The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-03-29
Written for The Republican,
Alcoholism.


l presume it will of course be ex-
pected of me to answer the question.
"What is it then good for" proposed
at the close of my second and fore
going article. This / shall proceed
to do, with notice to the reader that,
however the statement shall make
may strike him, 1 mean throughout
just what say.
Firstly, then: It Is good thing
for lazy crew. Men who get too
lazy to do honest hard work, go to
distilIing or brewing because it is an
easy way of making money and the
dealers in the sultan army of them
wholesalers and retailers-are con-
fessedly the mf st indolent crew out
of Jail. Almost any other person will
work somewhat, only the average
grog-shoppist. And in truth, it is no
necessary to work, in order to make
living out of such business. In
the case of the producers Thy way of
illustration one bushel of corn or
rye will yield four to five gallons of
raw whiskey. Any one knows the
ordinary price of these grains, and of
the raw stuff. Add to this evident
profit, the acknowledged fact that,
despite all the argus-eyed vigilance
of the officers of internal revenue, the
government is defrauded of halfthe
tax. What margin for profit Then
the retailer: However the stuffmay
have been manipulated behind the
iron front of the suniptuous whole
sale establishment, he can always
avail himself of couple OVERCOMING
spittoOns, peck of charred shOe-s0les
1.-THE cheapest come from the back
alIey), an equal quantity of burnt
peach-stones, half a fire shOvelfull of
strychnine. and--rain. water! With
these elegant cOncomitants one barrel
will readily yield a return lover the
bari of something over $500! OF
course the grog. shoppist can hire all
his stove-wood chopped by hands not
so soft as his own and it is not at all
necessary for him to roll the full
barrels into the tap-room himself.
Secondly: 1t is a good help to
the recruiting sergeant for slums and
hrothels. Nothing so hurries the
young and eviI-inclined along to.
ward dehased life. as the free use
of intoxicating drinks. Hardly one
prostituted life in a thousand is or
has been, a sober one. And it is al
ways first drink, then the other. And
| don't mean one sex. hut both.
Thirdly: 1t is a good thing for
dupe-hunters. Some of the fathers
remember how the money-making
country store-keeper managed it forty
years ago, when the "bar' and the
counter" were one. First a glass of
something to warm you up, you
knOw"-two or three of them-then-
"a cheap load of grain, that" to the
clerk, when "the old farmer" was
gone. The "best" in a horse trade,
or a "swap" of any kind. is generally
secured by pull at the bottle, or a
treat at the bar. And the sharper"
who gets his Lying by a cunning
shutting of the paste boards, usually
draws his victim through the neck of
the bottle.
FOurthly, and last; 1t is good for
the ambitious and Inscriptions poll.
tician. Is not the very fact that the
bar-room is closed on election days
an open acknowledgement that rum
helps to- "carry" the elections? OF
course there have been brawls and
heatings and the precious fellow
who wants the Office, usually don't
want the battering-but it's the "per-
suasive power" of the drink, more
than anything else, that has closed
the bar on election tlay. But how,
then, a help to the politician 1t is
plain. The dram will buy votes any
day in the year. Half the public
offices in this land are filled in the
saloons before the polls are opened
Does any one doubt my word? Let
him visit New York City, or keep
his eyes open about good many
other places not so populous.
Incidently now, this fourthly joins
hands with my firstly. For. vote
making is uery profitable to the drink
vender.
may, in concluding this paper,
quote sentiment from DR.. Chalmers
A good while ago he remarked
"Alcohol is a bad thing to put into
living man: hut very good thing t
keep a dead man in"
SHoUP.
Sang Bun.
This beautiful and picturesque lit
tie village is the centre of a prosper
Gus community, situated near tn