THE SYSTEM 
OF 
High Licenses; 
HOW IT CAN BE MADE SUCCESSFUL. 
BY 
Gr_ THOMAISTIT. 
NEW YORK: 
THE UNITED STATES BREWERS’ ASSOCIATION. 
1888. THE SYSTEM 
OB’ 
High Licenses; 
HOW IT CAN BE MADE SUCCESSFUL. 
BY 
Gr. TIEIOZMI^ICsriLsr- 
NEW YORK : 
THE UNITED STATES BREWERS’ ASSOCIATION. 
188 S. THE SYSTEM 
OF 
HIGH LICENSES; 
How it can be made Successful. 
Errors of judgment are less frequently tlie result of defective 
reasoning power than of insufficient and one-sided information. 
In order to render impartial judgment upon any question at issue, 
one must he mindful of Luther’s rythmic injunction: 
Eines Marines Rede ist keine Rede, 
Man muss sie bil’.ig boren beede, 
which, freely translated, means: 
One man’s word is no man’s word, 
They must in justice both be heard. 
On the question of a high license for the sale of intoxicating 
liquors a great deal has been said and written by the advocates of 
this measure, and in consequence, our people are thoroughly 
acquainted with this one side of a very important issue. The 
opponents of this temperance method have not been heard to any 
great extent, and for this reason it is to be feared that very many 
persons, who have given the subject their attention, are already 
prepossessed in favor of the advocacy of an indiscriminate appli- 
cation of high licenses, and, consequently, prone to commit what 
in the light of more comprehensive information they themselves 
would regard as an error of judgmem. 
There can be no doubt about the purity of the motives $nd 
the rectitude of the intentions of the advocates of high licenses. 
In truth, it may be regarded as a self-evident fact that these per- sons, who in the liquor question occupy a middle-ground between 
prohibition and non-restraint, are as a class the best friends of true 
temperance and of the moral and physical welfare of the people. 
A majority of them also favor the substitution of malt liquors 
for ardent spirits. Furthermore, it may be admitted that their 
views and propositions, although fatally defective in one essential 
particular, encompass all but one of the elemental conditions of 
a far-reaching diminution of the evils of intemperance. Except- 
ing this defect, their policy is in the abstract identical with that 
proposed by the Swiss Government, aiming as it does at a utiliza- 
tion of the taxing power—in one form or another—as a regulator 
of the liquor traffic. Their error lies in the application of this 
principle—an application which is premised on the totally unten- 
able assumption that, from a temperance point of view, fermented 
liquors and distilled spirits should practically be treated in one 
and the same manner. In pursuing such a course, the advocates of 
high licenses favor distilled liquors at the expense of fermented 
beverages, instead of so framing their measure as to limit the use 
of the former liquors by imparting to the latter greater power of 
expansion. 
Experience has demonstrated that no attempt to restrict the 
use of ardent spirits, and to diminish the results of inebriety, can 
be successful unless accompanied by all the conditions that insure 
cheapness of fermented liquors. This view—a view held and 
acted upon by Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and, in fact, nearly 
every prominent American statesman from the beginning of our 
Government*—has recently found powerful advocates in the 
Government of Switzerland and in the International Temperance 
Congress held at Antwerp in the month of September of the 
present year.f In the report of the Statistical Bureau of Switzer- 
land on the drink question (p. 629), and again in the message of 
the Federal Council to the Federal Legislature of Switzerland,^; 
* See the writer’s “Liquor Laws of the United States; their Spirit and Effect.” 1S85. 
t The writer is under many obligations to the Honorable Burgomaster of Antwerp for the 
transmission of the published reports of this Congress. 
$ “Botscbaft des Bundesrathes an die hohe Bundesverwaltung betreffend die Alkohol 
frage.”—Bern, 1884 5 
there appears the following official promulgation of a definite 
policy in reference to the liquor traffic: 
Taxation ranks foremost among the measures calculated to restrict tlie 
excessive use of ardent spirits. As an administrative measure, tbe tax upon 
this—in many respects pernicious—article may be fixed at as high a rate as is 
compatible with revenue considerations having reference to the collection of such 
a tax. 
But a tax upon ardent spirits alone will not accomplish the desired object ; 
in order to be fully effective, it must be followed by a systematic diminution and 
the ultimate abolition of taxes upon wholesome beverages. 
On the second day of the International Temperance Congress 
of Antwerp (September 13,1885), Dr. Lancereanx, member of the 
Paris Academie de Medecine, formulated the following policy, 
which was loudly applauded: 
“ In order to repress the effects of alcoholism, we must strive : 
I. To render absolutely free the sale of those beverages which are littla 
hurtful or not at all injurious,* such as cider, beer and wine, provided the latter 
are not adulterated. 
II. To watch over the manufacture of liquors distilled from grain and 
potatoes, and by all practicable means to improve the quality of these liquors. 
III. To exact from retailers of ardent spirits a certificate of good character 
and to impose upon their trade more stringent licenses and higher duties. 
IY. To punish persons found in a state of intoxication, and to place con- 
firmed drunkards under restraint.f 
The quoted policies both aim at a diminution of inebriety by 
cheapening fermented drinks, and by enhancing the price of dis- 
tilled liquors. To the student of American history there is nothing 
new in these propositions, for on every page of the annals of 
the American Congress, beginning with Washington’s administra- 
tion, he finds recorded in great abundance utterances of the same 
tenor and purport. Even Dr. Benjamin Rush, wffiom, at the 
recent centennial celebration, prohibitionists and temperance 
advocates have, with more enthusiasm than truthfulness, glorified 
as one of their own, fully endorsed Jefferson’s conviction, to the 
* The original text reads: “D’ accorder une liberte absolveh la vente des boissons pen oil 
point nuisibles.” 
t Like Pasteur, Marvaux and many, if not all, eminent French physicians, this academi- 
cian styled beer the most excellent of all stimulants. 6 
effect that “ no nation is sober where the dearness of fermented 
drinks substitutes ardent spirits an the common beverage.” 
Long before the Swiss Government thought of systematically 
investigating the drink question and of minimizing the results of 
inebriety, the State Board of Health of Massachusetts propounded 
a method of reform almost identical with the Swiss policy quoted 
above. In the Tenth Annual Report of said Board, published in 
January, 1879, we find the following sentence: 
“ It is generally believed that light German beer is used more and more each 
year, at least in our State, to tlie exclusion of stronger liquors—a change which 
it is of course desirable to hasten by legislation so far as that can be done, either 
by removal of restrictions on the sale of mild liquors and heavily taxing the 
stronger spirits, or by any other just and proper means.” 
The system of high licenses, as generally applied in our 
country, instead of removing restrictions on the sale of mild 
liquors, imposes additional and, for the most part, exorbitant 
burdens upon the beer traffic and thereby increases inebriety, no 
matter whether it diminishes the number of drinking-places or 
not. This is not merely a theoretical assertion unsupported by 
practical experience. Quite the contrary, it is the essence of all 
impartial investigations into the working of laws and regulations 
whose framers have either purposely or unwittingly ignored the 
necessity of cheapening, and of increasing the facilities for ob- 
taining, the milder drinks, which, comparatively harmless in 
themselves, tend strongly to diminish the evil results of inebriety 
by confining the use of ardent spirits to narrow limits. 
Opposed to this experience of all mankind we find an abstract 
by the high license advocates, to the effect, 
that a reduction of the number of drinking-places, regardless of 
the nature of drinks offered for sale therein, must necessarily re- 
duce inebriety and its consequences. Based upon the fallacious 
assumption that the craving for stimulants is produced by the 
opportunities offered for its gratification (a perversion, by the 
way, of the economic axiom that the demand regulates the sup- 
ply), this theory is primarily aimed at a restriction of temptations, 
in the matter of traffic, as a means for the ulterior purpose of di- 
minishing poverty, crime, insanity and death resulting from over- 7 
indulgence. To prove the correctness of their premise and con- 
clusion high license advocates would have to produce evidence 
not only of the reduction, by a system of high licenses, of the 
number of public drinking-places, but also—and that is by far 
the more important part of their task—of a corresponding de- 
crease in the number of arrests made for drunkenness, the num- 
ber of patients suffering from alcoholism and the number of 
deaths resulting from the same cause. Unless this can be 
shown, the evidence of a diminution of drinking-places goes for 
nothing, for the restricting of temptations is simply a means, the 
end and object of which is a diminution of drunkenness and its 
concomitants and effects. Ilence the questions to be answered 
would be as follows : 
1. Do high licenses reduce the number of saloons, and if so, do 
they diminish alike the consumption of ardent spirits and 
of fermented liquors ? 
2. Does a reduction of the number of saloons necessarily imply 
less drinking, less drunkenness, less indigence, less immoral- 
ity, less sickness and fewer deaths ? 
