Drink in Perspective
Alcohol and the Nation. A contribution to the study of the liquor problem in the United Kingdom from 1800 to 1935. By DURING the last war a Central Liquor Control Board was set up, drastic restrictions on the sale and manufacture of liquor were imposed, and in certain areas the Board took over directly the manufacture and distribution of liquor.
In 1921 Parliament gave permanent effect to two war measures—namely, the system of permitted hours for the sale of liquors and the State ownership in the Carlisle, Gretna and Cromarty Firth areas. Since then successive Governments have avoided tackling this thorny subject, despite the far- reaching recommendations of a Royal Commission. The present war has not given birth to a Liquor Control Board. Has, then, the liquor trade ceased to be a problem in peace or war?
There is no subject relating to which the wells of truth have been more thoroughly muddied by violent partisans. Figures have been manipulated, quotations dragged from their con- text, and every book on the subject is suspect. Some years ago the then president, a licensed victualler, put the position succinctly to the Bath Rotary Club: "Whenever I hear a member of my own trade talking on temperance I feel inclined to become a Prohibitionist, but when I hear a Temperance Reformer I always thank God I am a licensed victualler."
Dr. G. B. Wilson has produced a much-needed book present- ing impartially all the necessary figures and facts upon which to base a judgement on the liquor problem. A Howard Medallist of the Statistical Society, he is fully conscious of the dangers of statistics. "The investigator," he says, "who relies solely on statistical evidence and ignores the human factor may find himself committed to conclusions which are contrary to human experience."
The twenty-seven chapters of his book—modestly described as "Introductory Notes" to the Tables of Statistics—not merely contain all the relevant facts regarding the production, distribution, consumption and taxation of alcoholic liquors, but present them in a living form. The licensing system is clearly summarised and the social and economic factors affect- ing liquor consumption analysed. The concluding "Findings of fact" is a masterpiece of brevity and impartiality. Dr. Wilson's impartiality is the more remarkable owing to the highly controversial nature of the subject and 'his being known to hold definite opinions. Only where he discusses "Various Licensing Proposals" and possibly "The Political Influence of the Liquor Trade" can some slight bias be traced.
One of the difficulties in presenting statistics is to avoid false deductions if one set of figures is not related to others. Thus, the average expenditure per head on liquor rose by 50 per cent. between 1910 and 1935, while the quantity declined to one-third in the case of spirits and one-half in the case of beer. Again, during the same period taxation derived from the liquor trade more than doubled, but as a percentage of the total tax revenue it fell from 27 per cent. to 14 per cent., and the profits of the liquor trade were three times as great in 1937 as in 1913.
In recent years the average expenditure per head on liquor has been about £5 55., or nearly Lao per family, but there are many families which are total abstainers or occasional consumers. Dr. Wilson calculates that the average annual expenditure of adult regular consumers amounts to ki[5. As husband and wife are often both consumers, this tends to con- tIrm evidence before the Royal Commission that in two indus- ,:ial areas as much as 17s. per week is expended on liquor by large numbers of families. The broad conclusion is that while there has been a striking reduction in liquor consumption and excessive drinking, it still remains a serious social and economic problem. Can the nation afford to spend £230,000,000 a year on liquor even though 40 per cent. represents taxation? Will not children continue to suffer where a third of the family income is spent on drink?
Dr. Wilson's book is highly priced, but it is worth the money. In future no one should be allowed to write on this question
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