Rock Island daily Argus., 1886-12-21
W0RkINGMEN AND DRINK.
SOCIALISTS OF CHICAGO REPUDIATe
CERTAIN CHARGES.
An Open Letter to the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union Denying the Charge
of General Intamperance Among Work
ingmen - Statistics on the Matter =
Money Spent on Heathens.

of General Intsmperance Among Work
ingmen - Statistics on the Matter -
Money Spent on Heathens.
CHICAGO, Dec 2 The Chicago Society
of Socialists held an enthusiastic meeting
Sunday afternoon at its hall, Il West Lake
street, with t. A. Stevens in the chair. The
question of the effects of intemperance OF
the working classes of America was dis
cussed T. j. Morgan read an ''open letter.
from the workingmen to the Woman's Chris
tian Temperance union and the ministers OF
Chicago In order to refute the charge oi
general intemperance among workingmen.
which he claim ed was made by tpress anC
public, he quoted the statement of David A.
Wells that S700, ,U00, 900 is annually spent in
drink, an average of $3.50 for the entire
population over II years of age. He repudi
ated the alleged assertion that the wage
workers were responsible for one-half of this
expenditure. An estimate based on stats.
tics would give each worker nearly $50 as
his share Of this sum, ridiculous pro,
portion when it was remembered that
the average of wages earned
was but S346 per year. He denied
that the class were more Incorporate thar
any other, sustaining his opinion by refer
ences to the extravaganza of club-rooms and
expensively furnished saloons. The same
causes of intemperance exist among the poor
and the rich. The social habits and the ten
dency to gregariousnesS are alike i'll both.
He reviewed the question of the sanitary
condition of homes and workshops, showing
the incentive to relaxation among the toilers
when once they We're free from the contine
ment of their daily tasks, and the tempta
ton TO find amusement i'll saloons. There are
few places where workingmen can meet
friends except those in which liquor is sold
Mr. Morgans deductions from the premises
were:
Every social want now supplied by the
saloons must be provided for by the city or
by your organizations. The money spent Sc
freely in wrestling from the heather confes.
sion of Christ could easily provide every
crowded neighborhood with free baths, gym
nasium, lecture and reading g-rooms, and in
the summer concert gardens, with a chance
of accomplishing infinitely more good.
Into these places the young
people would gather from the streets
and saloons How cheaply this could be
cone anu now qulckiS Tue young "oGlu re'
spond was illustrated last summer in the
Fifth ward, where an Indian show, given for
advertising purposes, filled the base ball in
closure every fine night with thousands OF
young men and women. And in this con-
nectioI it will be well to acknowledge the
weak efforts that have been made in this di
rection, and to point out one reason why
they have so largely failed. Human nature
is so constituted that 1t succumbS more read
lily to indirect than to direct influences. A
Methodist or Baptist reading room antagon'
zes Majority OF those who have not been
brought up under their teachings, and it j:
more essential that the people be kept away
from corrupting influences than that they be
converted to any sect
The natural social needs Of the working
man having been provided for, free from the
customary liquor, free from sectarian intlu
ences the industrial condition improved, the
power OF the saloon will he undermined anC
its downfall more surely attained than i
possible under any choking, smothering, O
extinguishing process.