The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-07-28

What is the little brook saying,
AS 1t rlnples on its way,
Rehe,tlng thousand sunheams
In its merry, silvery play.
What is the little brook saving
To the bluebrd lowering near
In the emerald willow bending
Just DER its waters cleari
What is the little brook saying9
Ah! It's singing temperance song.
Little bird, always drink cold water
II you would be well and strong.
Ella NJ. Iruesdeu, in Temperance Banner
Temperance in Relation to the La
Dor Question.
George Frederic Parsons SAWS in the
Atlantic Monthly: The organization OF
labor has hitherto been in the hands of
unfit men, with too few exceptions. The
leaders have been selfish, narrow-miuded,
or ignorant. The true way to utilize the
strength of united labor is to develop the
individual power of the members. By
no other means have great nations ever
been formed. An association, the effcc-
tive strength of which depends upon the
surrender of the rights and liberties of
its members, may be a. dangerous instru-
ment for the use of adventures and
d,magogues, but it cannot advance the
interests of the men themselves. The
most urgent want of labor to day is self
control. In this free country no man en-
dowed with average abilities need re-
main all his life POOR. If ho has thrift,
self-restraint, perseverance, he will pass
from the ranks of labor to the ranks of
capital. 1t is the saving man who be-
comes the capitalist-the man who has
force to deny himself indulgences. What
q lesson lies in the drink-bill of the
American workingmen, for instance! At
moderate estimate, it amounts to be-
tween four and five hundred million dol
lars a year. While labor is throwing
away that emo nous sum annually, with
what show of consistency can it | ment
its condition? One years remission of
that destructive selfindulgeance would
solve every labor problem extant; would
provide a fund for the establishment of
cooperative works, for the sustenance of
the sick and agcd, for the maintenance
and education of orphans, for libraries
and scientific schools, for all manner OF
helps.
Atpresent the workingman can hardly
make both ends meet. 1t is not because
he insists on creating capitalists out OF
the saloon-kcepcrs, and, not content
with that, on submitting all his right of
citizenship to the same object of wor-
ship?. The saloon in politics is the most
hideous abuse of the day, but where
would it be if the workingmcn withdrew
their support from it It keeps them
poor. 1t keeps our politics corrupt. 1t
supplies constant stream of base adven'
turers, who disgrace the American name
at home and abroad. 1t makes the terms
public Office" and "public plumber
synonymous. 1t stiles progress, fosters
pauperism, brutalizes husbands and
fathers, breaks women's hearts, puts
rags on > the workingmans back,
disease in his body, and shame
and despair in his heart. Yet
when laboris most distul bed, when the
demand for advanced wages is loudest,
when strikes arc most frequent, when
hunger and misery are most rife in the
homes of the poor, the saloon fouri hes
still. There may be no bread at home,
but there is always beer and whisky at
the bar, and the men who consider them
selves the victims of circumstances or
the "thralls' of capital sluander their
earnings, spend their savings, in these
dens. Can there be serious labor
question while this state of things con-
tinues2 Can workingmen talk gravely
of their wrongs while it is plain to all
Iuo WOIlu Iuat IL tnSS oniy oofSo tu0
capital they earn they would be COM
fortable2
This aspect of the case has not been
sufficiently examined, and for reasons
which will probably occur readily to the
reader. But it is really the key to the
situation. When we see on the one side
yearly waste of between four and five
hundred millions of dollars, and on the
other side b2dy of men, the squander-
ers of this vast fund, complaining that
they have not sufficient opportunities,
we cannot long be at loss to compge-
hend the true nature of the existing dis
satisfaction. 1t is clear that labor has
been melted to seek from without the
relief which ought to be sought from
within. The socialist theory OF pate.-
nal state system which provides every
body with work a"d wages is a mis-
chievous fallacy. 1t simply encourages
Incidence. and dependence. The first
duty of labor is to demonstrate its ca
pacity for self government. At this mo-
ment its drink bill is an impeachment of
that capacity. No man who spends half
his earnings at 4 saloon can get on in the