High license laws are now in force in many States of the 
Union, yet neither one of the foregoing questions has so far been 
satisfactorily answered by those who wTish to have us believe in 
the efficacy of this method of restriction. It is true, an occasional 
attempt has been or is being made, here and there, to show a de- 
crease in drinking-places,—a showing which wTe shall prove to be 
defective in many essential particulars—but no effort was, or, in 
fact, could successfully be made to demonstrate, by the aid of 
statistical exhibits, a change for the better in the moral and ma- 
terial condition of the people of the localities in question, from 
any point of view. Statistical data on the subject are not yet* 
to be had in such form and in such number as to warrant com- 
parisons with the state of things previous to the high license era, 
and thereby to admit the drawing of general conclusions. There 
is, however, easily to be obtained sufficient germane information 
from which, by deductive reasoning, a tolerably accurate idea 
* Illinois presents some reports, but they are premature and inconclusive. 8 
may be formed of the working of high licenses under the circum- 
stances before described. To this method of ascertaining the 
true state of affairs we shall return after having presented to the 
reader the outcome of an investigation conducted by the Statisti- 
cal Bureau of Switzerland under authority of the Federal Coun- 
cil of that republic. 
It appears from the official report of this authority that the 
worst forms of the evils of inebriety are often most prevalent in 
the very localities in which the number of 'public drinking-places 
is smallest. In other words, the statistical inquiry in question 
has led, in many instances, to conclusions diametrically opposed 
to the theory of our high license advocates with reference to the 
causal relation said to exist between a reduction of drinking- 
places and a diminution of inebriety. 
The proof of this assertion is found in the inlaid maps 
which we reproduce from the message of the Federal Council to 
the Legislature of Switzerland.* 
It would be an unpardonable perversion of facts and infer- 
ences to claim, on the strength of the following cartographic 
representation, that, as a rule, there is least alcoholism wherever 
there are fewest drinking-places. Such a claim would indeed be 
quite as unphilosophical as the contrary assertion of high license 
advocates. The truth, as it stares us in the face when we con- 
template the meaning of these maps, is simply that the number 
of drinking places is not in any manner a reliable indicator of 
the consumption of drinks or of the effects of drinking.f 
* Table IY, page 40. 
t On this point the original statistical report reads as follows: 
“ In the course of our investigation we have not found any data warranting the assump- 
tion—now become almost a dogma in many places—that the reduction of the number of 
drinking-places tends to restrict the consumption of ardent spirits. On the contrary, we are 
constrained to state that we have frequently found the evil effects of alcoholism most pre- 
valent in the very localities where the number of drinking-places was smallest—an apparent 
anomaly which finds its explanation in the fact that in the absence of a sufficient number of 
conveniently located public bar-rooms, the people of the localities in question became accus- 
tomed to tippling at home, laying in store greater or smaller quantities of spirits according to 
their means. The number of saloons is not a criterion of the consumption of spirits. We 
hold that a much more effective temperance measure, than a reduction of the saloons, is to be 
found in all those rules and regulations which, by exacting certain securities from the persons 
licensed to retail ardent spirits, render the retailers, as a class, more respectable and improve 
the condition and management of drinking-places.” DEATHS CAUSED DIRECTLY BY THE ABUSE OF SPIRITS 1877 to 1882. 
Dot es causes dirrclcmeiil par Tabus des spiritueux,de 1877a1882. 
Of IOOO deaths, duh' rcrli/irrl. t/wrc nvrr cfuumlttitreUy by the abuse or spirits' : 
par / 'abus dcs spiri/nenx, sur /OOf) d/Ws certifies Jnrdtcalemmt: Number of Saloons fu every 1000 of' inhabitants. J 'ombre fits debits efr boissons i>fir 1000 habitants 
RETAILERS OF LIQUORS IN 18 82. 
Etablissemeuls (Mines a la consoininalion de.sboissonsen 1882. 9 
The true significance of such figures as are presented in the 
case of the Canton of Valais, for example, becomes plain when 
the legal aspect of the liquor traffic and the mode of life and 
habits of the people concerned are understood. In Valais the 
principle of industrial liberty, jealously guarded by all our Swiss 
fellow-republicans, is given full sway. It applies to the liquor 
traffic as well as to all other trades, and every person who pos- 
sesses the qualifications requisite for carrying on any trade at 
all, is also qualified and permitted to engage in the liquor traffic. 
There is not, then, in this Canton any restrictive law or regula- 
tion to prevent the growth of the saloon business. We find in 
Valais, a Canton having almost no industry, six public drinking- 
places for every thousand of the inhabitants. Yet what is the 
proportion of deaths resulting from alcoholism ? Only 1,3 out of 
evety thousand of certified deaths; while in Bern, where the 
number of drinking-places is only four, for every thousand, the 
proportion of deaths, per thousand, from the same cause is 8, s, 
Now look at the mode of life and the drinking habits of the 
Valaisan and, compare them with that of the Bernese. Dr. 
Schuler, Inspector of Factories, under instructions from the Swiss 
Department of the Interior inquired into the manner of' living 
of the Swiss people in its relation to alcoholism, and rendered 
an exhaustive report on the subject,* from which we extract the 
following in relation to Valais : 
“ Milk is being consumed in great abundance. The number of small dairies 
is very large. Cheese is used in large quantities, and fatty substances of all 
kinds are not sparingly partaken of. Home-made black bread forms a princi- 
pal part of the daily food. Indian corn and potatoes enter largely into the diet. 
The Valaisan spends little for luxuries; it is true, he drinks coffee, more or less 
mixed with chicory, but even that diluted with fifty per cent, of milk. In the 
wine region the consumption of wine is very great, also that of eider. In other 
localities the laboring man rarely sees wine. The drinks mostly in demand in 
public drinking-places are wine and beer. Distilled liquors are rarely called for. 
The latter drinks are not even given to, or used by, field laborers with their cold 
meals, partaken of while engaged in out-door work, and usually consisting of bread, 
cheese and nuts. Thus it may be said that the Valaisan laborer, adhering to 
this time-honored mode of living, belongs to the category of well-fed individu- 
als.” 
* Die Emahrangsweise der arbeitenden Klassen in der Schweiz nnd ihr Einfluss auf die 
Ansbreitung des Alcoholismus; by Dr. Schuler. Bern, 1884. Page 4. 10 
Here we have a frugal but well-fed people, using wine, beer 
and cider to the almost entire exclusion of ardent spirits. In 
spite of a number of drinking places much larger than that in 
Bern, the rate of death from alcoholism (per thousand of certi- 
fied deaths) is only 1,3 while the same death-rate in Bern is 8,3. 
Now hear Dr. Schuler on the Canton of Bern: 
“One of my correspondents from tlie neighborhood of Emmenthal writes 
of the unusually insipid and innutritious food of the poorer classes. The fare 
consists of execrable coffee, unsubstantial soups, porridge consisting of flour or 
meal and water, turnips and all sorts of cabbages. The consumption of meat is 
slightly on the increase, yet the prices are beyond the means of the laboring 
classes, who must be content with cheap horse-flesh, or the favorite but little 
nutritious sausages. Happily the consumption of milk is gradually increasing, 
but like that of cheese it is still very small in this greatest of cheese producing 
Cantons.* Home-made black bread is supplanted by the unwholesome loaves 
from the bakery. Pastry is rarely used ; in its stead potatoes are consumed in 
great quantities, either boiled, or roasted with very little grease. The coffee 
with which this unpalatable diet is washed down, contains scarcely one-fourth 
milk. There being a pitiable lack of albumen and fatty substances in these ar- 
ticles of food, their nourishing quality amounts to very little. As a consequence 
small lunches are frequently partaken of between meals, and invariably accom- 
panied by potations ofiohiskey. Cider is used rarely ; whiskey predominates also 
in public drinking-places, and, unfortunately, children are very early being 
trained to tlie use of ardent spirits.” 
With very few exceptions the description of the state of things 
in other parts of this Canton is equally appalling, if not more 
so. Particularly is this the case among all workers in factories, 
who are compelled to drudge early and late for a mere pittance; 
whose dwellings, located in over-crowded quarters of manufac- 
turing towns, are. badly ventilated and insufficiently provided 
with water and drainage. Here all the horrors of modern indus- 
trialism combine to drive the laborer to the use of cheap whiskey 
—the price of beer and wine being beyond his means. 
The most significant feature of the case is the fact that the 
Bernese authorities passed a law establishing a limit beyond 
which licenses could not be granted, and prescribing a certain 
method for ascertaining just how many drinking-places were 
needed for a fixed proportion of the population. The object, 
* The great cheese factories which supply the foreign market with the celebrated Em- 
menthaler consume what was formerly used by the laboring classes. 11 
and, indeed, the actual effect of this law was just what high 
license advocates aim at: viz., a decrease in the number of 
saloons. Yet, as we have seen, this decrease did not ameliorate 
the state of affairs, but, on the other hand, made it infinitely 
worse, viewed in the light of the Yalais figures. 
