which every person except infants takes a minute quantity of drink at every meal every day will have a far larger consumption per head and yet may be far more temperate than one in which a large proportion of the population takes none at all and the drinking is concentrated in regard to both time and person. The Portuguese and Spaniards, for instance, are more temperate than any of the nations below them on the list; drunkenness is never seen in Portugal and in the south of Spain (the bishop of Birmingham has publicly borne testimony to the sobriety even of such a large seaport as Barcelona). The aggregate consumption is brought up to a comparatively high level by the national practice of drinking a little wine freely diluted with water, a beverage which contains less alcohol than many “ temperance" drinks. In like manner the French and Italians, whose high place is due to wine, are more sober than most of the nations ranged below them. The writer has made extensive inquiries on this head in France. There is drunkenness, to which Z0la's l'Assommoir bears testimony, but outside Paris and the seaports it is rare. Employers of labour in all the principal industrial centres, including the mining districts of the north, agree on this point. The very high position of Belgium is mainly due to a prodigious consumption of beer, which is explained by the general practice of giving it to children. On the other hand, drunkenness is exceedingly prevalent in Russia, which is near the bottom of the list, and is due to the consumption of vodka. The comparatively small amount per head put down in the returns may, if it is correct, be explained by the very large proportion of children in the population. The opposite condition is illustrated by Western Australia, which has a consumption per head nearly thrice that of any other Australian province. These instances will show the conditions that must be taken into account in making international comparisons and the fallacy of measuring national sobriety by consumption per head.
Consumpiizm in United Kingdom.-Statistics of consumption for a longer period of time than that covered by the table given above are available for the United Kingdom, the United States and Scandinavia, and they are of particular interest because these are the countries in which the Temperance Movement has been most active and productive of most legislation. The United Kingdom is distinguished by being the only country in the list which shows a distinct fall in the consumption of all three kinds of liquor since 1899. To estimate the significance of this interesting fact it must be placed in historical perspective. The following table, compiled from the official returns, gives the annual average consumption per head in decennial periods from 1831 to 1890, and subsequently for each year to 1909. No continuous record of beer was kept until after 1856.
United Kingdom:
Average Annual Consumption per head in Gallons. regard to beer, which is the staple drink of the people; but the period is too short to warrant the inference that it represents a. permanent movement which will continue. The fluctuations shown by the decennial table given above suggest the probability of a subsequent rise with a revival of trade. Chronic depression and unemployment have prevailed in many industries since 1900, and these conditions always cause-a diminished consumption. Nevertheless they do not fully account for the movement here shown, because the fall in consumption has been progressive, whereas the state of trade has fluctuated considerably; the curves do not coincide. Some other factor has been at work, and there is reason to think that it is a gradual change in the habits of the people. The facts of consumption agree with much other evidence in pointing to this conclusion. The expenditure in drink is not so high as it used to be in the past, whether periods of prosperity or adversity are taken. The calculation of annual expenditure prepared for the United Kingdom Alliance, and commonly called the National Drink Bill, points to that conclusion. It is based on an arbitrary estimate of the cost of drink to the consumer and must not be taken to represent established facts; but it has some comparative value. The following table gives this calculation for the last 26 years:- National Drink Bill, United Kingdom.
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Y car. Wine. Beer. Spirits.
