The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 3, 1904, Page 11

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. ¢ E is a consensus of opin- n which t mind carries c i€ while there s s.is 5 th's s ar: . " . s Sersins ar but Morc y th with any- nage between epti ons will also Gallons per head per annum. Great Britain does not obtain the first e either among beer or spirit drink- nations, while her consumption of e is very far below that of the wine oducing nations of the Continent. As beer drinkers Britain ranks sec- Belgium being easily first with four gallons per head. It is, ever, worthy of remark that some ions of the German Empire far ex- even this figure—in Bavaria,for in- stance, the consumption of beer has been in recent ars as high as fifty- four gallons per head. Holland is not uded in the above table, as no rec- ppears to be published of the con- on of b This is probably THE NATIONS WHICH DRINK ~ THE MOST ALCOHOL - e considerable, if the consumption in Belgium can be relied upon as a guide. The consumption per head of spirits is one and nine-tenths gallons and of wine four gallons. The figures for Spain represent spirits and wine only; the amount of beer is not recorded, but is probably trifling. Drink in Colonies. The consumption per head in the British colopies, su far as ascertained, is as follows: Gallons per head per annum. Splrns Wine Beer. New South Wales.... 1 9.5 Victoria . . 8 2.1 12, Western Au 1 11 25. Queensland . 9 S 1L 4 .1 1 .1 8. ‘1 2 Cape Colo 2.0 ¥ Canada .1 1 35 It appears that the only colony which can compare with the European na- tions in this matter is Western Aus- tralia.. The other colonies seem to be particularly abstemious. Alcoholic beverages are regarded by most governments as a very suitable object for taxation and a fertile source of revefiue. In Great Britain 36 per cent of the total revenue is derived =~ STRIKING-FACTS ‘ABOUT STRIKING - THINGS By Leonard Youatt, M.B.PhD. from alcoholic liguors. No other ration equals her in this respect, the figures for other countries being as follows: United States, 29 per cént; France, 19 per cent; Germany, 18 per cent; Swed- en, 16 per cent; Norway, 13 per cent; Denmark, 13 per cent, and Italy, 1.8 per cent. The amount of alcohol in these bev< erages is, as is well known, a very va- riable quantity. In brandy it is from 45 to 55 per cent, in gin 50 to 57 per cent, in whisky 50 to 5 per cent and in rum 50 to 60 per cent. In the above tables the quantities of spirits are all reduced to a common standard of 50 per cent of alcohol, and the figures are strictly comparable.. Wine contains véry varying proportions of alcohol, from 6 to as much as 25 per cent. The wine which forms the bulk of what is consumed in France, “vin “ordinaire,” is cuite at the lower limit; then come claret, hock, burgundy and champagne with 7 to 12 per cent, and at the other extreme sherry and port with 15 to 25 per cent. Wines of this high alcoholle -of income, . France .. strength are, however, only produced - by the addition of spirits to the pure article. The proportion of alcohol in beer and ale is lower than in wine and is less variable. The light Continental beer (lager beer) ccntains about 3% per cent, English beer from 41 to 7 per cent. In order to estimafe the quantity of pure alcohd! consumed by the inhabi- tants of various nat an attempt has been made ic @ ate the amourit contained in spirits, wine and beer which they dri This estimate, of matel cor- Approx loes D truth course, can only I rect, but probably stantially fromw in the following t abl? a spirits ¢ 2in 50 per c¢ of a this, as has been stated exactly cor- rect, wine r r 5 per cent. 1 1 s chosen foi the reasom mentioned above In speaking about e ne msumed in France. v ‘that this low estimate A8 i onsumption of alcohol fr ind Italy to be up- derstated. The | £ 5 per cent for beer is D mark. but in the cas haps a litt'e too hig a little too low Accepting the alcohol per hes amount of 2, the 1s fol'ows . Gals, Great B 37 47 2.71 & 230 Belginm, ce ap- pear to be c n their consumption o > estimate as to the str sh and Ger- man beer may, correct, put Great Britain in the thi rmany in the fourth, but s in all proba- bility not a great difference betweeri them. The figures for the consumption of alcohol per head are illustrated by the black columme.in the secohd dia- gram. Some fe rs ago the late Mr. Mul- hall arrived at an estimate of the prob- able avérage annual income of the in- habitants of cértain European coun= tries. Such an estimate can necessarily be only approximate, and he only used it for purposes of comparison. It is in- teresting to compare the consumption of alcohol per head with this estimate which comparison is made in the same diagram, where the blank columns represent income. It will be seen there is a rough correspondence between the two, the most notable ex- ‘ceptions being in the cases of Norway and Sweden, “where the proportion of alcohol consumed to income is low in comparison with the other countries - mentioned. Mr. Mulhall's figures are as foilows: - _Per| head| Great Hrlt:\in Germany . Russia Italy .. FAT PICRINGS OF DUBLEN CASTLE RULE IN IRELAND -~ OTHING is more Eignificant of the inaugu tween Great A than the almost universal esteem in 2 resent Lord Lieutenant of Dudley—is held. Out of of ed nobodies mber made