There are in the Reports of the Registrar-General a few statistics of special importance because they clearly point to certain kinds of moral degradation which have been increasing for the last half-century, thus coinciding with our exceptionally rapid increase in wealth; and also, as I have shown in preceding chapters, with various forms of national, economic, and social deterioration.
The first of these is the continuous increase in deaths from alcoholism, in proportion to population, since the year 1861. Most persons will be amazed to find that this is the case, because the drinking habit has certainly diminished; but when the habit becomes so powerful and lasts so long as to be the direct cause of death, we are able to see the dimensions of the most exaggerated form of
the drink evil. The following figures are taken from the successive Reports referred to:—
| Average of Years | Deaths from Alcoholism per Million living |
|---|---|
| 1861-1865 | 41.6 |
| 1866-1870 | 35.4 |
| 1871-1875 | 37.6 |
| 1876-1880 | 42.4 |
| 1881-1885 | 48.2 |
| 1886-1890 | 56.0 |
| 1891-1895 | 67.8 |
| 1896-1900 | 85.8 |
| 1901-1905 | 78.4 |
| 1906-1910 | 54.6 |
There are some irregularities, the ratio being nearly equal for the first twenty years, after which there is such a continuous large increase that from 1876-80 to 1896-1900 the mortality is doubled, but for the last ten years there has been a decrease, which in the last five years is very marked.
But a still worse and more disquieting feature is the recent large increase of mortality from alcoholism in women. Figures for the separate sexes were not
given till 1876, and the following table shows the comparison up to 1910:—
| Average of Years | Deaths from Alcoholism per Million | |
|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | |
| 1876-1880 | 60.1 | 24.0 |
| 1881-1885 | 66.6 | 31.0 |
| 1886-1890 | 73.6 | 39.2 |
| 1891-1895 | 86.6 | 50.2 |
| 1896-1900 | 106.2 | 66.6 |
| 1901-1905 | 95.0 | 63.0 |
| 1906-1910 | 66.6 | 43.6 |
These figures, however deplorable and startling in themselves, are as nothing in comparison with what they imply. Death from drink, more than in the case of any other disease, is the ultimate and rarely attained result of the vice of habitual intoxication. Men and women may greatly injure their health, ruin their families, and be disgraceful drunkards, and yet not die of it, or make any near approach to doing so. What is the proportion of those who are morally and physically injured by drink to those who kill themselves by it, is, I suppose, unknown, but I imagine that one in a thousand is, probably, too high an estimate, and that one death
among ten thousand moderate drinkers who also occasionally or frequently become intoxicated, would be nearer the mark. This would imply an increase in the consumption of alcoholic drinks, instead of which there has been an actual diminution. The fact probably is that a very large number of moderate drinkers have ceased to consume alcohol in any form, and this would account for a much larger reduction in the total than has actually occurred.