1831-40 O'26 . 1-11
1841-50 0-23 . 0-94
1851-60 0-23 23-5 I'OI
1861-70 0 42 27-5 0-94
1871-80 0 51 31-5 1-17
1881-90 0 38 27-7 0-99
189I 0-39 30 1 1-03
1892 0 38 29 7 1-03
1893 0-36 29-5 0-98
1394 - 0:35 29'4 0'96
1895 0 37 29-6 1-00
1896 0 40 30-8 1-02
1897 0-40 31-4 I-03
1898 o 4I 31-9 1-04
1899 0-41 32-7 I'O8
1900 0 42 32-2 I~I8
1901 0 36 31-4 1-10
1902 o 35 30 6 1-01
1903 0 37 30-2 1-03
1904 ~ 0'31 29'5 0°99
1905 0 27 28-4 0-93
1906 0 27 27-9 0-91
1907 0 28 27-8 0-91
1908 0-27 27-6 0-90
1909 .. 0 25 26-4 0-87
It will be observed that the consumption has oscillated up and down during the whole period of 79 years. More spirits were drunk in 1831-40 than in the three following decades, and more wine than in the two following decades. The decennial period of greatest consumption was 187I-80; and the highest points reached were: wine, 0-56 gal. in 1876; beer, 34-0 gals. in 1874; spirits, 1-29 gals. in 1875. Since then the consumption has always been lower, though with fluctuations. The up and down movement is always associated with the state of trade, and the Connexion is well marked in the last ten years. The progressive fall is striking, particularly in T Expendi- I Expendi-Year
0181 ture per Year. Total ture per
Expenditure. head Expenditure 1-, ead
£, Q s. d, Q £ s. d.-1334
144,734,214 4 1 Oi 1397 174,365,372 4 7 6 1835 141,039,141 3 18 3% 1398 176,967,349 4 8 0 1886 140,550,126 3 17 42 1899 185,927,227 4 II 8 1887 142,784,438 3 18 0% 1900 184 881,196 4 IO 4} 1888 142,426,153 3 17 2% 1901 181,788,245 4 7 8} 1399 151,064,035 4 1 3% 1902 179,499,817 4 5 6% 1390 159,542,700 4 5 Ii 1903 174,445,271 4 2 4 1891 161,765,291 4 5 7% 1904 168,987,165 3 18 II% 1392 161,527,717 4 4 9% 1905 164,167,941 3 15 11% 1893 159,020,709 4 2 8% 1906 166,425,911 3 16 3 1894 158,932,134 4 I 11% 1907 167,016,200 3 15 9 1395 163,133,935 4 3 4% 1903 161,060.482|3 12 3% 1896 170,426,467 4 6 4% 1909 155.162,4S5, ;3 8,1115 The table begins and ends in two periods of marked depression, with one of marked prosperity in between; but it is to be noted that in the earlier term of depression, although it was very acute, the expenditure never sank so low as in the later one. During the four lowest years (1885-88) the 1nean expenditure was nearly 4s a head more than in the live lowest years (1905-9). At the other end of the scale the high-water mark in the table, which is the year 1899, shows an expenditure of £4, IIS. 8d.; but the previous high. water mark comparable with it, namely 1876, showed an expenditure of £5, ls. 9d., when calculated on the same basis. The figures, therefore, rather confirm than contradict the general belief that the people have grown more temperate during the last 30 or 40 years. With regard to the expression “ national drink bill, " which tacitly suggests so much money thrown away on drink, it must be remembered that a large proportion is devoted to public purposes and would have to be found in some other way. In the year ending March 1909 the trade paid a direct, contribution of £37,404,575 to the national exchequer in excise and customs duties, in addition to income-tax and local taxation; all this comes back to the public pocket. Then it also maintains directly and indirectly a population reckoned at 2,000,000. The net amount spent on drink which might have been saved and spent on other things is not more than a third of the total sum.
The United States.-The movement in the United States has been totally different. The figures below are taken from the statistical abstract of the U.S. government as quoted in the American Prohibition Year Book. The figures, it may be noticed, differ widely throughout from those given for the same years in the Board of Trade returns of international consumption quoted on p. 581. The discrepancy is too great and too constant to admit of any explanation, but that the two sets of returns are calculated from different bases. It illustrates the defects of these statistics and the need of caution in using them. The American figures show a far larger consumption in the United States than the English. T he most noticeable fact here shown is the continuous and large increase in the consumption of beer. Every year shows a rise down to 1908, when for the first time in 70 years a fall was recorded. It was continued in 1909, and being accompanied by a fall in spirits and wine also is no doubt mainly attributable to the hnancial state of the country. Down to 1880 beer was to a considerable extent taking the place of spirits, the consumption of which had previously been very high; but after that the steady increase in beer was not accompanied by a reverse movement in spirits; and from 1896 to 1907 all three kinds of liquor rose together, 1ih0l1gl'l l'l0il Wltll fflllal steadiness. The rising consumption of beer has been accompanied