Unless willfully blind, the most enraged advocate of an in- 
discriminate application of high licenses must perceive that here 
the number of saloons has absolutely nothing to do with the evil 
effects of inebriety. On the contrary, he will be constrained to 
admit that it would be a boon to Bern to have as many drinking- 
places as Yalais, provided that the drinks therein offered for sale 
were those used by the Yalaisan. Let us consider the showing 
in a tabulated form: 
Number 
Number 
of deaths from 
NAME OF CANTON. 
of saloons for 
alcoholism in 
Kind of Drinks generally 
every thousand 
of inhabitants. 
every thousand 
of 
certified deaths. 
used. 
Yalais 
6. 
Wine, beer and cider. 
Bern 
4. 
8,3. 
Distilled spirits. 
What would an indiscriminate high license accomplish in a 
case like this ? It would surely reduce the number of retailers 
of wine and beer, because these articles, on which the profits to 
the dispenser are small, can neither bear nor evade heavy burdens. 
And what would be the result of rendering fermented drinks 
dearer and less accessible? The answer is plain. We need but 
look at Bern. There would be fewer saloons, just as is the case 
in Bern, compared with Yalais, but there would be eight deaths 
from alcoholism, as is the case in Bern, instead of a little over one 
as reported from Yalais. 
Inebriety would be reduced in Bern by an increase of saloons, 
provided that fermented drinks would be offered therein and 
could be had for prices within the means of the laborers. 
Drunkenness would be increased in Yalais by a reduction of 
drinking-places, seeing that the dearness and inaccessibility of 
the lighter drinks drive the people to the use of cheap ardent 12 
spirits, which latter can be laid up at home in considerable quan- 
tities without great expense. 
Was it an unwarranted assertion, then, to say, as w’e did 
before, that the theory of the advocates of indiscriminate high 
licenses is fatally defective in this one particular point, that it 
puts upon fermented drinks burdens which are comparatively 
more unbearable than those imposed on ardent spirits ? It is as 
clear as sun-light, why the Swiss Federal Council, why the Swiss 
Bureau of Statistics, why every American statesman of note, 
why nearly all French and German physicians, why the govern- 
ment of Belgium, and why, finally, the Health Board of Mas- 
sachusetts recommended that the taxes upon the manufacture 
and sale of beer and wine be removed, and those upon ardent 
spirits increased to an extent consistent with revenue considera- 
tions. 
The Yalaisan, following a healthy occupation, well-fed, well- 
housed and well-paid, has not, it is true, the same intense 
craving for stimulants as the Bernese, who is insufficiently 
fed, badly housed and miserably paid. But the chief differ- 
ence lies in the means which their condition and surroundings 
afford for the gratification of any craving. The Yalaisan has 
six drinking-places to four of the Bernese; nine-tenths of the 
beverages dispensed by these six saloons consist of fermented 
drinks, while four-fifths of those sold in Bernese saloons are 
ardent spirits. The result is 1,3 deaths from alcoholism, out of 
every thousand of certified deaths, in the former, and 8,3 deaths 
in the latter case. 
We cannot follow the original report through all the intri- 
cate conditions and circumstances which the various SwTiss 
officials have found to be at the bottom of inebriety in the one, 
and of comparative sobriety in the other case. It may again be 
stated, however, that the chief cause was found to lie in the 
nature of drinks used. 
Yalais and Bern do not, by the wTay, form the most pointed 
contrast offered by our authority. Many others there are much 
more striking than this. The table given on the next page explains 
itself on this point even more forcibly, perhaps, than the maps. 13 
St* Ga.llen 
Ziiricb ... . 
NfiufVhatel 
rJl 
3“* 
» 
£ 
n 
*D 
3 
2* 
3‘ 
Graubiinden 
0 
S3 
2 
—i 
h 
*7 
> 
a «- 
s 
T 
> 
X 
"5 
i 
<1 a 
s 
Thura-au. 
Geneva ... 
NAME OF CANTON. 
GO GO 
zo o 
o 
—i. 
o 
1—4 
O 
12 
10 
to 
I-4- I—4- 
to Ol 
No. of saloons 
for every 1000 
of inhabitants. 
63 tO 
o CC 
O M- 
CO 
—1 
JO 
to O 
-1 o 
JO 
o 
No. of deaths 
caused directly 
by alcoholism, 
in every 1000 of 
certified deaths. 
Bern 
Freiburo- 
Luzern 
Aaro-au 
Basel Stadt 
Unterwalden.o.d.W. 
Valais 
V and 
! TIri 
Unterwalden,n.d.W. 
Solotburn 
Basel I.and 
NAME OF CANTON. 
OX OX 
o 
o 
05 
05 00 
GO 
00 
00 0D 
No. of saloons 
for every 1000 
of inhabitants. 
r 
No. of deaths 
GO 05 CO 
*>3 
-a Ox 
to 
CO 
Z> Ox 
caused by 
0. 
CO 
c*. 
alchoholism 
per 1000 of 
certified deaths. 
One cannot possibly conceive a more complete refutation of 
the high license theory than that which the bare facts offer us 
in the case of the canton of Tliurgau. Here the proportion of 
drinking places to inhabitants is twelve for every thousand. It 
is next to the highest rate indicated on the maps; yet the pro- 
portion of deaths caused by alcoholism is lower than in any other 
canton of Switzerland, namely : 0,9. 
According to the law in force in Thurgau since 1847 (which 
was superseded by a recent act of similar tenor and purport), 
every citizen of the canton and every legal settler, of good char- 
acter and reputation, is entitled to engage in the liquor traffic, 
and can do so on application to the proper authorities. By vir- 
tue of an act passed December 2d, 1860, the mode of application 
and the manner of proving the good character of the applicant 
were somewhat modified in favor of retailers of malt liquors. 14 
Absolute non-restraint has been, and is, the rule in this canton, 
of whose people Dr. Schuler,* in drawing a parallel between them 
and the people of Zurich, tells us the following : 
“ It must be said to the credit of the small farmers and field laborers that 
they try to live very rationally. Much fruit and a great variety of vegetables 
are eaten, and meat is had at least twice a week. The operations of cheese 
factories have lately reduced somewhat the use of milk—there being a strong 
tendency among dairymen to convert all their products into ready money—yet 
the consumption of this article of food is still very great, also that of all kinds 
of fats. Cider and wine, consumed in very great quantities,\ are the common 
drink of the laborers. Since the repeated failures of grape-crops beer forms the 
staple drink sold in public drinking-places. Distilled liquors are used 
only by travelers and vagrants. Delirium tremens is almost unknown 
Here, then, in a canton having the largest number of public 
drinking-places, except one, wine, cider and beer are being con- 
sumed in large quantities, and yet drunkenness and its pernicious 
results are almost unknown, while in Bern, with only four drink- 
ing places for every thousand inhabitants, alcoholism claims 
more victims than in any other canton, except two. Does this 
prove our case ? 
From actual experience it is known that an attempt to restrict 
the facilities for obtaining ardent spirits, either by taxation or 
by a limitation of the number of drinking-places according to 
population, cannot be successful, unless a condition of tilings be 
created under which the lighter beverages, by reason of greater 
cheapness and accessibility, naturally take the place of distilled 
drinks. It is for this reason that the authorities of Switzerland 
strongly accentuated the absolute necessity of removing restric- 
tions and burdens from the manufacture and sale of fermented 
beverages, simultaneously with an increase of tax burdens on dis- 
tilled liquors. The American system of high licenses makes no 
such and, consequently, either restricts or de- 
* Page 16, with, reference to page 15. 
+ The original text reads, “ in gewaltigen Quantitaten ;** that is, in mighty quantities. 
$ The license for the sale of fermented drinks is, in some instances, not always, pos- 
itively lower than that for the sale of ardent spirits ; but it is relatively higher, considering 
that the profits on the sale of beer are infinitely smaller than on distilled liquors. 15 
stroys the beer traffic, and thereby creates new fields for the ex- 
pansion of the sale of ardent spirits, and the growth of alcoholism- 
The Swiss agitation, which culminated in the recent adop- 
tion of a constitutional amendment looking entirely to the re- 
striction of the use of ardent spirits, brought to the surface a 
great number of instances illustrating the advisability of the 
broadest possible distinction between the two kinds of beverages. 
