PKiMLs. — inti:jii'>:kance. 131 



men into luore intiimite relations, that closer contact 

 quickens activity, that increased activity refines the 

 nervous system, and that a highly nervous organization 

 invites intemperance, and at the same time renders its 

 destructive results swifter and more fatal. Thus the 

 very progress' of civilization renders men the easier vic- 

 tims of intemperance. We have also seen that under 

 regulation the liquor traffic increases more rapidly than 

 the population. The alternative, then, seems simple, 

 clear, certain, that civilization must destroy the liquor 

 traffic or be destroyed by it. Even here in the Eas^, 

 this death struggle is desiderate, and no man looks for an 

 easy victory over the dragon. What, then, of the far 

 West, where the relative power of the saloon is two and a 

 half times greater? 



II.— The Liquor Power. 



r 



The liquor traffic, of course, implies two parties, the 

 buyer and the seller. The preceding discussion relates 

 to the former, only a few words touching the latter. 

 A'jcording to the Report of the Commissioner of Internal 

 Revenue there were 184,889 liquor dealers and manufac- 

 turers in the United States in 1889. Their saloons, allow- 

 ing twenty- two feet front to each, would reach in an 

 imbroken line from Chicago to New York. There is 

 invested in this business an immense capital. It is im- 

 possible to determine how much, but it certainly amounts 

 to hundreds of millions of dollars. In an address in the 

 House of Representatives, in favor of the Bonded 

 Whiskej' Bill, Hon. P. V. Deuster, of Wisconsin, member 

 of Congress, and special champion of the liquor dealers, 

 said that the total market value of the spirituous, malt, 

 and vinous liquors produced in 1883 was 8190,961,588. It 

 is now estimated that the annual liquor bill of the nation 

 is $1,000,000,000. So great wealth in the hands of one 

 class, having common interests and a common purpose, 

 is a mighty power. 



And this power does not lack organization. Its sue- 



