New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-10-17

II II IS necessary 70 have as people at present seem O.
think family grocery every there surely
is need that these establishments should deal in IL
quor and pedde out poison at three cents dose If the
suffs they sold the genuine liquors whose names
they bear the case would be bad enough but they
almost universally, the most villanous and filthy com
pounds often containing active and deadly poison
The brandy sold here is nothing but alcohol tnctured
and favored with various noxious ingredients to give
il color and havor-the gin ratafa and whisky
the rum is the feriest New England sweetened and
corrupted-and as has been proved by abundant
periments the beer and other malt liquors are com
posed of the most deeterious and dis gushing substances
Armed with such fatal weapons these the Liquor Gro
Gerry squats Itself like venomous toad upon the cor.
ner Of block Of miserable poormens dwellings,
crowded and overrunning with families, deprived Of air
and wholesome sunshine, and disseminates its venom
on all around. 1t is wonder that the neighoorhood
grows hiher and hlther and ts inhabitants more and
more besotted and depraved. One after another the
men and women become drunkards, their neglected
and abandoned children grow up thieves and prostitutes
and the whole vicinity reeks with crime and every
cleanness But the proprietor of the Liquor Grocery
wakes fat and thrifty One after another the wretched
novels of his psuper customers stripped OF iurni
ture ard beds and their inmates of clothes while
all comes to his counter in exchange for rum ind s
transmitted into silver and golden profits. By and by
he begins TO expand his ideas and his operatonsadds
note shaving and bllbroking in a small wsy-pcrhaps
advances thirty per cent gold watches handed In by
seedy looking customers, without asking any questions
a. to how they by them-and eventually swes ou'
into the capitalist and the hnancier makes his appear
ance one fine day in Wall street among the spectators
in the fances while his wife and daughters flare out in
frenew mansion Above Blocker take front sofa
.ha and ecf IN no of
aristocracy. As to his customers-from whose mad
ness he anassed his fortune-they have not Jared
well Some are in the Hospital in the Alnshouse
and others in the Penitenary State Prisonwhile
few Of the more fortunate among them are in their
graves.
But we have not ye, completed description of the
Liquor Groceries As as the shutters are closed
at night upon the scenes we have been depicting, an
other class of operations commences. The csbman'
the private groom the colored steward the incipient
pickpocket the bhoy, drop in after another and
soon little knot is formed round the counter.
pack of greasy cards is producedthe sxpences tnke
the eyes OF the host and banker gsen with the shine
of his anticipated gains game OF sixpenny vigntetu
or penny poker commences, and every heart is sb
sorbed in the one worst most hendsh passion Of the
human soul Thus all night long the game Is kept up
modified now and then by choice swig At the pc
ney "-sl at the expense of the benevolent landlord
unless some member Of the party gets unusually
booty or excited with his losses and breaks up the
concern in a grand row. Then enter the Police OH
GERS Walk in, gentlemen, and take drink and the
offenders are dragged of to the Tombs and duly
ported against in the morning by the orderloving OH
GERS while the landlord sweeps of the money with
chuckle and wink-sands his sugar, waters his rum
and moistens his tobacco-snd after a short prayer,
18Th
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams j.
The Liquor Grocery would not be complete, in It's
debasng and demoralizing over, without the pres
ence and assistance OF those wreched female oucAsts
whose breath is pollution and whose touch leprosy
Accordingly as night sets in, the groceries in
certain quarters of the City begin to be haunted by
I these wreiched beings, who fortiiy themselves with
alcohol for their nightly occupation. It Is difficult to
imagine a more hesrtching spectacle than the int
rior OF one Of these dark and dngy establishments
with a group of gorgeously dressed women drinking
and blaspheming round the When you re-
member what an angel Of purity and goodness Womsn
ought TO be- and then behold the before you the
power OF contrast is exhsusted-Heayen and Hell are
as il were spread out to view.
There are vet other evils connected with these petty
groceries which well deserve attention. The articles
they sell are for the part inferior, and often posi
lively unwhoesome. and the manner Of retailing them
ont by the threecents worth makes them the
sumer two three four times as much as the fair
market price. and often great deal more-to say
nothing OF what sticks 10 the measure or the scale
nor Of the false weights and measures used many
/ of these establishments The swindle thus prscuced
upon the poor man is enormous and incredible. His
/ earnings. mesger they are, would be more than
doubled IN effect if he could buy ais groceries and
D and of
fri,terns sway his money for sixpenees worth Of but
ter half pints OF messses and tenpenny slices OF ham
The grocery keeper for instance buys butter OF an IN
eror quality At II. IA cents per pound and retsi'
il Al two shillinSs For half pound be generally man
ace. bv an ingenious use Of and five cen, pieces
and cents 70 get thirteen for quarter seven cents
while he boldly puts on the two ounce weight with
hole in the bot.om) whenever bsre-egged Little girl
csu for four cents worth OF butter thus making the
mound bring him thrtytvo cents. be buys barrel OF
| common New. Orleans uelasses az twenty ave cents
per gallon and retsils 1t TO his customers 81 sSpenee
the pint-of which onesixth sticks 70 the measure
,hu. bringing the price the consumer to halt dol
lar or seventy.fve cents per gallon In liquors II 10
the came Whisky costs the grocer thirty cents
~, Gallon and he reduces il ten or fifteen per cen,
/ for the sake Of temperance. lie then reiais II Il
.lxpcpce per half pint or dollar per gallon HIS
/ brandy costs aim, including the expense OF color
ing and poisoning from thirty i've to forty cents per
gallon and he sells II at two dollars or IN case Of
a customer who wants something very choice he
draws II from another ossk Of the same KIND CANS IL
Real Old Cognac Of .OO" and unblushingly receives
three dollars and half per gallon for the vhainoa.
stuff And this system carried through almost every
article in the shop In is tub OF stale as
rlery milk ready TO eurdle with the losthsome dis
eases with which every particle is rife and which
sold At Eve cents per quart genuine Orange Coun
" in proof Of which reg hangs GU, At tho door
with . clunsily painted COW done in oriekdu'' ~