Before the adoption of this constitutional amendment the 
liquor traffic of Switzerland was not governed by Federal legis- 
lation. Each canton regulated its own affairs in accordance with 
the real or supposed requirements of the case. In cantons where 
the so-called gin epidemic raged most fiercely, the local authori- 
ties conceived the idea of checking the evil by placing the traffic 
generally under a tax restraint, and by trying to enforce strict 
sanitary rules for the inspection of stimulants. It was thought 
that through the agency of such regulations the facilities for ob- 
taining liquors would be circumscribed, and the quality of stim- 
ulants improved. That the outcome of these measures was 
exactly like that witnessed under partly similar circumstances in 
certain States of our country, is obvious from the following state- 
ment made by the Swiss Federal Council in its message to the 
National Legislature: 
“ The adulteration laws, which were readily obeyed so far as milk, wine 
and food were concerned, were utterly useless as against distilled spirits. Dis- 
regard of the sanitary regulations was unavoidably linked with an illicit retail 
traffic that defied all legal restraint. The law proposed to limit the use of wine 
and beer—beverages which, from their nature, are not injurious to health—and 
it succeeded; but it did not succeed in confining the retailing of ardent spirits to 
the licensed venders, who, notwithstanding this fact, were erroneously supposed to 
be the cause of the gin epidemic. Statistics compiled by our officers show that 
there are in Switzerland (Geneva excepted) only 2096 legally authorized distil- 
eries.but 8489 retailers of spirits who have no retailer’s license. We would have 
cause to congratulate ourselves if the number of the latter were not larger. 
Public opinion is aroused whenever an “unfortunate ” distiller is punished for 
illicitly retailing brandy, because it is a public secret that one can have dis- 
tilled liquor anywhere, in small quantities, without applying to the licensed 
vender for it, Thus wine and beer, these healthy stimulants, have been rendered 
inaccessible to the workingman, while pernicious whiskey can be had anywhere at 
a ridiculously low price.” 16 
The system of high licenses produces the very calamity from 
which the Swiss people are about to escape. Thanks to a judi- 
cious fiscal system, the American people have conquered the 
evils which grew out of the “ free whiskey regime,” and become 
one of the soberest nations on earth. They have accomplished 
this by the very means recommended by Dr. Benjamin Bush, 
namely, the substitution of fermented drinks for distilled spirits. 
Apply high licenses to malt liquors and you will weaken, if not 
destroy, the only means by which a people may be made temper- 
ate in their drinking-habits; the only means to which we Amer- 
icans owe the reduction, within sixty years, of the per capita 
consumption of whiskey from eighteen down to four quarts. 
If the statistics and conclusions of the Swiss Government 
prove anything at all, they prove conclusively that the number of 
public drinking-places, generally speaking, bears no causal rela- 
tion to inebriety, unless it be in a sense diametrically opposite to 
that of our high license advocates ; and, further, they prove that 
in order to restrict drunkenness and its results, it is necessary to 
increase, rather than diminish, the facilities for obtaining the 
milder drinks, whereby the ulterior object of diminishing the 
consumption of the fiery liquors will be attained per se. The 
method of doing this is plainly described, in the Swiss re- 
ports, in the words already quoted : 
“ Bui a tax upon ardent spirits alone will not accomplish the desired object; 
in order to be fully effective, it must be followed by a systematic diminution and 
the ultimate abolition of taxes upon wholesome beverages. ” 
Modify your high license system so as to conform to the 
above, and it will produce what every temperance advocate is 
avowedly striving for. 
Through the Swiss investigation it has again become obvious 
that there are at the root of intemperance innumerable economic 
and social defects, which can not be eradicated unless it be by 
such legislative or other measures, as one would not dare to 
propose outside of a meeting of Anarchists. The almost univer- 
sal application of steam-power has revolutionized the labor sys- 
tem, changed the condition, mode of life and habits of the 
“breadwinners,” and produced in all strata of society, high and 17 
low, an intense nervousness, which seems to reflect the mad 
whirligig of the era of electricity and steam. 
No doubt can exist that the greater degree of inebriety which, 
in spite of the incredibly small number of drinking-places, was 
found to prevail in manufacturing towns is the effect of the 
misery attendant upon factory-life, with its constant ups and 
downs; its alternating prosperousness and depression; and its 
tendency to slacken family ties. Poverty is not nearly as often the 
effect as it is the cause of inebriety, as we have always main- 
tained.* No laws ever proposed, or likely to be proposed, by tem- 
perance advocates can remedy what must be styled the evils of 
our civilization. On the contrary, a measure such as high license 
advocates defend, wTould assuredly intensify the evils in the man- 
ner shown by our Swiss authority. Except so far as the irresist- 
ible logic of their figures are concerned, the Swiss officers have 
not told us anything new, when, pointing to such instances as 
Bern affords, they asserted that the great need of more fermented 
drinks—which means more beer-saloons—was felt in the very 
localities where inebriety prevailed to the greatest extent. Over 
a year ago we said of the high license law : f 
“It provokes illicit selling of ardent spirits; it diminishes 
the consumption of malt liquors; it aggravates the evils of 
intemperance, and fosters immorality. In large cities, like 
New York, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, the results would be 
still more pernicious. High licenses would there practically 
amount to prohibition, so far as three-fourths of that large 
class of saloons are concerned in which only malt liquors are 
sold. They would not affect the two extremes of the busi- 
ness ; they would neither diminish the number of gorgeous 
establishments frequented by the ‘ gilded youth,’ nor the 
number of low dens, where profligacy and crime find refuge; 
but they would undoubtedly decrease the number of beer 
saloons in those densely populated quarters where cheap and 
wholesome stimulants form almost the only solace and com- 
fort of the great mass of hard workers and their families. It 
* Real and Imaginary Effects of Intemperance. New York, 1884. 
t Ibid, page 93. 18 
would almost exclusively affect those persons who, as lias been 
shown by Mayor Low’s inebriety statistics, vie with the best 
citizens in sobriety and strictest obedience to the law. The 
system, as a temperance measure, is not needed in those quar- 
ters ; but where it might be said to be needed, it would have 
absolutely no effect. Proprietors of low dens will surely not 
shrink from adding one more wrong to the list of nefarious 
doings which form the sum of their iniquity. They will 
either sell illicitly, or pay the high license, and strive to make 
up the extra expenditure by an extra effort in depravity. 
They can illicitly sell ardent spirits, because these can readily 
be concealed or transported from place to place in small quan- 
tities. Beer cannot be sold illicitly, as every one knows, 
without exposing the seller to easy discovery and punishment. 
In place of the small respectable beer saloons, we would see 
groggeries in the disguise of soda water stands and like seem- 
ingly harmless business. Whiskey would be consumed in 
larger quantities, and under circumstances almost excluding 
the possibility of preserving public order and morality; 
while beer would, to a large extent, be driven out in just 
those quarters where light, wholesome stimulants have be- 
come an absolute necessity to the happiness and comfort of a 
large, well-behaved and orderly portion of our population.” 
If, instead of dogmatically reiterating what might be made a 
good policy, but now is a worse than dangerous fallacy, the 
friends of indiscriminate high-licenses would but closely study 
the maps and tables herein presented, and consider, in conjunc- 
tion with them, that intemperance is but one of the symptoms of 
what Dr. Max Nordau calls the universal disease of the age,* 
* In Ms “Conventional lies of our civilization” tMs eminent author says: “Another 
and by far more dangerous form of this disease is the depression, uneasiness aud breaking 
away, which characterize the mental attitude of every fully developed man who has attained 
to the heights of modem culture, irrespective of his nation and allegiance or non-allegiance 
to party or state. This pessimism is the keynote of our age as a delight in mere existence 
was of the classic ages, and ultra-piety of the mediaeval period. Every man of culture feels 
this sense of irritating discomfort which he ascribes to some slight, casual cause, inevitably the 
wrong one, and unless he analyzes his feelings with unusual care—it leads him to criticise and 
harshly condemn the varying phases of our modern social life. This impatience upon which 
all outside influences seem to exert an exciting and even exasperating effect, is called by 
some nervousness, by others pessimism. and by a third class skepticism. The multiplicity 19 
they would assuredly modify their position in the manner we 
have indicated. 
It has been clearJy proved that a mere reduction of the num- 
ber of saloons, irrespective of the nature of drinks sold, far from 
being a temperance measure, must under certain conditions and 
circumstances bring about results entirely different from those 
sought to be attained. This is a rule which change of time and 
place cannot affect. 
While sojourning in Germany during the Spring of the pre- 
sent year, the writer had an excellent opportunity of observing 
the working of an ordinary license law, passed and enforced in 
Alsace-Lorraine, for the avowed purpose of stemming the tide of 
alcoholism by restricting the number of public drinking-places. 