themselves popu- Irish masses. Most of ake a ripple on the sur- r a short time h official life in mp and dis- They gave d military ddresses be- in which hand those wh lar with. the them did not m they tried show how the country was progressing, while history shows it was, at the timé, on the t gan slide. Of a truth they neither k nor cared & brass fa g about the economic or soclidl conditions of the country. Their knowledge of the Irish peasant was the gross caricature of the London stage, whom Lord Salisbury p t in the same C with the Hottentot after Viceroy went to Ire notion th he was the he lish garrison in a hostile cc stayed-in Dublin Castle and never took e survey of the country they were com- missioned ‘to govern. They were sur- rounded by < yned, prejudiced officialg and I 1 nothing about the people or the country except what was hrought to their in réports. They allowed themsel be swathed lke mummies in red tape too indolent or ifferent to ide the old-time soft environ- nd then wondered why their ad stration was a failure. Having pocketed their $100,000 a year and al- they doffed their vice regal and disappeared. The British of government in Ircland af- at pickings or einecures for officeseekers who “are of the brand. in politics and- religion. and Papists were under Turncoats and politicians it -back on their pledges to their constituents were richly rewarded. The salaries paid to Irish offic would make & Tammany chief’s mouth water. They can afford ‘to live like princes in & land which was truthfully described % few years ago as the “most distress- ful country ever.you have seen.” The old system i8 doomed, however, and the official vampires must go. The British statesman, Joe Chamber- lain, twenty years ago, well described the condition of affairs then existing in lowances robes Ireland. “The system,” said he, “by w h this free nation attempts to rule sister country is as ecnpletely cen- i and bureaucratic as that with h Russia governs Poland or as that ich prevalled in Venice under the Austrian rule. An Irishman at this moment cannot move a step, he cannot lift a finger in any parochial, municipal or educational work without being con- fronted with, interfered with, controlled by an English official, appointed by a forelgn Government and without a shade or shadow of representative au- thority. I say the time has come to reform altogether the absurd and fir- ritating anachronism which is known as Dublin Castle.” Since these words were spoken the wings of this “an- achronism” have been ciipped by the local government act, which gives the people the right to elect their county officers, but the administration of many important departments of the Govern- Castle. As no great statesman—be he Tory or Liberal—can now defend the system, another one more democratic and up-to-date must soon be found. Spain sent her governors general and swarms of minor officials to fatten on the Cubans and Filipinos and continued the system until the worms upon which she trampled turned and stung her. As John Bright well said, “If Ireland could shift her moorings 2000 miles to the westward she would soon be under the aegis of the Stars and Stripe«.” Lord Mulgrave, who was appointed Lord Lieutenant in 1835, was deservedly pop- ular. Daniel O’Connell said of him “He is filling the office of King's r(‘x)-v resentative in a manner in which Irish Chief Governor never before.” Lord Carnarvon, who was appointed to the same office in 1885 by Premier Salisbury, was a statesman of great ability and world-wide experiecnce. He an filled it By J. J. Tobin T tion for the Irish difficuity was home rule, and in consequence entered into some kind of compact with Parnell re- garding the Government =upport of a bill granting legislative independence to Ireland. The Cabinet did not sup- port his lordship and the scheme went by the board. He was succrcded by Lord Aberdeen, one of Gladstone's most Jintimate friends, who became very pop- ular with the masses in cousequence of his avowed sympathy with their national aspirations and his zealous ef- forts to promote their industrial inter- ests. The Countess, his wife, heartily co-operated with him and her labors bore great fruit in the patronage and support given to certain lines ¢f manu- facture which formerly flourished in Ireland. Irish poplins, Irish lace, Irish embroideries found ready sale among and Lady Aberdeen visited San Fran- cisco about fifteen years ago they were presented with an address of welcome at the Palace Hotel by representatives of our Irish-American citizens. Subse- quently as Governor General of Canada he won his way to the hearts of all the “Canucks” except the incorrigible Orangemen, who, like the Bourbons of Frané®e, can neither learn nor forget. Lord Aberdeen was a Liberal. The present Lord Lieutenant of Ireland is a Tory. With prcbably the exception of Lord Carnarvon, the Tory Irish Gov- ernors regarded the masses—the mere Irish—as not worthy of their notice. As a prominent Irish member of Par- liament put it, “They hated us and we hated them in return.” Under the new departure the Tories, to quote a say- ing of Disraeli, “found the Liberals in bathing and stole their clothes.” 