Yesterday the reports of the Chambers on Separation were unusually tedious, and the _rendu compte_ ended with this phrase: “To-morrow amnesty for the _bouilleurs de cru_ and wine frauders.” This heartless Government, that flings aged and infirm _congréganists_ out of their homes without mercy for age or sex, has, at least, one tender spot in its make-up. It is for the liquor traffic in all its forms. Falsification of wine is carried on to such an extent that it is impossible for grape growers to make a living. I dilated recently in these columns on the anti-clerical propaganda by means of an immoral, irreligious Press, and the multiplication of these drink-stands to an extent which is simply appalling.[8] New York, with three millions, has 10,000 liquor saloons. Paris, with two-and-a-half millions, has 30,000 _debits de boissons_. The _Gaulois_ recently published some figures which I think are accurate. Fifty years ago 735 hectolitres of absinthe were consumed in France; to-day 133,000 are consumed. Fifty years ago 600,000 hectolitres of alcohol were consumed; to-day 2,000,000 hectolitres are consumed. The intermediate figures show that the increase has been in almost geometric progression in recent years. In 1880 the consumption had increased from 735 hectolitres of absinthe to 13,000. In 1885 it was still only 112,000. In 1905 it was 133,000. Sixty years ago there were only 10,000 demented in France. To-day there are more than 80,000. Belgium has just made a law prohibiting not only the manufacture, but all traffic in absinthe, which cannot even be transported through the country. In this admirably governed commonwealth there is, it is said, but one saloon _brasserie_ to every two thousand inhabitants. Formerly the number of drinking-places was limited and restricted in France; to-day the highest of high licence prevails. Recently I counted not less than fourteen places where alcoholic drinks were sold in a charming little seaside village of four or five hundred inhabitants. THE LAW OF SEPARATION _June 3rd, 1905._ There is still a persistent tendency in the Press to believe or make-believe that the Bill of alleged Separation, still pending in the French Chambers, means Separation as it is understood in England and the United States, and that the whole question is only one of dollars and cents, or of the suppression of the Budget of Cults. It is true that there is to be a partial repudiation of the National Debt by the suppression of the few paltry millions paid yearly to the French clergy as a slight indemnity for the vast amount of property confiscated by the Jacobins of 1792, but this is a mere detail, and would be considered but a small ransom, if, thereby, the Church could enjoy the same liberty as in the United States.