The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-11-19


the way of his either owning q
house, or paying rent promptly
for a decent one9 Rum, nothing
else.
The lumber merchant, the hard.
ware dealer and the builders are all
defrauded of their expectations by
rum. The beer shops, with the
mercilessness of a devil fish, alb
serbs what legitimately belongs to
them, and what the drunkard's s
we'll being demands that he should
pay 70 them.
Did any one ever see a beer
drunkard's family decently and
healthfully ted? Never. The wives
and children OF the victim of the
beer habit do not consume a quar-
ter of what they should, for they
can't get it. They are compelled to
live upon just enough to sustain
life, and that of the cheapest and
coarsest. They do not iive-they
exist. The butcher and the ba-
ker are robbed by the beer shops.
Does any one know of a drunk
ard or his family with decent
clothing? Was there ever drunk
ards family sufficiently clothedf
Never. Rum absorbs all that
should be paid to the dealers in
dry goods, boots and shoes and
dress goods.
AS for the manufacturers and
dealers in what they call luxuries,
that is, articles not absolutely nee
essary to the sustaining of life, but
which in a state of civilization are
really necessities-books, musical
instruments, newspapers, pictures,
sewing machines, and the like
what drunkard's family ever has
them? Not one. His earnings all
go for stimulants, and if his family
get enough of the poorest food to
exist upon they may consider them
selves fortunate.
To illustrate. In Toledo are 500
whisky and beer shops. These
pest holes draw from the laboring
men of the city something over
$3, 100000 each year. This enor-
nous sum of money would be spent
among the business men of the city
were there no whisky or beer shops.
This enormous sum would be ad-
ded to the Legitimate trade of the
city, instead of being sunk in this
infernalism. And now this is not
all. The 500 beer shops destroy as
much more in the capacity to pro-
duce. The drunkard cannot do a
days work when he works at all,
and he cannot put hal his time at
labor. He becomes incapable of la
Dor, and will only work when
the rum appetite can be satisfied
in no other way.
And, finally, add to this whole
sale robbery of the community the
entire cost of the crime and pau
perism which is TO be directly
charged to the curse, all of which
is borne by honest labor, and the
sum total is something incredible.
We have not referred in this to
the moral effects of the traffic. We
have not referred to the misery it
occasions, to the ruin it spreads, to
the manhood and womanhood it
destroys. 1t is not necessary.
If the son of a drunkard becomes
a good man it is because he has Ell
ther very strong mental and moral
organization, or because accidental
or providential influences have put
him outside the influences of the
father. If the daughter of drunk
ard becomes a good woman, it is
for the same reason. The chances
are fearfully against both. If there
is drunkard's wife who is happy,
or whose life is not one round OF
misery, misery so constant and
acute as to make death welcome,
we have never seen her. 1t is the
one brutalizing influence on earth,
the one which has nothing to re-
lieve or mitigate. There are hu-
manitarian reasons for killing the
traffic, but from a dollar and cent
standpoint the business man, above
all others, is the one who should dc
the most to pulverize the rum power
| ---SS--
Rich, But Plain.
Mrs. Stewart visits the store once
famous as A. T. Stewards every
week to see the novelties there, ano
orders a new gown or bonnet OIL
something for her house; but she
is so unassumIng that, unless the
clerk waiting upon you said, FTherC
is Mrs. Stewart" you would not i'm
agine the delicate, plainly dressed
little lady walking by with a com
panion attending her had any spe
cial interest in the establishment
If you had reporters eyes you
would see the rapid glances cast by
her over every counter she passes
and also see how deferentlally tn,
whole waiting force observe her
Mrs. Stewart is not gray or old; he
hair is brown, her figure erect anC
her step firm. Her dress in thu
street is plain, but of the riches
material, but she evidently does no
seek to parade the amount of bel
riches before the public.
There is a wonderful advance be
ing made in South America, anC
particularly in railroad matters i
the progress noticeable. A feV
years like the past five will show
very complete system of railway
ntercommunication There is al
ready nearly completed one lin
across the continent. On the At
lantic side it starts from Rosario
north of Buenos Ayres, and nov
runs 500 miles westward to Mendo
sa. On the Pacific side it run
from Valparaiso to the foot of tn
Andes. Between the two is a dis
tance of only 140 miles and a lin
has been surveyed over the noun
tains for that distance, and it viii
probably be filed within the year
But few people have examined thi
matter and realized what an i'm
mense extent of country is beinl
opened up.-Union.
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