Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/255

Rh In England the per capita consumption of malt liquors is still greater than it is in Germany, while the consumption of wine and distilled liquors is somewhat less than in Germany or in the United States.

It is little to the point to call attention to the fact, as has often been done, that the cost of alcoholic drinks to the German people, which is about 3,000 million Marks per year, is nearly three and one quarter times the total cost of their army and navy combined; the cost should rather be compared with other "necessities" of life, such as bread and meat. The force of the desire for alcohol is better shown by noting that its cost to the German people is about the same in amount as their total expenditures for meat, fish and fowl combined, and only one eighth less than their total expenditures for bread, meal, bakery goods and potatoes combined. In this country we have no means of determining accurately the outlay of the people for alcoholic liquors, but we know that the wholesale value of the malt, vinous and distilled liquors produced annually in the United States is approximately six hundred million dollars, almost the same as the total value of our wheat crop. These figures do not take into account the value of wines and liquors imported, nor the output of illicit distilleries. Of these illicit stills, according to the last report of the U. S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 2,466 were seized and destroyed during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912.

An intense human interest clusters around everything connected with alcohol. The very names of the countless forms of beverages, as well as their odors, tastes and colors are all interesting. Language itself reflects the depth of this interest, particularly in the many synonyms for intoxication. Partridge, in his book on "The Psychology of Intemperance," gives a list of about 370 words and phrases in English expressive of intoxication, and he says that a list of more than 600 words in German has been collected. In his opinion nothing except the sexual relation has made a stronger impression upon popular language.

The praise of wine has been celebrated in the poetry of every age. Drinking songs have a peculiar charm. In the history both of religion and of medicine, alcohol has occupied a prominent place and in some form it has been regarded as a cure for every ill. Huge volumes could be filled with the legislative acts of civilized people in their efforts to regulate its sale and use. In recent years an almost incredible number of books and articles has appeared relating to some phase or other of this subject.

It is evident, then that there exists in the human mind, for some reason or other, a profound, persistent and intense desire for alcohol. The psychologist is interested in discovering the cause of this desire and the sociologist well knows that it will not be until this cause has