The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-12-21

/ lFrOm Scftnmers nor Den1mbeR.
L. ii best to pay weekly wages On Mon
day instead Of Saturday, The question
at all events, il beginning TO be agitatsd
and may at any moment assume serioul
importance. The one and cnly ymweumeni
of weight % far addecod Msl&nk the com
paratively uneultisahr& md moraIly leal
trqskForthy olAssss q eerA51F people who
dfd ssskly ya1sa IN d = exposed e
the t>fl5tsilHE [gx1IE EysraSce or debauch.
cry whs11 49, Aqnzv A. raid them at the
opening aNpski1g Ksek than when they
day before tbsa1 n |i 4 nsnd Z. -
The sr<6n4s4f w 1Is, and ID one
of those Szia1m xn1I1le 3iH H,bs best tested
by actual expse&enn and statistics. II il
possible that the dissipated or irrssolute
factory y-hand who now 6nds the charms Of
Saturday night spree followed by long
Sundays stupor and recovery, too much
for his power of resistancs, viii be in soma
degree protected against himself whom he
rsceiyss be lite weekly windfat ~ sch
nient, or indeed practically almost impoe-
sible. To be drunk on Saturday night
means only headache on Sunday, but on
Monday evening is apt TO bring delinquen-
cy the next day, and consequent dismissal
That sadly large share Of the wages re-
ceived by our working people on Saturday
night practically finds its direct way to the
gin-mill, or some scarcely less hurtful form
of dissipation, it is impossible to doubt
But it is open to grave question whether
postponement of payment would radically
or even seriously affect the matter. A
debauch on Monday Ia as hurtful as ON
Saturday and where this il practically
impossible, the taste for dissipation will be
pretty sure 70 invent some way of satisfy
ing itself even in the dead low tide Of the
weekly purse. Pubicans are of all men in
the world the ones who know best how and
when to trust judiciously for their own in
terest, and the score which is chalked up
on an imaginative basis-to-day, may be
settled in sad reality next week.
Then, if this enforced hebdomsdal econ
omy applies to wrongful expense, Why not
to rightful as well, and if Phelim, in Satur-
day impecuniosity, must 60 without his
whiskey, how about Bridgets chicken or
the children's airing next day
But the evil after all seems Of far too
wide range, Of far too vital moment, to be
ADoSOO WAbA SuSll COhbAucThLhOnS
and merely symptomatic remedies. We
must attack the source of the disease, no
its phenomena. Instead Of merely making
it inconvenient for the workman TO spend
his earnings in vice, we must address our
selves, sooner or later, to the far higher
problem Of rendering it distasteful, repug-
napt, and, if it may be, morally impOssi-
Bile. And to do this we must begin with
the workman himself, not his wages
The question needs more elaborate treat
ment than our present space permits. but
by way of suggestion we would only allude,
among other agencies bearing on the point,
to the wise and noble charities instituted
in many of the great mill corporations of
England, by which the operatives are in
vited to pleasant evening clubs and lyce-
ums, with all that can make social inter
course cheerful, entertaining, and improv-
ing, nothing to make it dangerous. Suf-
fee it for as to have given the hint. Who
will carry it further Depend upon it, it
is Wssteful work this trying to head off our
neighbor in the indulgence of his fascinat-
ing vices; take out the fascination, or give
him better one-that il the radical way,
and the shortest in the end