THE RIGHT HON. J. CHAMBERLAIN ON THE DRINK PROBLEM.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 102, 27 October 1900, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE RIGHT HON. J. CHAMBERLAIN ON THE DRINK PROBLEM.

The Right Hon. J. Chambedain, M.P. —"No statistics are needed to assure you, that temperance reform lies at tho bottom of all further political, social, and' religious progress. Drink is the curse of tha country 1 It ruins the fortunes, it injures the health, it destroys, the lives of one in twenty or our population and anything which can be done to diminish this terrible sacrifice of human life and human happiness, is wel] worthy of all the attention and study that we can' give it. . . Th«i agitation will go on without us if not with us. If we are sfleoit, the very stones would, cry out ! If there is in the whole, of this drink business any single encouraging feature, it \% to be found in the growing impatience of the people at the burden which they axe fpi'ced to bear, and their growing indignation and sense of the shame and disgrace which it im- j poses upon them. ... If I could • destroy to-morrow the desire for strong drink* in th.9 people of England 1 , what changes should we-se&! We should see our taxes reduced by millions sterling. We should see our gaols and workhouses empty. We should sco mere lives saved in twelve months than are consumed in acentury of bitter and' savage war."