The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-04-14
WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY.

MR.. EDlTOR,-One OF NOOT contemporaries OF
Saturday last contains the following
Barkeepcrs pay here. ON an average, about 81
per gallon for whisky. One gallon contains an
average Of ~sixty-tive drinks, and at twenty-five
cents a drink the poor man pays Sl6.25 per gallon
for ms whisky in other words. he pays 81 for the
whisky and S9.25 to 4 manfor handing it over the
bar. While il would be better for all not To drink,
some men viii have whisky, and my advice 10 them
Is this Make your wife your barkeepor. Lend
her 81 TO buy a gallon Of whisky for a beginning,
and every time YOU want a drink go to her and
pay twenty-five cents for il. BY the time You have
drank q gallon She viii have SI6.25, OF enough
mcney 20 refund tie 81 borrowed Of you to pay for
another gallon Of hqnsr a2d have a balance of
S2.25. She viii be able 10 conduct future opera
lions on her own capital, and when you become an
isebrlate, unable to support yourself. summed and
deSplsed 10y respectable people, your wife will have
enough money to keep YOU until you get ready to
fill 4 drunkard's grave. But had yon paid all this
money 10 a barkeeper, he would not have given a
cent 70 bury YOU or a crust of bread to keep your
children from starving
This sounds to me like the Intentional exagger-
ations INDUCED ia by the fanatics who figure as
intemperaIe oratoricri champions of the total
prohibition cause ut 20 called temperance meet
Ings.
In the first place. sir. this original calculator
gives the barkeeper IA clear profit of 50. 25 en- the
orisinal cost % hs gallon of whisky allowing
nothing at all for the license. rent and other ex-
penses attendant upon the sale of said gallon. In
the second place this domestic economist assumes
that every man who will drink has a wife and
children, and that this wife would readily tall in
with her husbands proposed plan and be-
come his bottle holder. Again he assumes that
every man who INDUCES IN a glass of whisky
occasionally will eventually fill a drunkard's
grave after being Stunned, dispised and ali that
sort of thing. Now | do not agree with him that
every drinking man has a wife but granting
euch TO be the case where is the wife who would
lend "A helping hand to hurry the man she loves
into a drunkard's grave? Again, MIR. Editor. he
tells his readers that the bar&eeper would not
give a cent to the drunkard to bury him, or a
crust of bread to keep his children from starving.
Does the opposition editor speak from personal
experience when he makes this scurTiluus state
ment? | have lived on these Islands many years
and have enjoyed the acquaintance of nearly
every man engaged In the liquor business here,
and have always known them TO be liberal in
their contributions to public and private cbari-
! ties, snd | assert without fear of contradiction
that your contemporary cannot cite a single
instance whereinL n liquor dealer has turned a
deaf ear to a charitable appeal when properly
made to him. l have never been engaged IN the
the liquors trade except as an occasional i'm
biber, but | know from personal observa-
ton of the correctness 81 what | say. ]
have known missionaries to call upon d saloon
keeper to aid in church matters on more occasions
than one, and their appeal met with a liberal
response each time. | also know of one SALOON
keeper whose private charities during each wear
would put to shame the misery contributions of
a man who talks OF giving a crust Of bread to
starving children. Some time ago il was my
misfortune 10 be an inmate OF the Queens Hos
pital for several weeks. During this time | had
ample opportunities of noting the different ideas
some of our visitors had about what constituted
true philanthrnphy and Christian sOlicitude for
the Welfare of US invalids. The regularly ap-
pointed Visiting Committee from the Y. NJ. G.
A. came there on their routine visits. bringing
with them tracts and other religious publica tions.
they distributed VIII, IL lavish band among US :
they would enquire IN "A kindly manner about the
stale OF our health. and express n hope of our
speedy recovery. fGcy would talk to us of
Jesus. tell US OF the bright and happy future in
store for mankind, when the fearful scJurge of
intemperance shall have been eradicated from the
land by the mighty arm OF Total Prohibition. and
the faithful effIrts Of the Y. NJ. {. A. and some
times inform us, by way of IL gracious wind IN.
that If we needed any little commodities they
would willingly call upon our friends or relations.
II We had any, and inform them OF the fact
! O,ter visitors came. \ reverend gentleman from
the English Church, Mr.. Blackburn, visited the
Hospital TWO or three times a week. holding
religious services on Sunday afternoons. in which
all were invited 10 join regardless of nationality
or creed. And this worthy man having first
asked TeIInissiou Of the pLysician on Christmas
Eve came 10 Us with "a large sized vnlise filled
with cake, wine. ale and porter, 70 which all
who wished were mrde heartily welcome. Many
others came there who were not professed Chris
TRANS, but nearly all Of them brought something
to prove that their protestatiOns of sympathy
came from their heart instead of their tongue.
Ladies belonging to no particular church came
with flowers. fruits. jellies. cakes and cheering
smiles. Mechanics, - barkeepers,' laborers
and seaiaring men came during the day or evening.
bringing fruits OF various kinds, articles Of cloth
ing. and giving small sums Of money to the needy.
alike to the stranger as to the friend. | could
give the rame Of a liquor dealer who furnished a
warm coat, a pair OF slippers, half a dozen pairs
Of slcks, and some money. to a poor consumptiye
stranger, whom he had uever seen but once be-
fore. At the same time he told the poor man
that II he stood in need % anything to let him
knew, and he would procure it for HIM.
L do not wish To set myself up as a defender of
the saloon keepers, but ! dispise misrepresenta
tons IN any shape or form, or from any source.
and | much wonder that these men can stand
tamely by aud submit without n murmur to such
malicious assertions as | have quoted above.
The writer Of your contem porary, whom
judge I" be a creature which might possibly
strain his lberality to the extent Of giving a crust
Of bread. hut no more to Il starving child. Ger
talnly what he wrote was false and uncalled for.
But then his vile calumuy was in perfect keeping
with the general tone Of his paper last Saturday,
50 we will ray no more about it.
y LOVER OF Truth.
LETTER PROM Mrs. NTGrs-No 1