Page images
PDF
EPUB

misconduct, whether by intoxication or otherwise, was of an infinitesimal character.

Where investigations have been made as in Washington concerning the element of personal fault, it appears that a large majority in Washington, 69 per cent. of all causes, are ascribed to risks of trade and not to personal fault.

Wisconsin:-Results similar to those mentioned above are reported by the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin. In only five out of 3,571 cases was there any application by employers for a court review in the award by the Industrial Commission. In the contested cases from September, 1911, to June 30, 1913, there was intoxication charged as a cause of injury in but one of sixty-two contested cases. During 1914, in thirty-six cases coming under review, the issue of intoxication was not raised in a single instance.

New Jersey:-The Workmen's Compensation Law allows compensation "providing the employee was not guilty of negligence," and it appears that all the cases reported during the year ending October, 1913, were compensated, and that 93 per cent. were settled without reference to a court. It would, therefore, appear that the personal fault element does not enter largely into the case.

California: In attempting to account for the different causes of industrial accidents there is not any special reference to drink as a cause of injury.

Pennsylvania:-The Pennsylvania Accident Commission recently reported that 20 per cent. of all factory accidents are primarily due to the negligence of the employer; that 25 per cent. are chiefly due to the negligence of the injured man himself. In explaining the element of personal negligence it says: "Fruitful cause of accidents recognized by every authority on the subject is overwork; that is, excessive hours of labor. Many accidents. which in statistical tables are ascribed to the negligence of the workman himself are in reality entirely due to overwork."

Missouri:-The Commission, speaking about the "Distribution of Fault," says that "fault on the part of the workman-carelessness, disregard of instructions, drunkenness, etc., is responsible for 22.7 per cent. of the accidents." It is to be regretted that the different factors included in this 22.7 per cent. of causes were not itemized separately.

Minnesota-Mr. Lescohier, Expert of the Minnesota Bureau of Labor, in assigning causes of accidents finds that "only 8 per cent.

are ascribed wholly to the fault of the workmen." He finds that 60 per cent. are due to inherent dangers.

Fatalities in Mines, and Causes:-From 1899-1912 there were according to the Statistical Abstracts of the United States, more than 30,000 fatalities in coal mines. According to the tabulations of the causes of accidents, that of intoxication does not enter the case at all.

Evidence of this sort could be added to almost indefinitely. Enough has been given to show that the loose statements in regard to the part played by drink as a factor in industrial accidents is without foundation. It is deplorable that it should be so generally made, because it obscures the facts in regard to the real causes and makes it increasingly difficult to apply the proper remedies.

THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE LIQUOR INDUSTRY

What would be the economic consequences if at one stroke the entire liquor industry of the United States were wiped out? 'Certain unreasoning minds would welcome it as signifying the end of all evil. But persons with a larger view, both of social and economic conditions, cannot be quite so offhand. When confronted by the momentous issue whether the liquor traffic should be abolished, they cannot simply assume that the abuse of drink and its dire results would cease when the manufacture and sale of intoxicants becomes illegal. No one can demonstrate that this would happen. On the other hand, so far as can be reasoned from experience gathered through generations of experiments backed by all the force there is in law, the abolition of the legalized traffic would mean its replacement by an unregulated manufacture and sale so extensive and of such a character as not only to exclude the possibility of diminishing the actual drink evil but certain to intensify its worst forms. No less surely would there follow a period of lawlessness, a defiance and circumvention of authority, that would undermine the basis of law and order, and thus simply heap new evils upon the old.

This is one side of the picture. The other is one of ruin and waste. Entirely aside from the question of the morality of destroying property values that from time immemorial have been protected by law, and from which governments, local, State and national, have derived a sustenance, there is a question of the economic disturbance that would reach from one end of the country to the other, if the liquor industry suddenly were made to cease. The general factors in this disturbance are easily accounted for. Among them are the enormous capital invested in the industry, the tremendous disbursements for material, taxes, rents, supplies, wages, etc., the proceeds of which enter into the direct support of millions of inhabitants, help bear immense tax burdens, national, State and local, constitute large items in agriculture, general manufacture, transportation, etc. Indeed, so manifold are the economic ramifications of the industry that the consequences of its annihilation would be felt everywhere and by everyone.

Against all this must not be weighed the cessation of the drink evil. Such is human nature that it would remain despite any na

tional legislation. This being so, the question before the thinking man is how the big thing we call the liquor industry may be so regulated that the evils incident to it shall gradually diminish until at some future time, as one may hope, they will disappear? Meanwhile, those who clamor for its abolition do not realize that its destruction would not bring us nearer their object-the cessation of intemperance-much less that while failing to do away with intemperance an economic calamity of almost incalculable dimensions would be caused. To make the latter clear is the purpose of the following study.

Let us begin with the statement of the totals involved, meaning thereby the sum of the money values which would disappear under the proposed scheme of national prohibition:

Capital Invested in the Liquor Industry...
Annual Disbursements other than for Wages...
Annual Disbursements for Wages..

$1,294,583,426.00

1,121,696,097.36 453,872,553.00

$2,870,152,076.36

The above sums are so large as to defy comprehension by the ordinary mind, but their meaning can be realized to some extent when they are dissolved into their component parts. The capital invested divides itself as follows:

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The above figures are taken from the Report of the U. S. Bureau of the Census for the year 1909, the latest available official statement. It is not probable that figures for the present year if they were at hand would disclose very material differences.

2. Capital Invested by Allied Manufactures.

and Trades

$41,179,000

To state with absolute exactness the amount of capital tied up in manufactures and trades that stand in more or less immediate relation to the liquor industry, is not possible. The figures given above have been derived from some hundreds of original returns made by manufactures and trades, but cannot by any means be re

garded as the total which would be affected. In many instances only a part of the output of manufacturers and others goes into the liquor industry, and to calculate the portion of the capital thus affected has not been possible. Meanwhile, it will easily be comprehended that there are numerous industries and trades which are more or less directly dependent upon the liquor traffic. One may instance the manufacturers of special machinery, glassware of all kinds, coopers, and a host of others furnishing supplies of various. kinds, too numerous to mention.

3. Capital Invested in the Retail Traffic

(Fixtures and Furnishings) ....... $421,601,380

Large as the last-mentioned total is, it relates solely to the fixtures and furnishings required in the retail trade. Similar items for the wholesale trade have not been considered. In this case the figures are based upon the original returns for 1913 relating to some 10,000 establishments scattered over the United States, the average from which has been applied to the entire country. There can be no question that the total is considerably under-estimated, as care has been taken to avoid using returns from a large number of the largest and costliest establishments.

Total Annual Disbursements other than

for Service

$1,121,696,097.36

There are to be considered (1) the disbursements other than for wages occurring within the different branches of the liquor industry itself. This may be stated as follows:

(1) Annual Disbursements other than for Wages

Materials

Trans

Taxes portation Other

$96,595,637 $75,440,672 $22,500,000 $77,648,156

[blocks in formation]

35,976,893

153,641,237

3,650,115

15,000,000

[blocks in formation]

In regard to materials it should be observed that the totals given are taken from the Census Report for 1909.

The total value of

« PreviousContinue »