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Drunken states: temperance and French rule in Cote d'Ivoire, 1908-1916.(SECTION II ISSUES OF COLONIALISM AND RACE)

From: Journal of Social History  |  Date: 3/22/2007  |  Author: White, Owen

The fin-de-siecle French finance minister Maurice Rouvier once stated that France was "not rich enough to fight alcoholism." (1) Alcohol helped to underpin the French economy, while contributing in its own way to the cultural efflorescence of the belle epoque. But it was even more significant in providing a substantial and reliable income to cash-strapped colonial governments struggling to turn recently conquered territories into fully functioning states. In 1911, for example, ...

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