Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-12-16
About Drinking.
By HENRY WARD BEECUER.

Here are some very searching
questions, which, perhaps, may
seem more blunt than polite; but if
the other parties concerned can
stand it we can:
"Why don't you write an article
for the Ledger about rum and wills
ky and wine? Are you afraid to:
Does Bonner drink? Does Beech
err drink? Does Fanny Fern drink ?
Does everybody in New York and
Brooklyn drink? Ii not, you ought
not to be afraid to write on this
subject. But if i drinking habit is
generally prevalent, you ought to be
afraid not to sharpen your pencil
to very fine point, and pitch in
like Gustave Dore, and color up
neutral tints like Bierstadt! Wake!
o wake! my friend, your drowsy
powers!
Providence, r. l."
We think all the parties named
will stand the temperance test. But
we scarcely wonder that one should
ask, "Does everybody in New York
and Brooklyn drink" For, if one
takes account of the shops and bars
for the sale of liquor, he will be
likely to imagine that the whole
population must engage in drinking
to give encouragement to such vast
multitude Of drinking places! OF
one thing our impetuous friend from
Rhode Island may be sure, that
there is world too much drinking
going on in New York and Brook
Ign, by night and by day, and that
the stream Of liquor, broad and
deep, carries the machinery of vice
and crime like another Mcrrimac.
Young men drink because they
think it smart to ape their elders.
Clerks drink at lunch because they
see their employers do it. Their
employers do it because, in the Sc
we're competitions of business, they
are attempting to do twenty-four
hours work in twclve,an become ia
ded and need to fire up their nerves.
They drink when things look dan
gerous, to brace up against despon-
dency. and they drink when things
are prosperous, because the custom
is to treat good luck.
There is a great deal of drinking
going on between merchant and
customer. Men in Wall street make
a good operation, and step out and
take a drink on it. There is a great
deal of genteel drinking going on in
counting rooms by men who would
not care to be seen drinking in a sa-
loon. There is good deal of wine
drank every day, but good deal
more that is sham wine.
There is much brandy and muc!.
whisky drank, and it is said that the
ring drink, and the Common Council,
and various members of the courts,
and some of the Judges, and a good
many of the clients, especially when
they lose their cases.
Yes-thcre is great deal toe
much drinking. New York would
go up to prosperity fifty per cent. il
men would cut down tomorrow one
half OF the amount Of their liquor
and a great deal more than that il
they would Danish the whole.
Drinking is bad for every kind OF
| honest business. To every one,
from the merchant that draws the
check, to the porter who carries out
the goods, and the drayman who
haula them, drinking is a damage.
All are better without it, all are
worse with it, and, for the mos,
part, they will all in candid mo-
ment confess it, and yet they 80 on
drinking.
There is brighter side. Tbs la
borYrs of New \ DIRK and BROOKLYN
are in greater degree temperate
than ever before. The Father Mat
thew Temperance Societies never
make their grand procession that
one does not sec and admire. They
have proved that Irishmcn can live
without whisky. The "Sons OF
Temperance" the "Templars," are
made up Of thousands OF laboring
men who are too wise to drink.
The laboring classes Of New York
city are, We suspect, in proportion
to their number, more generally
temperate than the commercial.
There are hundreds Of factories
where no drinking is allowed. Ma
ny of the proyident associations re-
fuse all liquor drinking members.
There is a growing impression
among handwriting men that drink
ing binders mars getting on in
the world. All this is encourag-
ing. Let every good citizen en-
courage the blessed work of temper
ance, an. do it, not by spying out
other men : conduct, nor by censo-
robustness and a donl,;".eering spirit,
but by kindness, by fair argument,
by patience and gcntlcncss.
AS to the figures employed by our
correspondent, namely, coloring up
neutral tints, and pitching into a
fight with a sharpcned lead pencil,
we suppose We must not be critical,
but set them down to good intentions.