1In corsequence the name of Tory no long- er conjures up tales of grinding land- lord ovpression, of coercion laws and tice and kindness and willingness to make amends for the past now soften and mellow and make palatable the old-time hateful party cognomen. When King Edward and Queen Alex- andra visited Ireland recently the Lord Lieutenant, Earl Dudley, piloted them around the -country. He is only 36 years of age and comes of a very old English noble stock, but there is noth- ing of the cad or snob about him, al- though he is a Tory. When the offi- clals of Dublin Castle tried their old game of shutting him up in their pre- serves he resisted, and sald: “I am going among the people and will find I am goins out things for myself. through Ireland on my automobile.” “Alone?” cried the officials. “It is mad- ness, my lord; you will be assassi- nated. “No, not alone; Lady Dudley is going with me.” The automobile trip was a triumphant success. Often they would stop at a peasant’'s cot- tage, ask for a glass of milk and chat ment is still in the hands of Dublin became convinced that the cnly solu- the ladies of high degree. When Lord ruthless extermination. Aets of jus- .with the family. They did not go to b —p HISTORIC SCENES IN THE BRITHSH HOUSE OF COMMONS 1 - et s HE first time I chanced to be present when the ordinarily still waters of the House of Com- . mons were broken up by sudden storm, happened about thirty-one years ago. Mr. Gladstone was in the course of his first premiership, and the historic Parliament elected in 1868 was slowly dying. On what should have been a quiet Tuesday sitting Sir Charles Dilke rose to move for an in- quiry into the civil list, the extrava- gance of which he had a short time earlier denounced at a public meeting. Sir Charles, standing at the corfier seat of the front bench below the gangway, since occupied by him under varied crcumstances, got along well enough. He at least managed to make himself heard. But what he sald got the back up of a loyal mae jority, and when Mr. Auberon Her- bert rose to second the motion he was greeted with pennslent cries of ‘“vide, ‘vide, 'vide.” He had, however. come to stay, and meant to deliver ‘a carefully prepared speech. As he stood and shouted the beginning of sentences, the crowded house, now in for a lark, persistently bellowed. This was the occasion when, as was written at the time, the late Cavendish Bentinck “went out be- hind the Speaker’s chair and crowed thrice.” Certainly cock crowing was added to other more familiar parlia- mentary observations. After the row had continued some ten minutes, a member jealous of the. reputation of the House, spied strangers. The gal- leries were cleared, and when they were reopened it was announced that Sir Charles Dilke's motion had been negatived by 276 votes to 2. Three years-later, having succeeded to the Premiership, Mr. Disraeli found himself confronted with a scene even more dramatic than that which distressed Mr. Gladstone in 1872. August was at hand, and the usual statement of bills thrown over- board was made. Among them was the merchant shipping bill, in charge of Mr. Plimsoll. In those days it was open to an aggrieved member to dis- lodge ordered business and arbitra- rily occupy the time of the House by moving the adjournment. Mr. Plim- soll avalled himself of this privilege, beseeching the Premier, in a voice choked with emotion, not to consign some thousands of men to death. The merchant shipping bill was designed to check the practices of a class of men whom Mr. Plimsoll described as “ship knackers,” who bought at a low price unworthy ships, insured them, sent them to sea, and when they foun- dered, as they usually did, pocketed the spoil. Mr. Plimsoll's excited de- meanor, his scarcely veiled accusation of a particular member, wrought the House to a high pitch of excitement. The Speaker repeatedly calling him to order, Mr. Pl'msoll darted forward, waving aloft a plece of paper, and standing in the middle of the floor he “Toby M. P.” of Punch. | i | 3 gave notice of intention to ask the president of the Board of Trade whether certain ships, the names of which he read from the sheet of paper he held in his hand, “are owned by — , and whether that gentleman, — ——1s a member of this House.” Amid the uproar Mr. Plimsoll's voice was heard shrieking, “I am deter- mined to unmask the villains who sent these men to their graves.” The Pre- mier, showing disposition to rise and say a few words, Mr. Plimsoll, still standing in the middle of the floor, shook his first at the right honorable gentleman, and said something that was drowned in the uproar. The member for Derby was suspended. But before the session was terminated the merchant shippfng bill was added to the statute book, and to-day the load line skims over every sea on which a British vessel floats. In the session of 1878, at the full tide of what was at the time known as jingoism, the House of Commons was one February night stirred to its profoundest depths. The Government had asked for a vote of credit for six millions, avowedly a menace to Rus- sia, at the time at odds with Turkey. Mr. Foster, on behalf of the front op- position bench moved an amendment equivalent to refusing the supply. On the 7th of February the House met amid rumors that the Russians had occupied Constantinople. Questioned by Lord Hartington, nominally leading the opposition, with Mr. Gladstone fuming on his flank, Sir Stafford Northcote, leader of the House, read a telegram just