550 SCIENCE OF HOME AND COMMUNITY 



this country indicate that from 25 to 30 per cent of all the 

 insane patients admitted to the asylums owe their mis- 

 fortune directly or indirectly to the abuse of alcohol. In 

 England and Wales it is estimated that alcohol claims 

 17,000 victims from among a total asylum population of 

 116,000, that is about 15 per cent. Estimates from Paris 

 indicated that 28 per cent of the men owed their insane con- 

 dition to alcoholism. In the asylums of Vienna 25 per cent 

 were the victims of alcohol. Returns from numerous sources 

 in Germany give the estimate that at least one fourth of 

 all the insane men in Germany are victims of alcoholism. 

 These estimates from different countries so nearly agree 

 that it is fair to say that one fourth of all cases of insanity 

 are due to alcohol. 



We may summarize briefly by saying that the evidence 

 shows that alcohol is responsible for one fourth of the in- 

 sanity, one third of the pauperism, and one half of the crime 

 in the world. 



The United States census of 1910 shows that there were 

 in this country at that time 187,000 insane people in hos- 

 pitals, 84,000 paupers in almshouses, and 111,000 prisoners 

 in penal institutions. Taking the per cents given above, 

 this means that alcohol is responsible for 46,000 insane 

 people, 28,000 paupers, and 55,000 criminals; an army of 

 129,000 of the most unfortunate people in the country. 

 If these were lined up two abreast and three feet apart 

 in the row, they would make a procession thirty-five miles 

 long. If they should march at an ordinary gait, it would 

 take them ten hours to pass a given point. This is alcohol's 

 army. 



The taxpayers of the country are put to an enormous 

 expense to support this army. The following table shows 

 the annual expense in this country in looking after crim- 

 inals, paupers, and insane people, and the proportion due to 

 alcohol. 



