liquors.
Corn is grown in every stato and is the largest
ainglo source of wealth; it yields more than the
wheat and cotton crops combined, and yet wo
annually spond for liquor nearly fifty per cent
more than tho valuo of tho entire corn crop.
EQUALS ONE-FOURTH OF PRODUCT OF
WAGE-EARNER
tatistics show that 268,000 manufacturing
establishments in this country employ over 6,
500,000 wage earners, and that these wage earn
ers add $8,500,000,000 to the value of the ma
terial us.ed in industries in which they are em
ployed. They do not receive that sum
in wages, but they creato that amount of
wealth. It gives somo idea of the amount spent
for l,iquor to know that during the year we
gpend for drink more than one-fourth as much
a th,eso 6,500,000 wage earners produce. Would
not national prosperity bo largely increased if
the amount spent for drink was expended for
food and clothing and homes?
IF LIQUOR MONEY SPENT FOR GOOD ROADS
Second: As we aro all interested in good roads
I have made a computation to ascertain how far
the amount spent for liquor would go toward the
building of good roads in the United States. I
find that the average cost of a macadam road,
iixteen foet wide and seven inches thick is about
$6,500 per mile. This is the estimate furnished
by the office of public roads in the department
of agriculture; but to be sure that we are liberal
in our estimate, let us put it at $8,333 per mile
or three miles for $25,000. This enables us
to make our computation in round numbers. If
$25,000 will build three miles of macadam road,
then $2,500,000,000 will build 300,000 miles.
If we count the distance from ocean to ocean at
3,000 miles, the annual amount spent for drink
would build 100 macadam highways across the
continent; and these, counting the width of the
country north and south at twelve hundred
miles, would give us a highway every twelve
miles. If, the second year, we built 300,000
miles of highways running north, and south we
could, in two years have the United States grid
ironed with macadamed roads twelve miles apart
so that every citizen would be within six miles
of a good road, which would put him into com
munication with every other part of the
Union. In less than eight years time every mile
of public- road in the United States could be ma
cadamized with the amount spent for alcoholic
liquors. The amount now. expended in paving
the road to perdition would, if spent for good
roads, soon lift the mud embargo from the en
tire country. Calculate, if you will, the change
that would follow the investment of the nation's
drink money in paved highways the increase in
comfort to the farmer and his family the in
creased attractiveness of country life, and the
commercial value of these good roads to the
towns and cities of the land.
WOULD DUPLICATE RAILROADS IN EIGHT
YEARS
Now let us proceed to the third comparison:
According to the statistics furnished by the in
terstate commerce commission the railroads pay
out each year to their employes $1,373,422,472
or only a little more than one-half the amount
expended for alcoholic liquor. Take a railroad
map of the United States, trace the lines east
and west, north and south, and the diagonal
lines, and then estimate the number of men re
quired to operate them the engineers who keep
faithful vigil while the passengers sleep the
conductors who, ever alert, direct the trains
the men who, at the switch, on the road and in
the stations, are required for the traffic, passen
ger and freight this great army receives for
this work, indispensable to the nation's prosper
ity, but a little more than one-half of the
amount that is paid for the drink which unfits
men for any responsible position.
The railroads of tho country are capitalized
at $20,247,301,257, of which $8,680,759,704
represents capital stock, and $11,566,541,553
represents bonded indebtedness. A considerable
portion of this capitalization isvwater and does
not represent actual value; the commission is
now at work collecting information as to the
physical value of these roads, and we shall know
in a few years what it would cost to reproduce
them, but, taking them at their book value it
would only require eight years to duplicate
these railroads if the annual amount spent for
liquor was devoted to railroad building. Does
not this comparison give you some idea of the
importance of the liquor question to the nation?