received from Mr. Lay- ard, British Minister at Constantino- ple, stating that the Russians were pushing on to Constantinople, and had compelled the Turks to evacuate important sdefenses. The House recognized in this announce- ment the sound of the war trumpet. Mr. Foster recognizing that the aspect of affairs in the East was one of pro- found gravity, asked leave to with- draw his amendmeng While conver- sation was goir~ forward a letter was passed along the treasury bench till it reached the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Profound silence fell on the excited House as Sir Staf- ford rose. In faltering tones he said he had received from the Embassador of Russia official intimation that there was not a word of truth in the state- ment of which Mr. Layard had made himself the communicant. The state of tension relaxed, members fell into a state of merriment, not wholly free from suspicion of hysteria. The first session of Parliamént elected In 1380 was marked by a series of unexpected entrances and tumultuous exits by Mr. Bradlaugh. Banquo wasa’t In it with the member from Northampton. In the course of a month or so members grew quite accustomed to see him enter, walk swittly down the foor, take his seat, to be presently haled forth. The suspension of thirty-seven Irish members. ‘“What! all my pretty chickens and their dam at one fell swoop?” was the climax of obstruc- tion against the earliest peace preser- vation act. Mr. Dillon began it. The business of the day was the moving of a new batch of standing orders de- signed to clip the wings of obstruction. Mr. Gladstone rising to move the first resolution found himself faced by Mr. Dillon, who refused to resume his seat when called upon by the Speaker. He was forthwith named, and ordered to withdraw. This he refused to do un- til a posse of messengers under tom- mand of the sergeant-at-arms ap- proached. Thereupon he surrendered. On his withdrawal Mr. Parnell moved that Mr. Gladstone be not heard. A scene of indescribable tumult fol- lowed. Mr. Parnell was named, or- dered to withdraw and, respectfully refusing, the reserves were again called out. Four venerable messen- gers, whose united ages probably was not a day less than 250.years, advanc- ing to the charge, the Irish leader sur- rendered at discretjon. The farce was carried out till the whole thirty-seven were expelled, a process which occu- pled an appreciable period of the sit- ting. These were the good old days, of which we see no more, under the pro- saic operation of the latest batch of standing orders. b Copyright in the United States of Amer- ica by D. T. Plerce. 3 the big country houses, the seat of this or that nobleman, but put up at coun- try inns and partook of the humble fare providéd. Lord Dudley would drink ‘an Irish whisky punch at the parochial residence and chat with the priest about the condition of affairs in the surrounding country. ‘When he re- turned to Dublin he hads made hosts of friends everywhere and there was hardly a phase of Irish life with which he was unfamiliar. He is now the own- er of a beautiful country home at Boyle, almost in the heart of Ireland, and there dispenses hospitality- of ° “cead mille faltha” proportions. It is not uncommon to see Lord and Lady Dudley in the streets of Dublin arm in arm, without police or miNtary es- cort, like ordinary plain people, shop- ping or visiting bazaars and places where they can do some practical good. When the Wyndham tand bill was un- der discussion " in Parliament, Lord Dudley, who manifested great interest in its passage, would be frequently ob- served pressing his views on members and urging them to support the meas- ure. Now and then it has been re- ported Lord Dudley could be seen in the dining-room of thé House of Com- mons clinking glasses with John Red- mond, the leader of the Irish party, and other prominent Nationalists. Lord Dudley owes much of his success to his wife. She is a beautiful woman and fills also the requirement of Selo- mon, the “beauty of the king’s daugh- ter is from within.” She is the young- est daughter of Charles Gurney, the great Quaker banker. Like her pre- decessor in the viceregal residence. Lady Aberdeen, she believes in cor- dially co-operating with her husband in making his administration popular and successful. “It is not right,” said Lady Dudley, “that we should draw large revenues from the poor and never trouble ourselves about how they live and how they get the money which they pay us.” She has spent a great deal of time and money helping chil- dren’s hospitals and orphanages. . She has given great financial aid to differ- ent lines of industry inaugurated In many poor country districts by Sir Horace Plunkett. The big four who are now “doing things” in Ireland—the men who are piloting the old battered ship into calm waters—are the Viceroy Lord Dudley, Chief Secretary George Wyndham, Under Secretary Sir An- thony MacDonnell and Sir Horace Plunkett. There can be no question of their sincerity and disinterestedness. Wyndhafh has twp great measures to bring before Parliament when it con- venes, the Irish 1-Yorers’ act and the Catholic university act. They aré des- tined to be the crowning of his efforts in behalf of Ireland, and the big four will celebrate the event by joining in the pepular refrain (amended), “God has saved Ireland.”