.jpg)
The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 8
A Central Fact
A Central Fact,
of grave importance, I may be pardoned for still further verifying it by data at hand.
Dr. Edward Young, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department at Washington, in reply to a call for information; after remarking upon the "exaggeration of receipts of internal revenue from sales of merchandise, including liquors," and saying by way of parenthesis, "temperance, in common with almost every good work, has suffered from the intemperate zeal of its advocates, and from no cause to a greater extent than exaggerated statements of facts," "gives the aggregate cost for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871, at $600,000,000, as follows:
| Whisky— | ||
| 60,000,000gal | @$6 retail, | $360,000,000 |
| Imported Spirits— | ||
| 2,500,000gal | @$10 retail, | 25,000,000 |
| Imported Wines— | ||
| 10,700,000gal | @$5 retail, | 58,500,000 |
| Ale, Beer and Porter— | ||
| 6,500,000bbls | @$20retall, | 183,000,000 |
| Native Brandies | 81,600,000 | |
| Total | $600,000,000 | |
This divided among the 146,000 retail dealers reported for that year, would give an average of between $4,000 and $5,000; showing the previous estimate to be substantially right. By such triple verification therefore, by the consumption of liquor, the cost of retailing, and the amount of sales, it will be seen that Missouri, with her 5,922 licensed dram-shops, expends for alcoholic drinks the enormous sum of