The necessity for such a measure, in a country richly productive 
of grapes and hops, will be understood when it is known that 
under the laws governing the traffic in the States of the Ger- 
man Tax-Union (to which Alsace-Lorraine belongs) distilled 
spirits are greatly favored. “ Branntwein ” is, in fact, faceti- 
ously called the pet of the German exchequer. The officers 
having charge of fiscal matters are known to look with dis- 
pleasure upon any proposition to limit the operations of distil- 
of names describes but one and the same disease. This disease is visible in every manifes- 
tation of modern culture. ****** This universal mental restlessness and uneasi- 
ness exerts a powerful and many-sided influence upon individual life. A dread of examining 
and comprehending the actualities of life prevails to a frightfully alarming extent, and mani- 
fests itself in a thousand different ways. The means of sensation and perception are eagerly 
counterfeited by altering the nervous system by the use of stimulating or narcotic poisons of 
all kinds, manifesting thereby an instinctive aversion to the realities of things and cir- 
cumstances. It is true that we are only capable of perceiving the changes in our own organ- 
ism, not those going on around us. But the changes within us are caused, most probably, by 
objects outside of us ; our senses give us a picture of those objects, whose reliability is surely 
more to be depended upon, when only warped by the imperfections in our normal selves, 
than when to these unavoidable sources of error is added a conscious disturbance in the 
functions of the nervous system caused by the use of various poisons. Only when our per- 
ceptions of things around us awake in us a feeling of positive discomfort, do we realize the 
necessity of warding off these unpleasant sensations, or of modifying them, until they become 
more agreeable. This is the cause of the constant increase in the consumption of alcohol 
and tobacco, and of the rapidity with which the custom of taking opium and morphine is 
spreading. It is also the reason why the cultivated classes seize upon every new narcotic or 
stimulant which science discovers for them, so that we have not only drunkards and opium 
eaters among us, but confirmed chloral, chloroform and ether drinkers. Society as a whole 
repeats the action of the individual, who tries ‘to drown his sorrows in the flowing bowl.’ 
It seeks oblivion of the present, and grasps at anything that will provide it with the necessary 
illusions by which it can escape from real life.” 20 
lers by heavy tax-burdens. Whiskey is consequently very cheap 
in Alsace-Lorraine, and when, by reason of the failure of grape- 
crops, and in consequence of hard times, the workingmen could 
no longer afford to buy wine, they readily became accustomed to 
the use of cheap spirits. Alcoholism, formerly little known in 
these fertile provinces, made rapid progress, and it was thought 
that a license-law would stay it. But the authorities of Alsace- 
Lorraine, and especially the legislative representatives of that 
country, though much at variance in certain particulars, now all 
agree that the law can never attain its object, unless the higher 
authorities impose heavier taxes upon ardent spirits, and unless, 
locally, a broad distinction is made between these drinhs and 
fermented beverages. 
It has there been found that wherever the number of public 
drinking-places grew smaller, by reason of the license-law, the 
consumption of ardent spirits increased, while that of fer- 
mented drinks decreased. Since these experiences have become 
more widely known, an agitation has sprung up in favor of the 
abolition of the license-law, and of the entire separation of the 
retail sale of ardent spirits from that of malt and vinous drinks, 
so as to better enable the authorities to impose high duties upon 
the former traffic. During a recent session of the legislature 
(Landesausschuss) the matter came up for discussion*, and was 
then thoroughly ventilated, Representative Regnier moving the 
consideration of a bill for the abolition of the license system and 
the levying of a local tax on distilled spirits. Representative 
Schneegans expressed the opinion of a majority of his colleagues 
when he said, in support of Begnier’s bill, that since the passage 
of the license-law more whiskey has been consumed than ever 
before. “The burden of the wine-tax,” he said, “was most 
keenly felt by the poor classes. A reduction of the number of 
drinking-places is by no means proof of a diminution of alco- 
holism. Saloons do not make drinkers, but drinkers make 
saloons. We must have a heavy tax on ardent spirits, and do 
away with the present license-system.” 
* The debate took place on the 22d and 23d of April, 1885.. All quotations may he verified 
by reference to the published reports of the session. 21 
Representative Raeis, a medical practitioner of local reputa- 
tion, maintained that from his own professional observations he 
knew that less drinking-places did not at all mean less alcoholism. 
In a number of cities, where record is being kept of the liquids 
offered for sale, the consumption of whiskey rose from 90,393 
litres, in 1879, to 118,020 litres, in 1883. Without a heavy tax on 
ardent spirits, and the removal of burdens from the retailers of 
wine and beer, alcoholism could not be successfully combated. 
Zorn v. Burlach, who opposed the repeal of the license-law, 
admitted, nevertheless, that distilled liquors are rapidly taking the 
place of the lighter beverages. He saw a reason for this in the 
failure of the grape-crops. His proposition was to confine the 
sale of ardent spirits to a fixed number of saloons, and to tax the 
latter as heavily as possible. 
Assistant Secretary of State Mayr, an officer appointed by 
the National Government, opposed the motion of Regnier, prin- 
cipally because he thought a local tax on whiskey would not be 
permissible, yet he, too, admitted the correctness of the principle 
involved, by saying that “ drunkenness can be essentially dimin- 
ished by cheapening wine, and still more so by popularizing malt 
liquors.” 
The outcome of the debate was a compromise in the shape of 
a bill instructing the government to take such steps as would 
free Alsace-Lorraine from the operation of the national law on 
spirit-taxes, and enable these provinces to impose local taxes on 
the manufacture and sale of ardent liquors. 
The debates and ultimate action of this legislature demon- 
strate very clearly that in Alsace-Lorraine, as in Switzerland, the 
weight of evidence is totally against the theory of our high 
license advocates. Not the number of saloons, but the kind of 
drink used is the decisive factor in the production of the evils of 
drunkenness. Hence the proposition to multiply the facilities 
for obtaining the milder, and restricting the use of the fiery 
drinks. A system of high licenses, indiscriminately applied to 
all stimulants, must inevitably accomplish the reverse of this de- 
sideratum. 
Upon the overwhelming evidence presented in our tables and maps we might now rest our case, had we not promised, and 
were it not appropriate, to lay before the reader facts showing 
that the conclusions drawn by the Swiss Government from a 
masterly array of incontrovertible facts and figures, are applicable 
with equal force to our country. 
It has been shown that under positively or even relatively 
equal tax-burdens the traffic in beer will succumb, while that in 
ardent liquors will either hold its own or, as is most frequently 
the case, grow in extent. The consequence may be, and usually 
is, a reduction of the saloons, that is, of beer-saloons, but not a 
diminution of drunkenness. Quite the contrary must be true, 
since we have seen that in Thurgau, with twelve retailers of 
fermented drinks per thousand inhabitants, only one out of 
over ten thousand deaths was due to alcoholism; while in 
Bern, with only four saloons, over eight out of every thousand 
of certified deaths are ascribed to the same disease. We 
have fewer saloons, then, but more drunkenness. How can 
we prove that the beer-traffic will succumb to heavy burdens as 
readily in America as it does in Switzerland and Germany? 
By the evidence furnished by revenue officials. On a previous 
occasion we published the following table, showing the amounts 
received for licenses issued by the United States Revenue officer 
in the first district of Michigan—a State having a high license 
law, by virtue of which retailers of fermented drinks paid at that 
time $200, and whiskey dealers $300 per annum. The correct- 
ness of the table has never been assailed. 
Tear. 
Eetail 
Liquor Dealers 
@ $25. 
Wholesale 
Liq’r Dealers 
@$100 
Brewers. 
Brewers. 
Eetail Malt 
Liq’r Deal’rs 
$20. 
Wholesale 
Malt Liquor 
deal’rs, $50. 
1880.... 
$35,428 11 
$1,725 00 
$683 34 
$3,083 33 
$2,503 36 
$1,145 84 
1881.... 
37,516 47 
2,050 00 
733 34 
2,950 00 
1,979 19 
1,050 00 
1882.... 
33,905 46 
2,212 50 
575 00 
3,300 00 
989 18 
947 50 
1883.... 
37,873 64 
2,237 50 
450 00 
3,091 67 
758 35 
760 41 
At a glance it will be seen that while there was an appre- 23 
ciable increase in the amounts collected from retail and whole- 
sale liquor dealers, there is an enormous decrease in the sums 
paid by wholesale and retail dealers of malt liquors. In 1880 the 
United States received $35,428.11 from retail liquor dealers; in 
1883 the revenues from this source amounted to $37,823.64. In 
1880 the revenues from malt liquors amounted to $2,503.36, in 
1883 to $758.35. 
