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The Fiddlers; Drink in the Witness Box cover

The Fiddlers; Drink in the Witness Box

Chapter 5: The War-Work of the Food Destroyers
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About This Book

A polemical wartime pamphlet argues that the sale and manufacture of alcoholic drink actively harmed the national war effort by diverting foodstuffs, wasting shipping, and weakening manpower and charity. It assembles parliamentary returns, press examples, and statistics to accuse the trade and government of failing to restrain consumption, contrasts stricter prohibition measures adopted elsewhere, and criticizes policy as inconsistent and inadequate. The text urges stricter controls or prohibition on drink as necessary to conserve food, speed victory, and uphold public duty.

The War-Work of the Food Destroyers

There are hundreds of great Food Destructors in the United Kingdom. The man-power at their service, spread over our breweries and distilleries, numbers hundreds of thousands of men; their capital is hundreds of millions. This is a summary of the work they did in the first 1,000 days of the war:

They sacrificed 4,400,000 tons of grain and 340,000 tons of sugar, enough to ration the whole United Kingdom with bread for 43 weeks and sugar for 33 weeks.

They took from every kitchen cupboard in the land 600 pounds of bread and 76 pounds of sugar.

They destroyed bread and sugar to last every child under fifteen for every day of the war.

They took from our people over £512,000,000.

They used up labour and transport for lifting over 50,000,000 tons. By sea they used up 60 ships of 5,000 tons; by rail their raw materials and the finished products would make up a train long enough to reach nearly round the world.