LEGAL PREVENTIVES OF ALCOHOLISM. 395 



pecuniary punishment for the public scandal of a man in a state 

 of intoxication, removal to a special establishment for victims of 

 alcoholism, and putting the drunkard under guard if he shows 

 himself unfit to manage his affairs, or misbehaves in a way 

 to imperil the safety of third persons. While the dealers do not 

 accept with good grace a measure which will so greatly compro- 

 mise their interests, and are petitioning against it, the women see 

 in it a hope for the salvation of their families, and are also cir- 

 culating petitions in which it is declared that when the free use 

 of alcoholic drinks, often adulterated, is energetically prevented, 

 prosperity will return to the homes of numerous workmen. The 

 women are right this time, and I would sign their petition with 

 both hands ; and I wish that our French women might form a 

 league for the same purpose, which might perhaps awaken our 

 legislators from their indifference. 



Austria has increased the tax on intoxicating drinks, and has 

 endeavored to limit the number of public houses ; but I have no 

 documents at hand from which I can learn the effect of these 

 measures. Belgium has not adopted any restrictive law except 

 one against intoxication, and the consumption of liquors there has 

 risen to twelve litres per inhabitant, while public houses have 

 multiplied till there is now an average of one for every forty- 

 three inhabitants, and in some places one for every twenty-four, 

 or for every five or six adults. In the grand duchy of Luxemburg 

 the number of drinking shops has become so excessive that a 

 law has been promulgated raising the license fees and subjecting 

 dealers to a tax proportioned to the number of inhabitants, with 

 a proviso for considering the debts of the concern in fixing the 

 fees. 



Coming now to the Netherlands, I am glad to be able to recog- 

 nize the wise enactments which your legislators have given you. 

 They have thought, without doubt, and with strong reasons, in 

 my opinion, that all fiscal measures would be ineffective so long 

 as anybody or everybody should be at liberty to offer these mis- 

 chievous drinks to the public. They have, therefore, prudently 

 prohibited the combination of the trade in drink with a wholly 

 different trade ; and I appreciate this feature all the more because 

 I see in France every trade, whatever be itS nature, serving as a 

 pretext for the sale of liquor, so that every person entering a 

 shop, without thinking of harm, to buy food or any other goods, 

 is exposed to the temptation of drinking alcohol, which he finds 

 displayed before him. I am not, however, completely informed 

 concerning the value of the results which this plan has brought 

 forth. I have no data for comparing the statistics of the time 

 before the measure was adopted and those following it, and the 

 only statistics I have relate to the proportion of the victims of 



