THE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY. PART II. 23 
observations lead me to believe that ‘tuba fiends’ are, next to morphine 
fiends, the most degenerate specimens of humanity I have ever seen.” 
These are a few of the statements made by various persons 
and from reports to be found upon the question, and many more 
could be quoted. It seems to us that the most reasonable conclu- 
sion to be deduced from the evidence is that drinking of undis- 
tilled beverages is carried to excess in some parts of the Islands, 
distilled beverages in others, and again there are localities where 
excesses are to be encountered only on rare occasions. 
In some parts of the Islands not only feast days and holidays 
are largely given over to drinking, but a certain proportion of 
the natives in their regular routine demand a certain amount of 
alcoholic stimulant. Such a person likes to fortify himself with 
a glass of vino before following the carabao drawing the primitive 
plow through the mud of the paddy, and later while working at 
the harvest and while engaged in the laborious work of hemp 
stripping. In some localities large quantities of distilled spirits 
are consumed regularly with an extra allowance on holidays and 
during fiestas. The reader must not gain the impression that a 
general condition of excessive drinking prevails throughout the 
Islands, for this is not the case. Some allowance, we believe, 
must be made for the exaggeration of travelers, whose observa- 
tions have been somewhat superficial and restricted. The per 
capita consumption of distilled liquors is very small; for 1910, 
1.36 liters, and for 1911, 1.382, but in some localities the indul- 
gence is excessive and the effects are evil. The consumption is 
constantly increasing.1? No estimates can be made of the quan- 
tities of fermented but not distilled beverages manufactured and 
consumed. ; 
The production of alcohol since the enactment of the present 
internal revenue law to the end of the fiscal year 1910 was given 
in Part I, Table III, of this article. The data for the past year, 
which have just been made available, can be found in the Seventh 
Annual Report of the Collector of Internal Revenue. They show 
very little change from 1910, except that the amount of denatured 
*“The Collector of Internal Revenue states, Seventh Annual Report 
(1911), 10: “The total output from the registered distilleries during the 
year was 10,471,299 proof liters, about 1 per cent less than during the 
fiscal year 1910, and about 9 per cent more than during the fiscal year 1909. 
The decrease, as compared with the fiscal year 1910 output, is due to the 
abnormal removals from distilleries in anticipation of the increase in the 
tax rate which became effective during the fiscal year 1910.” Figures so 
far available for 1912 show that the industry is undergoing a healthy 
increase. 
