THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC IN THE UNITED STATES. INTRODUCTION. The use of alcoholic liquors is quite generally recognized to be detrimental to the best interests of society. Notwithstanding the prevalence of this belief surprisingly little has been done. toward gathering a body of definite information concerning the magnitude of the interests involved in the manufacture and retail of liquors, the effects of their use on the public and the relative merits of the various plans looking toward the discontinuance of such use. The starting point of effective regulation must be based upon an accurate, scientific, knowledge of the conditions that create and maintain the traffic in liquors; yet the only important investigation so far made with a view to the attainment of such knowledge is the inquiry conducted by the Federal Department of Labor, the results of which are given in the Twelfth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1897-1898, "Economic Aspects of the Liquor Problem;" the study prosecuted by the Economic Sub-Committec of the Committee of Fifty, an account of which is published in a volume bearing the same title as the Federal report; and the investigation made by the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor reported in its Twenty-sixth Annual Report, "The Relation of the Liquor Traffic to Pauperism, Crime and Insanity." The effort here made is to combine in a brief space the facts brought to light by these investigations together with such observations as they seem to warrant. Original treatment of the general aspects of the liquor problem in the United States has not been aimed at. The tables given have been arranged in the same form as those in the Federal report. For the most part they have been brought down to date by reference to the Twelfth Census Report, The Annual Statistical Abstracts of the Treasury Department and the Reports of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue; the remainder have been transferred directly from Federal Labor Report as no more recent data was available. The summaries on the effect of the liquor traffic were for the most part taken verbatim from the Massachusetts report and the Report of the Committee of Fifty. While no addition has been made to the sum of human knowledge, still the facts submitted constitute the most recent available information on the relations of the liquor traffic to society in the United States and it is hoped that their presentation in this form will not be without value to the student of the liquor problem. The discussion of the subject falls naturally under three heads; the strength of the liquor traffic, the magnitude of the interests involved in the manufacturing and retailing of liquors, roughly the force working for the continuation of the traffic; the effects of the traffic, the impairment of social, physical and industrial vigor resulting from the use of intoxicants; finally the outlook for reform, the scope and success of the efforts to counteract or do away with the traffic. Fairly adequate data exist for the study of the first subdivision only. The investigations under the second head have been too restricted both in the area covered and in point of time over which they were extended to furnish a very satisfactory basis for deduction while comparatively little has been done toward the scientific study of the merits of the various plans offered as a solution. of the liquor problem. CHAPTER I. THE MAGNITUDE OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. SECTION 1. INTRODUCTORY. The proper scope of an investigation under this head is set forth in the introduction to the Federal Labor Report from which the material for this chapter has for the most part been drawn. "A report on the economic aspects of the liquor problem to cover the various phases of the subject should consider monetary conditions; the agricultural and other products used in the production of liquors; the manufacture of liquors as a distinct industry; the transportation of liquors from the place of production to that of consumption; the consumption of and the traffic in liquors; the revenue derived from the manufacture and traffic; the laws regulating the collection of revenue; and the experience and practice of employers in relation to the use of intoxicants. "The agricultural products used in the manufacture of liquors form as a rule, a very small proportion of the total of such products, and it is therefore not possible to ascertain the capital, the number of employes, etc., represented by such portion. The transportation of liquors forms a very small proportion of the land and water transportation business of the whole country, and it is impossible to estimate the capital and number of employes represented by it. Of the remaining subjects enumerated above, reliable and fairly complete data in regard to the production of liquors were found in the reports of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the publications of the census office. To obtain information in regard to the traffic in liquors |