Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1877 — THE FLOWING BOWL. [ARTICLE]

THE FLOWING BOWL.

Some Facts in Regard to the Liquor Traffic. In the annual report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue are some interesting facts for the consideration of social reformers and political economists. In the State of Maine there are no distilleries or rectifying establishments, but four breweries, six wholesale liquor dealers, and only 402 saloons. In the State of Kentucky, which is about equal in population, there are 764 distifleries, 54 rectifying establishments, 37 breweries, 240 wholesale liquor dealers, and 4,284 saloons. In Vermont there are only 2 breweries, 1 wholesale liquor dealer, and only 433 saloons. New Hampshire has 2 distilleries, 12 wholesale liquor dealers, and 930 saloons; while little Rhode Island has 42 wholesale liquor dealers and 1,270 saloons. The following table will show the number in some of the other States, in the order of magnitude of the traffic :

i i i STATES. » » 3 •§■ ~ | I f Hi f New York 11l | 379 74123,854 Pennsylvania 140 381 483 16,105 Ohio 1061 218 397 14,248 Illinois 75 148 247 10,548 California 401 182 269 8,408 Missouri 64 94 226 6,369 Massachusetts 39 36 251 5.386 New Jersey 158 59 40 5,518 Indiana 120 97 104 6,006 Michigan 1 153 80 4,696 Wisconsin 9 266 81 4i477 Maryland 32 77 176 3,320 Kentucky 725 37 240 4,224 lowa 24 134 70 3,691 Louisiana 1 12 144 3,280 Texas 12 42; 118 2,960 Tennessee 475 2 127 2,853 Virginia 616 71 49 2,578 Minnesota 117 34 2,044 Georgia 300 3 80 2,028 Connecticut 189 29 1 58 2,495 North Carolina 1,026 | 37 1,884 District of Columbia j 15' 17 1,105

The above are the States which show the greatest number of saloons, wholesale liquor dealers and breweries. These statistics are compiled from the number of licenses issued by the Government, and, of course, do not include the thousands of places where liquor is sold illegitimately. The total number of licensed saloons or drinking places in the United States for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, was 164,598, or, calculating from a population of 45,000,000, one for every 280 persons. The total number of wholesale liquor dealers is 4,604; brewers, 2,758 ; rectifiers, 1,130; distillers, 4,992. In the District of Columbia there are more saloons than there in Colorado, Dakota, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington Territory, West Virginia, or Wyoming. There are nearly three times as many saloon-keepers in the District of Columbia as in two-thirds of the States and Territories named.