The illicit sale of ardent liquors naturally goes hand in hand 
with the enforcement of stringent laws, and there is all the more 
inducement for this from the very fact that the disappearance of 
so many beer-saloons holds out an enticing chance of reaping 
large profits, by supplying wants now unattended to. This 
assertion is proven by comparing the number of licenses issued 
by the local authorities of the city of Detroit with the number 
issued by the Federal Government. It has been shown* in this 
way, that in Detroit there were, in 1882-3, two hundred and six- 
teen places, holding Federal licenses, in which liquors were sold 
in defiance of the local law. How many there were who sold 
liquors in violation of both Federal and local laws, we cannot say, 
and for our purposes it is not essential to ascertain. The one 
fact remains undisputed and indisputable, that the law seriously 
affected the consumption of malt liquors. In populous cities 
intemperance would find a still stronger ally in such a law, 
for the following reason: In the densely populated tenement 
quarters of such cities there is, at present, excepting the very 
lowest localities, a preponderance of small beer-saloons, whose 
owners sell at least one half of their stock of beer by the 
pint, their customers being working-men with large families, 
to whom the fermented drink is at once stimulant, refresh- 
ment and food. On these sales the retailer sustains losses. 
Ilis profits on the sale by the glass are just about sufficient 
to cover these losses, and pay rent, duties and food. The re- 
tailers barely make a living now; a very great proportion of 
them, however, would not even be able to do that, were it not for 
the leniency of the brewer. Fully one half of these smaller 
saloons—as can be shown by figures—are constantly hampered 
*Real and Imaginary Effects of Intemperance. Page 90. 24 
by their inability to keep out of debt. An increase of the 
cost of licenses to the Illinois or Michigan standard would 
undoubtedly close these places,—and there would then, indeed, 
be a reduction of saloons. But what would be the conse- 
quence? Would not the closing of, say, three beer saloons in 
one block offer an unusually fair chance of gain to the retailer 
of ardent spirits, whose profits, under any circumstances, are 
many times larger than those of the beer-seller ? Most assuredly 
it would. And not only that, illicit selling would increase in 
direct proportion to the inducements offered. The law would in 
that case reduce the number of a certain class of saloons, but it 
would increase drunkenness, since whiskey would be substituted 
for beer. The result would be like that reported from Bern, 
where four saloons (per thousand inhabitants) deal out over eight 
deaths, while in Thurgau, with twelve saloons, not quite one 
death out of every ten thousand certified deaths is attributable to 
alcoholism. 
The data produced in the case of Michigan find a parallel in 
the city of Chicago. When the high license law went into force 
there, the brewers at once saw that it would only affect their 
trade in favor of distilled liquors. In order to prevent the dis- 
placement of beer by ardent spirits, they agreed to reduce 
the price of their product, thus virtually bearing themselves the 
burdens designed for their customers. 
The distillers did not feel called upon to take such a step. 
They knew that no high license law ever passed could affect their 
manufacture. This outcome of the law is so generally known 
and deplored that Mayor Harrison, under date of September 15th, 
1885, vetoed an ordinance, passed by the Council of Chicago, 
imposing a license upon brewers. The reasons given by Mr. 
Harrison for this veto are sufficiently significant to warrant their 
literal re-production. The veto message reads:— 
“ Disclaiming any desire to antagonize tlie Council, I wish to state that I 
have been requested by Aldermen who voted for the ordinance to return it 
unsigned, so that they may further examine into the matter. 
This of itself would be sufficient reason for my present action, but I wish 25 
to state further that my own examination convinces me that this license is a 
double tax upon the brewers. 
When the high saloon license went into operation, the brewers, of their 
own volition, reduced the price of their beer 10 per cent., or 80 cents per 
barrel. This reduction amounted to considerably more than $800,000 on the 
beer sold by them, and enabled the retailers to pay the $500 license. A very 
large number of such retailers would, but for this, have been utterly unable 
to pay such license, and thus the city would have lost a very large amount of 
the revenue necessary to run the municipal machine. 
It is conceded by all thinking men that beer does far less harm to the 
people than alcoholic drinks, and it is claimed by many that cheap beer drives 
out the more harmful beverages, which it seems, in all climates like ours, will 
inevitably be drank unless less injurious drinks are afforded the thirsty. 
Indeed, a great many claim, and most plausibly, that cheap, pure beer is the 
real solution of the temperance problem. 
The reduction of 80 cents per barrel on the price of beer enables a saloon- 
keeper to support himself without pouring down hot throats a poison called 
whiskey, retailed in many saloons, which well-informed men believe fills our 
House of Correction with drunkards and is the parent of a large amount of our 
crime. Thus a separate tax on brewers, together with this reduction, becomes 
a double tax. Again many saloon-keepers are barely able to support their 
families by their trade, and can lay up no considerable amount of money, so 
that they find themselves utterly unable to pay the license without assist- 
ance. 
I learn that about one-third of all the saloon licenses in Chicago, say to the 
amount of $500,000, is advanced by the brewers. They then collect the 
amount so advanced, as far as possible, from their customers in small pay- 
ments. This the city could not do. In very many instances this advance is 
wholly lost. Thus, again, a separate tax upon the brewers is in this way a 
double tax. 
Again, while some of the large brewers would scarcely feel the payment 
of $500 per annum, there are many small brewers who can not afford to pay 
that amount. The $500 license becomes a burden upon them, and makes them 
unable to compete with the large establishments. This will tend to drive the 
whole business into the hands of the great concerns, and thus make them vast 
monopolies. 
It is hardly a proper argument that because the small saloon-keepers have 
to pay $500, therefore the brewers should not complain of such a tax. This is 
a specious argument, but the small saloon-keeper can surely gain nothing by 
the tax on those who produce what he sells, especially when such tax may 
drive the small brewers out of existence, and thus leave him wholly in the 
power of the great establishments. I throw out these suggestions for your 
consideration, and ask you to consider them, and I further suggestthat a more 
moderate license, which will enable the small brewers to compete more suc- 
cessfully with the large ones, may be a proper thing for you to enforce.” It is evident that a decrease in the consumption of fermented 
liquors would have been inevitable, had not the manufacturers 
assumed a tax-burden which the framers of the law could never 
have contemplated, unless they were inspired by a desire to show 
partiality to the distillers at the expense of the brewers. 
Ho distinction is made in Chicago between fermented bever- 
ages and distilled liquors. The license for the sale of whiskey 
costs no more than that for the sale of beer. What could be 
more natural than that the retailer who formerly sold beer only, 
should now, seeing that the license-fee is the same, also sell ardent 
spirits, which yield large profits, and the handling and keeping 
of which require little care and labor? In the end this uni- 
formity of license-fees will undoubtedly transform every beer- 
saloon into a whiskey-shop, in spite of the pecuniary sacrifice 
made by the brewers to prevent this change. 
Having shown that the indiscriminate application of the high 
license system inevitably tends to increase the consumption of 
ardent spirits at the expense of malt beverages, it should not be 
necessary, in view of what has already been proved, to demon- 
strate that such a state of affairs must necessarily increase 
drunkenness and all the evils attendant upon it. Our statistics 
from foreign countries preach an eloquent homily on the subject. 
Unfortunately we have no such comparative statistics covering 
the whole of our country, or at least those parts of it where the 
status in question existed for any length of time. But is there 
any reason, however far-fetched, why the excessive use of ardent 
spirits should be deemed less injurious, or why the general con- 
sumption of fermented liquors should be considered as less 
wholesome in America than in any other civilized part of the 
globe ? 
That a vast difference exists between the condition of the 
American workingmen and that of the European wage-earners 
cannot, happily, be disputed; and it is evident that the American 
workers, being, in the aggregate, much better fed, clothed and 
housed than their European colleagues in the same stations of life, 
are less susceptible of the effects of intemperance. One, but only- 
one, of the reasons why the American people are the most 27 
sober of nations, except one or two,* lies, indeed, in the fact of 
their being without a doubt the best fed people in the world.f 
There is, however, in this case, no question at issue requiring an 
inter-comparison of nations on this particular point. What we 
have to ascertain is, whether—making allowances for the differ- 
ences pointed out—the general use of ardent spirits would pro- 
duce the same results in New York as in Bern, and whether the 
general consumption of the milder drinks would have the same 
effect in Bern as in New York. 
In order to obtain an accurate exhibit of this kind, the 
government would have to pursue just such a line of enquiry 
as has been followed in several foreign countries. Without 
this, there is no prospect of our being able to present the 
facts in the case as clearly and convincingly as we have 
done in the first part of this pamphlet. It deserves to be 
accentuated that all efforts that have been made, in this country, 
in the direction indicated, failed, because it was evident that at 
the bottom of them there was, not a desire to make Truth mani- 
fest, but rather an intention to produce, at all hazards, just such 
evidence as was needed to bolster up preconceived theories. 
