The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-11-13
TEMPERANCE READING.
FACTS PLAINLY STATED.
The Industrial side If the Liquor CUES
ton Briefly Considered


ton Briefly Considered.
The industrial side of the LIQUOR business in
its various ramifcations is not generally I'M
derstood. We referred the other day to the
fact that considerable agricultural popula-
tioE in the interior of New York State is vital
~ interested in the popularity of beer as a
beverage since it makes difference of hun
dreds of thousands of dollars to the hop-
growers of Oneida and adjoining counties
whether there is good demand for hops
from the brewers An Ohio paper points out
paid the farmers of that State for the grain
used in the business of distilling and the pro-
duction of malt while almost as much more
is expended for other raw material used in
the production of beer, ale and wine. The
whole number of persons in the country who
get their living in one way or another out of
the production of liquors of various sorts
would make an army of no mean proportions.
N 7. EUSning Post
If this is intended as reason for con-
tinuing the liquor traffic there never
was put upon paper anything so alb
surd- The Industrial Side of the
Liquor Question. indeed
1t is quite true. too true, in fact, that
the manufacture and sale of liquor af-
lords a living to a vast army of men.
1t is also true. and altogether too true.
that those who live out of liquor do gel
a better living than any other class of
men. 1t is true that the manufacturers
OF liquors do pay immense sums to
farmers and manufacturers for what
they use. But because all this is true
does it follow that the manufacture and
sale of liquor should be encouraged?
War employs vast armies of men.
Should we therefore encourage war?
Burglary, thieving, gambling and
prostitution employ vast army of men
and women: are these vices to be there
fore encouraged?
Is not every soldier burden upon
the industry of the country, luxury
for which all who are not soldiers have
to pay? Is not every mouthful that a
thief or gambler consumes just so much
stolen from the labor of the country, for
which the labor of the country must
payp The sale of liquor benefits the
man Who sells it, but it subtracts from,
instead.of adding to, the wealth of the
country.
Every drop of liquor consumed les
sens the consumption of everything
else. The abolition of hop-fields would
increase the consumption of flour and
meat among those who drink beer more
than ten fold. The consumer of the
hop product consumes but little else.
He robs the builder by not living in a
decent house. He robs the butcher by
not consuming meat in decent quaint
ties for himself and family. He robs
the newspaper publisher by never TAX
ing paper He robs the bookseller
by never buying book. He robs the
clothier by spending his earnings in
beer and going himself in rags, and
condemning his family to the same
He robs the grocer, the hardware store,
and every decent employment the same
way. The beer-shop absorbs every thing
he can earn, and the rest of the com
munity get nothing from him.
And more than this, he robs the COM
munity of his labor, for, after enough
beer, he is incapable of labor. The rob-
berry of the community goes farther. 1t
is compelled to support his family, the
innocents whom God and nature gave
into his hands and made him response
BILE for.
No community ever suffered by abol-
ishing beer. Wherever beer has been
abolished the demand for other articles
of necessity Immediately increased. The
moment the sale of liquor is prohibited
in a community, the trade in all other
goods increases. for the reason that the
man who sunk his earnings in liquor
shops had them to spend upon some
thing else. The consumption of meat
and bread, and afterward luxuries, in
crease in exact proportion as the sale of
liquor diminishes The workingman
has not only his wages to spend for the
comfort of himself and family, but he
becomes Immediately capable of earn
ing more wages. The number of sales
men in useful branches of trade increases
exactly as bar-tenders decrease.
No community ever got rich upon a
vice. No community can thrive upon
trades which destroy manhood and de-
grade womanhood. AS well might it be
said that a gambling hell is benefit to
town because the gambler makes a
part of the population. Every cent he
spends is gotten by him without labor,
and taken from some one who did labor
for it, and who otherwise would have
spent it upon something of use to him
self and the world.
The industrial side of the liquor ques-
ton is the last one that should be held
up for public approval. 1t has no in
dustral side. Its only work is the de-
struction of men and women. 1t is
never planted anywhere that it does
not burn like a prairie fire. It's pres
I ence in a community is Indicated by
roofess houses, patched windows, dirt
and squalor Its invariable accompani-
ments are squaiid women and ragged
children. Its marks are as plain as
smallpox and as ineradicable.
1t means misery in this world and
damnation in the next 1t is the pen
itentiary and poor house filler and gal
lows-feeder. 1t stands in opposition TO
the church and school-house, and it is
the opposer of everything good and the
promoter of everything that is evil 1t
is the seducer of women and the de-
baucner of men. 1t is the parent of
thieyery, murder, brutality. idiocy, in
sanity, poverty and degradation of every
kind and description. 1t kills industry,
thrift and decency, and virtue can not
exist in its neighborhood. 1t is the one
giant curse of the word, the one de-
grading and demoralizing influence
which has not single excuse for its