The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-30
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
BUM THE WORST ENEMY OF THE
WORKING CLASSES.

wages to put 1t IL bag Win holes. nag
gai, l., 5:
In Persia, during the reign of Darius
Hystaspes, the people did not prosper. Tney
made money but they could not keep it.
They were like a man who has sack
which he puts money into, not knowing that
the sack has been torn or worm-eaten, OF is
in some way incapacitated to hold valuables.
As he puts the com in one end Of the sack il
drops out of the other. They earned wages
but they lost them, or. as the prophet puts it
''He that earneth wages earneth wages to
put it in q bag with holes What has
become of the billions and billions Of dol
lars paid as wages to the WORKING class IS
of this country! Many of the moneys have
gone for the purchase of wardrobes, for the
purchase of homesteadS, for the support OF
families, for the education of children, for
the meeting of the necessities OF life, for pro-
viding comfort for time of old age, and
rightly spent, Christianity spent. What has
become Of the other billions and billions OF
the wages paid to the working classes OF this
country! Many OF them foolishly wasted,
wasted at gaming tables, wasted in lntoNl-
cants, put into bag with hundred holes.
Gather up the moneys that have been spent
by the working classes Of this country during
the last thirty yeas for rum and tobacco,
and will build for the workingmen, every
workingman, a house, surrounding it with q
garden, clothing his sons in broadcloth and
his daughters in silks, standing at his front
door a prancing span Of bays or sorrels,
and insuring his life so that his place can be
kept III. nfter his death. If in the city of
Brooklyn the people have expended SIT, ,OOO,-
000 in one year for strong drink, and one
half of that money has been spent by the
wage earning classes, then one-half the
wages OF this city has gone for rum. stand
before the Christian church and before the
l. lo,, %oI al tpaf t,a
most persistent and overwhelming enemy OF
the working classes is Intoxicating liquor. 1t
is q worse enemy than monopoly it is worse
enemy than associated capital, it Is the pest
OF the century. and has boycotted and is boy
cotting the body, mind and soul of American
industry. 1t snatches away large percent
age of the wages of this country. 1t meets
the laboring man and operative on his way
to work in the morning, with baletu! sollcl,,
tations. and at the noon spell and
in the eventide and on Saturday
when the wages are paid it takes much of
that which ought to go for the support OF
the family and sacrifices it to the saloon
keeper. We have now in these cities saloons
that have what they call free lunch, aud for
scents the laboring man may have his glass
of intoxicating liquor and one or two articles
of food, and you wonder how the saloonist
can afford that. I will tell you how he af-
fords it. The laborer does not stop with one
glass or one cup. His thirst is kindled and
he drinks on and drinks on and becomes a
patrcn of that establishment, and drinks
more and more until he goes into the grave,
and his wife and children 60 to the poor
house. Within 300yards of old Sands Street
Methodist Church, Brooklyn-that Gibraltar
of Christianity, that fortress of Goodness
and the truth decade after decade, that old
historical church, in which John Summer
field thundered on righteousness, temperance
and Judgment to come-within 3OO
yards of old Sands Street Methodist
church, there are to-day fifty-four drinking
saloons and an application for another. 1T
has been estimated that if the groggeries and
the rum shops of this country were put side
by side they would make solid block from
New York to Chicago. The liquor traffic is
gathering up its forces and crying out: For
ward march! take possession of the ballot
box, take possession of the city halls, take
possession Of the Legislatures, take posse sion
of the Congress of the United States. capture
the whole law for intoxication." Will you
tell me what chance there is for the laboring
classes Of this country while this iniIuity
progresses as it does! The rum traffic pours
the vitriolic, ,damnable stuff down the throats
of hundreds of thousands of the working
class, and while strike Injuries both employer
and employe, this day proclaim universal
strike against strong drink, which Strike If
kept up will release the working class and be
the salvation of the nation. Any healthy
man in America, if he will be Industrious for
twenty years and abstain from strong drink,
and be saving. NAV be his own capitalist on
small scale. This country spends annually
in strong drink one billion, five hundred mil
lion and fifty thousand dollars. A large part
of that money is expended by the laboring
classes. In Great Britain there are expended
annually one hundred million pounds, or five
hundred million dollars. Oh, workingmen
OF America, whether you sit in this house TO-
day, or whether these words shall in some
other way come to you, l ask you to sit
have expended during your lifetime for
rum and tobacco. and then ask your
fellow workmen how much they have
expended for rum and tobacco, and add it all
up and realize that by cooperative aSsocia-
tion you might have been your own capitalist
instead of answering the beck and whim of
OF others. Anything that takes from the
strength is robbery. Now, a man who
stimulates has not as much energy and phys
ical endurance as man who refuses to
stimulate. My father told me how he be-
came temperance man. He said: II be-
came q temperance man when everybody
drank, because of what saw in the harvest
field, where found that though was phys
ically weaker than other men because of long
Sickness l could endure more than my com
rades in the harvest field: l could work harder
ard work longer, and be less fatigued at
night; they took stimulants, took none"
A brick maker in England, having in his
employ many men. investigated the subject,
ana he gives as the result Of his investigation:
''The beer drinker who made the feweSt bricks
made 659,000 The abStainer who made the
feweSt bricks made TAG, 900 The difference in
behalf of the abstainer over the indulger,
S7,OOO." There came time Of great weari-
ness in the British Parliament and the sessions
were so long, and from week to week, that
nearly all the memEers of the Parliament
were either sick or worn out OF the 632
members only two went through unchanged.
They were teetotalerS In time of war,
soldiers who 60 forth with wa er or coffee in
the canteen can march longer and make
braver fight than the soldiers who carry
whisky in the canteen. Rum is great help
for man to fight if he has only one con-
testant and that at the street corner; but if a
man goes forth to fight for God and his
country, he wants no rum about him. When
along the line and smells the breath of each
soldier, and if there be in the breath the
slightest suggestion of liquor the man is sent
back to the barracks. Why? He cannot
stand the battle, he cannot stand the march.
All our yonng men understand this. When
they are preparing for the regatta, for the
ball club, for the athletic wrestling, they
abstain from strong drink. 1t is most I'M
portant that all my friends who are toiliug
with hand and foot and brain understand
they can do more work without rum than
they can do with it. The workingman who
puts down his wages and then puts down
right beside them his expenses and makes
them .ust equal is not wise. know laboring
men who are in a perfect tidcet until they
have sEent their last dollar. The following
circumstance care under my own observa-
ton: A Young man was gett ng SG00 or SOD
salary. Day of marriage came. His wi
s.,ln Il lHnhl hon, hn