But in the absence of such specific statistics as are presented by 
Switzerland, it may be allowable to produce the following table, 
compiled from data which are contained in the last (XI.) volume 
of the U. S. census, just published. It gives the number of 
*See Liquor Laws of the (T.S., &c., hy G. Thomann, 1S85. Page 241. 
t According to Table No. 26 of the “ Balance-sheet of the World ” (1881) the relative per 
capita consumption of grain and meat is as follows : 
COUNTBIES. 
Bu. Grain. 
Lbs. Meat. 
40.6G 
20.02 
120.00 
119.10 
Great Britain 
Germany 
23.71 
84 51 
22.84 
57.10 
Holland 
16.25 
48.40 
Denmark 
30.83 
58.45 
Sweden and Norway 
12.05 
51.10 28 
deaths, among Irish and German, from all causes; and the num- 
ber of deaths caused by alcoholism :— 
GRAND GROUPS. 
Deaths from all 
causes. 
Deaths from 
alcoholism. 
Irish. 
German. 
Irish. 
Ger. 
I. Maine. N. H , Mass., R I., Ct., including cities of 
Boston, Cambridge, &c., coast region. 
9,247 
654 
46 
0 
II. New York. N. J., Maryland, &c., including Brook- 
lyn, N. Y., Jersey City, &c 
15,838 
11,205 
102 
27 
Y. Maine, N. H., Mass., Ct., N. Y., including Worces- 
ter, Hartford, &c., N.E. hills and plateaus 
2,931 
195 
10 
2 
VI. N. Y., N. J., Penn., Maryland, including Albany, 
Troy, &c., central Appalachian chain 
3,007 
1,441 
9 
3 
VII. N. Y., Ohio, Mich., Ind., Ills , Wis. Cities: Buf- 
falo, Rochester, Cleveland, &c., region of the 
Great Northern Lakes 
2,678 
6,594 
16 
6 
VIII. N.Y., Penn., Va., N.C. Cities: Albany, Syracuse, 
Troy, &c., interior plateau 
4,850 
1,439 
21 
5 
X. Ohio, Ind., W. Va., Ky. Cities: Cincinnati, Day- 
ton, Louisville, &c., Ohio River belt 
1,650 
4,651 
21 
27 
Xm. Mo., Iowa, Ills., Wis., Min. Cities: Minneapolis, 
St. Louis, St. Paul, &c., N. Miss. River belt.... 
1,203 
3,674 
9 
7 
XVI. Mo., Iowa, Ills., Ky., Neb., Wis., prairie region 
3,397 
6,087 
22 
9 
XVII. Mo., Iowa, Neb., Dakota, Missouri River belt 
405 
1,167 
1 
3 
XVin. Dak., Mont., Wy., Neb., Kansas, Col., N. Mex., 
Texas. City: Denver, western plains 
82 
152 
0 
1 
XIX. Mich., Wis., Minnesota, timber region of N.W 
532 
985 
2 
2 
XX. Mont., Wash., Wy., Idaho, Oregon, Col., Utah, 
Nev., Cal., Arizona, N. Mex., Cordilleran region. 
644 
292 
16 
10 
XXL Cal., Oregon, Wash. Cities: San Francisco, Oak- 
land, Pacific coast region 
1,266 
646 
25 
7 
Although it cannot be demonstrated with anything like 
mathematical precision, yet it is generally conceded, that the 
majority of Irishmen are whiskey-drinkers, while the majority of 
Germans are habitual beer-drinkers. The proportion of whiskey- 
drinkers among the latter is, however, very much greater than 
the proportion of beer-drinkers among the former. The North- 
Germans are, as a class, addicted to the use of ardent spirits, and 
it may be taken for granted that a large proportion of them 
adhere to this drinking-habit even in their new fatherland. 
Were the beer-drinkers locally concentrated in great masses, as 
in Bavaria, for instance, the showing we shall attempt to pro- duce would lie on the surface.* As it is, we must again, as 
before, resort to facts which are generally known, yet cannot be 
presented with such statistical accuracy as would make them 
adequate complements of the foregoing tabular statement. One 
of these facts is, that the greatest number of breweries are found 
where the German population is most numerous ; and another 
fact is, that in all the younger States and communities of the 
West of our'country the brewing industry progresses slowly, 
keeping pace with the spread of civilization, and only gaining 
a firm foothold after a certain stage is reached.f Keeping 
these facts in view, the reader will easily understand the con- 
clusions to be drawn from our table. Aside from the great 
difference which, with the exception of a few instances, is found 
between the two last columns of figures, as inter-compared with 
the first two, one cannot but be deeply impressed with the num- 
bers entered opposite Group VII., as compared with those which 
appear opposite Group XX. In the former group, which may 
fairly be styled a beer centre, the number of deaths from all 
causes, among Germans, was larger (because the German popu- 
lation is larger) than in any other specified group, one ex- 
cepted ; yet in this very group the proportion of deaths from 
alcoholism is next to the lowest. We have here 6,594 re- 
ported deaths, among Germans, out of which only six are 
attributed to alcoholism; whereas the total number of deaths, 
among Irish, is but 2,678, out of which 16 are ascribed to 
alcoholism. Group XX. consists of such parts of States and Ter- 
ritories in which the brewing industry is very poorly represented 
(the greater part of the breweries of California is located in 
cities which are not included in this group), and the proportion 
of deaths from alcoholism was not only very much larger than 
the same death-rate among the Germans of any other group, but 
even larger than this death-rate among the Irish of this or any 
other group. The explanation is near at hand : Where beer can 
♦Alcoholism is almost unknown there, while in North Germany the proportion of that 
disease to all others, as causes of insanity, is 9 percent., according to some, 13 per cent., 
according to other authorities. 
•fThis rule, for such it is, cannot, of course, apply inversely to those old Eastern States 
where the natural development of refined drinking-habits was prevented by prohibitory laws, 30 
not be had, as in this case, Germans, even those who were origin- 
ally beer-drinkers, become accustomed to the use of ardent 
spirits, and, being less inured to the effects of alcohol than their 
Irish neighbors, succumb more easily to them. 
These two extreme cases serve to illustrate the difference 
between fermented beverages and distilled spirits more pointedly 
than any other, because the factors which we have before 
described as being decisive in the matter, are more easily per- 
ceptible than elsewhere. The second group, including the cities 
of New York and Brooklyn, would serve this purpose equally 
well, if the birth-places of those Germans who died of alcoholism 
could be ascertained, and if the proportion of German vagrants 
and paupers to the entire German population were known. 
Knowing the birth-places of these persons one might venture an 
opinion as to their drinking-habits, and thus arrive at a fair 
general conclusion. But even as it is, certain palpable inferences 
force themselves upon the mind of the unbiased observer. 
New York city is the place of debarkation for ninety-liun- 
dretlis of all German immigrants. By tar the greater portion of 
those Germans who have no relatives in the country and no 
means to enable them to follow the great stream of inland immi- 
gration, remain either in New York or Brooklyn, awaiting their 
opportunity for work, where thousands upon thousands of will- 
ing hands are already doomed to involuntary idleness. It is not 
unreasonable in view of these well established facts to assume 
that the greatest proportion of whiskey-drinking Germans is to 
be found in that group which includes the cities of New York 
and Brooklyn. It being generally admitted that the North- 
Germans, coming from a country where the manufacture of 
fermented drinks is of but very recent date, are, as a class, con- 
sumers of ardent spirits, and that the proportion of North-Ger- 
mans to their beer-drinking countrymen is, approximately, as 2 
to 5, one can readily form an opinion as to what the proportion 
of wdiiskey-drinking Germans must be in the group mentioned. 
Attaching no more weight to these considerations than is pro- 
perly due them, the reader will undoubtedly appreciate fully the 
figures presented opposite Group II. In this connection it may 31 
be well to state that among 500 patients treated in King’s 
County Inebriates’ Home, near Brooklyn, 13 were born in Ger- 
many, but only 2 were classed as habitual beer-drinkers ; whereas 
11 ranked among the habitual consumers of ardent spirits. The 
same institution, by the way, furnishes the best evidence that fer- 
mented drinks and distilled liquors affect the human body 
in precisely the same manner here as elsewhere. Out of 
five hundred inebriates only twenty-four were classed as 
habitual beer-drinkers, nine of whom were females, confined, 
most likely, to prevent disgrace to their families. Twelve had 
complicating diseases. Only two of the whole number had 
delirium tremens. One of these was a bar-maid; the other a 
merchant, who, while suffering with a severe concussion, con- 
sumed a gallon of beer daily. 
Leaving the subject of alcoholism and turning to that of 
arrests for drunkenness, we find an excellent companion to the 
Swiss tables in the inebriety statistics of the city of Brooklyn.* 
As in Switzerland the lowest rate of alcoholism was found in 
places where the number of saloons (for the sale of fermented 
drinks) was greatest, just so was the number of arrests for 
drunkenness found to be smallest in those precincts of 
Brooklyn where the number of beer saloons is greatest. Of the 
impossibility of diminishing inebriety by a mere reduction of 
public saloons we have, from the same source, as good a proof as 
any of those presented by the Government of Switzerland, in 
the following tabular extract:— 
PKECINCT. 
