Period 



1850 



Gallons 

 4.08 



1860 



6.43 



1870 



7.70 



1871-80 



8.79 



1881-90 



13.21 



1891 



16.72 



1892 



17.13 



1893 



18.20 



1894 



16.98 



1895 



16.57 



1896 



17.12 



1897 



1898 



16.50 



17.37 



2 5 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Per Capita Consumption op all Wines and Liquors 



Period Gallons 



1899 16.82 



1900 17.76 



1901 17.65 



1902 19.14 



1903 19.57 



1904 19.87 



1905 19.85 



1906 21.55 



1907 22.79 



1908 22.22 



1909 21.06 



1910 21.86 



1911 22.79 



These figures should not be interpreted as showing the failure of 

 the various means used for the limitation of the sale of intoxicating 

 drinks. There is every reason for believing that these means are in a 

 high degree effective and that without them the increase in the use of 

 alcohol would have been much greater than it has been. The true 

 meaning of the figures is, rather, to show the increasing force of this 

 desire in modern society. 



There are, of course, other great human desires besides the desire 

 for alcohol, but in respect to these other desires it seems less difficult 

 to explain the cause. It is not difficult to explain the desire for bread, 

 nor the keen interest in all matters relating to the means of acquiring 

 it. Problems of labor and capital, problems of high prices, problems 

 of production and distribution of food, relate more or less directly to 

 the bread question and become thus wholly intelligible, because bread is 

 necessary to life. Neither is it difficult to understand another pro- 

 found human desire, which involves serious social problems, the desire 

 of the sexes for each other. Difficult as these social problems may be, 

 the psychologist's part presents here less difficulty, for the place of this 

 great passion in human economy is clear. 



The desire for alcohol approaches the above desires as regards both 

 its force and its universality, but its place in human economy is not 

 thus far clear. 



The following familiar statistics are not cited in this case to show 

 the extent of " human depravity," nor to point out an " evil " to be 

 suppressed, but rather to indicate the force of a human desire whose 

 cause we seek to determine. 



The people of the United States are now consuming annually about 

 2,000 million gallons of malt liquors, nearly 64 million gallons of wine 

 and more than 138 million gallons of distilled liquors. In Germany 

 the per capita consumption of distilled liquors is about the same as in 

 this country, while their consumption of malt liquors is, per capita, 

 about one third larger than ours and of wine about twice as large. 



