GROWTH OF ENGLISH INTEMPERANCE.
Rantoul, Ill.
Is it true that drunkenness continues to increase in England, notwithstanding the wonderful success of English and American temperance reformers and the large number of total abstainers enrolled by the Salvation Army?
A Teetotaler.
Answer.—Whatever the explanation, and whether or not it constitutes an additional argument for the temperance movement, it is declared to be a fact that the number of persons charged with drunkenness in 1881 was 1,622 more than the number charged in 1880, being 174,481 to 172,859. Furthermore, according to the excise reports there was 7½ per cent more beer drunk in 1881 than in 1880, the total quantity being 970,785,564 gallons in a population of 26,000,000, or about 31 gallons for each man, woman, and child. The increase in the population during the decade of 1871-1881 was 3,256,020, which is about 1.43 per cent a year, while the increase in drunkenness was nearly 1 per cent in the last year.
TEMPERANCE IN COMMON SCHOOLS.
Chicago, Ill.
What is the text of the bill recently proposed in the Illinois state Legislature to require teachers to give instruction in temperance? Who introduced it? What are the arguments used in its favor?
A Teacher.