WOULD CAPITALIZE ALL BANKS IN TWO
YEARS
Fourth: As New York is the financial center
of the country and is destined to be the clearing
house of the world, you may be more interested
in the fourth comparison: The statistics com
piled by the treasury department show that
there are 7,581 national banks in the United
States with a capital stock of $1,065 951 on
and a surplus of $726,935,755 or a total capital
and a surplus of a little less than $1,800,000 000
Is it not appalling to think that the amount
spent for drink each year would duplicate all
the national banks in the country, supplv thorn
with their present capital and surplus and then
leave a balance of $700,000,000 to be invested
in other ways? vm.u
There aro in the United States 19,240 banks
other than nationalthat is, state and private
banks having a total capitalization of $1 07q
881,738, and a total surplus of $991,147 876- or
a total of capital and surplus of a little less than
$2,100,000,000. The amount spent for liquor
each year would furnish the capital and surplus
for these more than nineteen thousand banks
and leave a balance of $400,000,000. '
In other words, the amount now spent annu
ally for drink would in two years, duplicate all
the banks of the country, state and national
furnish them with capital and surplus equal to
that which they, now have, and leave a billion
dollars for other investments. Is it not worth
while to give some attention to the liquor ques
tion? Imagine, if you can, the effect upon the
home life of the country if the amount invested
in drink were invested in bank stock, and what
do you think would be the effect upon business
if the capital and surplus of the banks were
doubled in two years?
THE CASE AGAINST ALCOHOL
If I may now assume that you are sufficiently
impressed with the magnitude of the evils of
intemperance we may proceed to a discussion of
remedies. When we come to consider the liquor
question we find that the remedies proposed
follow one of two lines namely, moral suasion
and legislation. All who labor in tho cause of
temperance seek to lessen the use of intoxicat
ing liquor some by persuading people not to
drink, some by urging laws which will prevent
the manufacture and sale of liquor, while still
others divide their energies between the two
lines of work. As for myself, while I have defin
ite views a's to the means that should be em
ployed for solving the legislative problem pre
sented by the liquor traffic, I shall confine myself
tonight to the first line of argument, and appeal
to those present, and to those whom I may reach
through the press, to take their position as in
dividuals on the side of total abstinence; for
whatever difference of opinion may exist as to
the relative merits of different legislative rem
edies, no one will deny that the total abstainer,
to the extent of his influence, lessens the use of
alcohol, and by so doing both reduces the evils
of intemperance and lightens the task of the
legislator.
Why should the individual abstain entirely
from the use of intoxicating liquor as a bever
age? That is the .pledge which we urge upon
each and all, Why?
INTOXICATING LIQUOR BRINGS NO
ADVANTAGE
First: Because both experience and investiga
tion show that no advantage of any kind phy
sical, mental or moral is to be gained from the
moderate, or even occasional, use of intoxicat
ing liquor. This reason ought in itself to be
sufficient, for the intelligent man demands a rea
' son before he undertakes anything which affects
his own welfare or his relation to others. If it
can not be shown that the use of alcoholic liq
uors is beneficial, then the money spent upon it
is unwisely spent, for man can not afford to
waste money upon that which does him no good.
INJURES BODY, MIND, AND MORALS
Second: But the case against alcohol does not,
however, rest upon negative arguments. The
use of alcohol is distinctly and undeniably
harmful; it impairs the strength of the body,
even when taken in small quantities; it injuri
ously affects the mind and it undermines the
morals. Scientific investigation has demon
strated beyond the possibility of a doubt that
alcohol is a poison and that its introduction in
to the system weakens man's power to resist
disease, and reduces his capacity for intelligent
and useful labor. As evidence, I cite the fact
that its use is prohibited in schools and that the
laws of every state provide severe penalties for
the sale of intoxicating liquor to minors. If, by
common consent, we try to protect the young
man from the use of alcohol until he is twenty
one, is not the presumption strongly against the
use of alcohol after one reaches maturity? This
presumption is supported by the laws forbidding
the sale of liquor to drunkards laws unani
mously supported by public sentiment. But
we are not left to presumption proof is
conclusive. The tables of mortality of insurance
companies show that the use of intoxicating
liquor appreciably shortens life. At thirty the
expectancy of abstainers is three years and eight
months longer than the expectancy of the non
abstainers an advantage of 11 per cent. The
man who drinks commits suicide by degrees
the rapidity of his decline being proportioned to
the amount of alcohol consumed, and what is
even worse, he visits his sins upon future gen
erations commits a crime against descend
ants, those who are both innocent and helpless.
ALCOHOL LESSENS CAPACITY FOR BUSI
NESS Drink leads to idleness. The business men of
our country are year by year drawings the line
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