PERILS. — INTEMPERANCE. 127 



liquor coiifeimied for all purposes in tlie United States in 

 1840, 18G0 and in 1888 : 



Distilled Spirits. Wine. Malt Liquors. 



1840. 43.000,884 4,873,096 23,310,843. 



1860. 89,968.651 11,059.141 101,346,669. 



1888. 75,845,352 36,335,068 767,587,056. 



Gallons consumed for all purposes, per caput : 



Spiriis. Wines. Malt Liquors. All. 



l.'yO. 2.52 .29 1.36 4.17. 



1860. 2.86 .35 3.22 6.40. 



1888. 1.25 .60 12.68 14.53. 



The steady increase in the use of wine and beer per 

 caput, since 1840 is very marked, and the decrease in the 

 use of whiskey since 1860 is equally so. It has been ar- 

 gued by the brewers and others that beer and wine have 

 proved a*blessing by driving out to a great extent the 

 use of spirituous liquors, and that there is now less alco- 

 hol used as a beverage per caput than there was half a 

 century ago. Let us see if this position will bear exam- 

 ination. 



Eeducing these several liquors to alcohol we find that 

 the people of the United States consumed for all pur- 

 poses, 1.51 gallons of alcohol per caput in 1840, 1.79 

 gallons in 1860, and 1.27 gallons in 1888. In order to a cor- 

 rect interpretation of these figures it must be remem- 

 bered that formerly a large proportion of the whiskey 

 consumed was used in manufactures. But after the 

 heavy Internal Revenue tax was imposed, the price of 

 whiskey per gallon rose seventeen-fold in three years, 

 which drove it out of manufactures, for the most part. 

 David A. Wells, as chairman of a commission to revise 

 the whole Internal Revenue system, reported in 1866 ; 

 " In some instances entire branches of business have been 

 destroyed in consequence of the great advance in the 

 price of alcohol." In other instances substitutes for al- 

 cohol were found. Mr. Wells estimates that in 1860, 25,- 

 000,000 gallons of proof spirits were consumed in the 