Estimated 
Population. 
Total 
number of 
Saloons. 
Total 
number of 
arrests. 
Ninth 
44,500 
15,000 
79 
61 
254 
1,705 
Third Sub 
Tlie State Board of Health of Massachusetts, in its report of 
January, 1872, gives the proportion of Irish prisoners to Irish 
*The data were gathered by the local authorities and published by order of the Mayor, in 
the winter of 1883. The statistical table can be found on page 58 of *• Real and Imaginary 
Effects, &c. 32 
population, in Boston, as 25.78; that of German prisoners to 
German population as 6.49; a difference which the Board attri- 
butes principally to the difference in the liquors used by the Irish 
and Germans. 
Meagre as these statistical exhibits are, compared with the 
fullness of the Swiss data, they suffice, it is hoped, to illustrate 
the entire applicability of the Swiss conclusions to the condition 
of things in our country. 
Let us, then, briefly recapitulate what has been demonstrated. 
As to Switzerland it has been shown:— 
I. That the highest degree of inebriety and alcoholism pre- 
vailed in localities which had the smallest number of drinking- 
places ; the drink generally used being ardent spirits. 
II. That the highest degree of sobriety prevailed in localities 
where the number of drinking-places was largest; the beverages 
used being fermented liquors. 
III. That under the operation of laws designed to restrict 
the entire traffic, fermented drinks were driven out by distilled 
spirits. 
The conclusion based on these facts is, that for the purpose 
of diminishing inebriety a reduction of saloons is absolutely 
inessential; but that the question of the nature of drinks offered 
for sale by retailers is of the utmost importance. The recom- 
mendation which grew out of this conclusion is to the effect, that 
the Legislature increase the facilities for obtaining fermented 
liquors, and restrict the use of ardent spirits. The means pro- 
posed consist of laws removing tax-burdens from wine and malt 
liquors, and augmenting those on distilled liquors. 
As to our country it has been shown:— 
I. That whenever the system of high licenses reduces the 
number of licensed saloons, its restrictive force falls entirely on 
the retailers of fermented beverages. 
II. That under the operation of high license laws the con- 
sumption of ardent spirits increases. 33 
III. That the highest degree of drunkenness is found where 
ardent spirits are used most generally, while comparative sobriety 
prevails where malt liquors are the common drink. 
Our conclusions must be identical with those at which the 
Swiss authorities arrived, namely: that the restrictive effect of 
tax-laws should be confined to ardent spirits, so as to impart to 
the beer traffic greater power of expansion, and to enable the 
people to gratify an ineradicable craving for stimulants by using 
the mild and wholesome beverages, which, as has been proved, 
are so rarely productive of inebriety in its pernicious and 
dangerous forms. 
A FEW SUGGESTIONS ON A PROPOSED HIGH 
LICENSE LAW. 
The Church Temperance Society of the City of New York 
has inaugurated a movement which seems to indicate a growing 
disposition on the part of temperance advocates to recognize the 
injudiciousness of practically placing fermented liquors and dis- 
tilled spirits in one and the same category. By this society an 
excise law has been proposed of which a circular, signed by Rev. 
Howard Crosby and Mr. Robert Graham, gives the following 
“ main features” :— 
1. A broad distinction between distilled and fermented liquors, the license 
fee for the former being $1,000, for the latter $100. 
2. Disqualifying convicts from holding licenses. 
3. The disqualification of premises for one year, on conviction or revocation 
of license. 
4. The publication of name and address of applicant at least one week 
before a license is granted. 
5. Prohibiting sale of liquor to minors, under penalty of revocation of 
license. 34 
6. Prohibiting sale of liquor on board excursion boats and in tenement 
houses. 
7. Requiring licencees to keep the interior of their premises open to view. 
8. Care has been taken that no provision of this Bill shall infringe upon or 
affect the “ Civil Damage Act,” or the “ Local Option Law.” 
Sections 8 and 9 of the proposed law read thus:— 
§ 8. Licenses shall be of the following six classes •— 
1. Liquor License—To sell liquors of any kind to be drunk on the pre 
mises. 
2. Wine and Beer License—To sell malt liquors, cider and wine, to be 
drunk on the premises. 
3 Beer License—To sell malt liquors and cider to be drunk on the pre- 
mises. 
If. Storekeeper's Liquor License—To sell liquors of any kind not to be drunk 
on the premises. 
5. Storekeeper's Beer License—To sell malt liquors, cider and wine, not to 
be drunk on the premises. 
6. Druggist’s License—Licenses to druggists and apothecaries to sell 
liquors of any kind for medicinal, mechanical and chemical purposes only, to 
such persons only as may certify in writing for what use they want it. 
§ 9. The fees for said licenses shall be as follows :— 
For a license of the first class in cities of more than 300,000 inhabitants, 
not less than. $1,000 
In all other cities, towns and villages, not less than $500 
For a license of the second class in cities of more than 800,000 inhabitants, 
not less than $500 
In all other cities, towns or villages, not less than $250 
For a license of the third class in cities of more than 300,000 inhabitants, 
not less than $100 
In all other cities, towns or villages, not less than $50 
For a license of the fourth class, not less than $100 
For a license of the fifth class, not less than $25 
For a license of the sixth class, not less than $10 
One of the greatest dangers in making a license law restric- 
tive in its operation lies in the temptation to over-reach the object 
in view. If the license is too high, the law will inevitably be 
evaded, and the result wrill be a state of things equally as bad as 
that now complained of. An eminent authority on the subject of 
taxation, Hon. D. A. Wells, pronounced it an economic axiom, that 35 
any tax sufficiently great to sufficiently indemnify and reward eva- 
sion wTill be evaded. The fee for a license of the first class in cities 
of more than 300,000 inhabitants is entirely too high; and the 
impracticability of the proposed law in this particular is all the 
more obvious, as it scarcely needs to be proved that an evasion of 
this tax is much more feasible in a large city than in a small one. 
The writer of this, who assuredly cannot be accused of a partiality 
for distillers, would oppose so high a rate for the reason that 
it would unavoidably provoke illicit selling, and thus injure alike 
the cause of temperance and the interests of the brewing industry. 
The distinction made between first-class licenses to be issued in 
cities of 300,000 inhabitants and those proposed for smaller cities 
may be perfectly justifiable in principle, because it is assumed 
that there is more intemperance in large cities than in smaller 
ones. But for this very reason this distinction should not hold 
good as to malt liquors, seeing that here, as in Switzerland and 
elsewhere, the greatest need of more fermented drinks is felt in 
localities where inebriety prevails to the greatest extent. In 
addition to this it is to be considered that the small retailers of beer, 
located in tenement quarters of large cities, who sell half their 
stock by the pint, can least affiord to pay a fee of $100 ; yet, 
from every conceivable point of view, they must be regarded as 
the very class of retailers whose number it would be extremely 
unwise to reduce. A uniform fee of $50 for the sale of malt 
liquors would be as high as temperance considerations appear to 
dictate. If a clause of the law, separating the beer traffic from 
the retailing of whiskey, could be made so stringent, yet so easy 
of execution, as to preclude the probability of an illicit whiskey 
traffic under guise of the beer license, the fee might, in the 
interests of temperance, be still smaller. In fact, with a 
“ high license ” for the sale of ardent spirits, a little more 
reasonable than the one proposed, the legislator would be justified 
in adopting the French or Swiss idea of making the sale of beer 
absolutely free. We consider the license of the first class for the 
sale of spirits too high, simply because we fear that it will pro- 
voke illicit traffic. The license fee for the sale of beer is tod 
high in any case, and if the framers and advocates of the proposed 36 
law—all of them gentlemen worth}7 of the utmost confidence 
and respect—would take the trouble to enquire into the state of 
the beer traffic in those quarters of New York city where beer is 
most needed, from a temperance standpoint, they would find 
that their purpose would be served fully and effectually by a 
much lower fee than they propose. 
The law is defective in many other particulars, some of which 
have been pointed out by the metropolitan newspapers. But even 
as it stands, we welcome it as a manifestation of a truly philan- 
thropic spirit, and as an evidence of the spreading of more 
liberal views. May this unpretending pamphlet, the best and 
most effective parts of which we owe to the efforts of the 
government of a sister-republic, tend to fortify the position taken 
by the Church Temperance Society in the matter of a broad 
distinction between beer and ardent spirits; but may it also tend 
to so modify the details of their measure as to ensure the results 
for which all good citizens ought to labor.