Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-07-02
pR. IALMAGE'S SERMON.
RUIZ THE WORST ENEMY OF THE
WORKING CLASSES.


made money but they could not keep it.
They were like man who has a sack
which he puts money into, not knowing that
the sack has been torn or worm-eaten, or is
in some way ncapacitated to hold valuables.
As he puts the com in one end of the sack il
drops oJt 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 a bag with holes" What has
become of the billions and billions of dol
lars paid as wages to the working classes
of this country! Many of the moneys have
gone for the purchase of wardrobeS, for the
purchase of homestea1S, for the support of
families, for the education of Children for
the meeting of the necessities of life, for pro-
Vidng comfort for time of old age and
rightly spent, Chri ,tianly spent What has
become of the other billions and billions of
the wages paid to the working classes of this
countryi Many of them foolishy wasted,
wasted at gaming tables, wasted in intoXi-
cants, put into a bag with hundred holes
Gather up the moneys that have bsen spent
by the working classes o. this country during
the last thirty yea for rum and tobacco,
and will build for the wOrkingmen, every
workngman, house, surrounding it with a
garden, clothing his SONS in broadcloth and
his daughters in silks, standing at his front
door pran2ing span of bays or sorrels,
and insuTing his life so that his place can be
kept up after his death If in the city of
Oo0 in one year for strong drink, and one
half of that money has haen spent by the
wage earning classes, thea one-half the
wages of this city has gone for rum. | sand
before the Christian church and before the
American peoi la to-day to declare that the
most persistent and overwhelming enemy of
the working classes is Intoxicating liquor. 1t
IS verse enemy than monopoly, it is a wor Q
enemy than as ISOLATED capital, it is the pest
OF the century; and has boycotted and is boy
cotting the body, mind and soul of American
industry. IL snatcheS away a large Percent
age Of the wages of this country. 1t meets
the labollng man and operative on his way
to work IN the morning, with bale .ul solici-
tations, ard at the noon spe 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, and for
5Cents the laboring man may have his glass
OF Intoxicating liquor and one or two articles
OF food, AID you wonder how the saloonist
can afford that. | will tell you how he af-
lords 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
patron of that establishment, and drinks
more and more until he goes into the grave,
and his wife wit! and children go to the poor.
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 Numbered on Righteousness temperance
and Judgment to come-within 500
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 intoxicationn Will you
tell me what chance there is for the laboring
classes of this country while this iniIuity
progresses a; it does! The rum traffic pours
the vitriolic, damnable stuff down the Threats
of hundreds of thousands of the working
class, and while strike Injuries both employer
and employe, l this day proclaim universal
strike against strong drink, which strike il
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,
ami be saving, may 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
classes. In Great Britain there are expended
annually one hundred million pounds, or five
hundred million dollars. Oh, worlIingmen
OF America whether you sit in this house to-
day, or whether these words shall in some
other way come to you, 1 ask you to sit
down an1 add up how much you
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 asso"ia-
ton you might have been your own capitalist,
instead Of answering the beck and whim of
OF others. Anything that takes from the
working classes of America their physical
strength is robbery. Now, a man who
stimulates has not as much energy and phys
lcal endurance as man wh) refuses to
stimulate My father told me how he be-
came temperance man. He said: 81 be-
came tcmperaD-A man when everybody
drank, because OF what | saw in the harve It
fled, where | found that though | was phys
lea ly weaker than other M because Of lon :
Sickness could endure mora than my com
radesi i'll the harvest field; could work harder
AID work longer, and be less fatigued at
night; they took st.mulants, | took none
brick maker in England, having in his
employ many men, investigated the subject
anu he gives as the result of his investgat on
1.-The beer drinker who made thefewest bricks
made G59,OO0. The abstainer who made the
fewe,t bricks made 74G,000 The difference in
behalf Of the abstainer over the indulger
$1,000" There came time of great weari
ness in the British Parliament and the session!
were so long, and from week to week. that
nearly al the memt ers of the Parliament
were either sick or worn out OF the 90:
members only two went through unchanged
They were teetotalers In time of war
soldiers who go forth with wa er or coffee il
the canteen can march longer and make
drawer fight than the soldiers who carry
whisky in the canteen. Rum is great helI
for man to fight if he has only one con
testant and that at the street corner; but if
man goes forth to fight for God and hi
country, he wants no rum about him. When
the Rus ian army goes out corporal passes
along the line and smells the breath of eacl
solder, and if there be in the breath tn,
slightest suggestion of liquor the man is SEN
back TO the barracks. Why2 He canno
stand the Rattle, he cannot stand the march
All our yonng men understand this. Whei
they are preparing for the regatta, for tn
ball club, for the athletic wrestling the
abstain from strong drink. 1t is most i'm
portant that all my friends who are toilin
with hand and foot and brain understand
they can do more work without rum thai
they can do with it, The workingman wb
puts down his wages and then puts dow
right BESIDE them his expenses and make
them Il t equal is not wise. | know laborin:
men who are in q perfect fidget until they
have sent their last dollar. The following
circumstance cane under my own observa
ton: A Young man was gett ng $500 or $40
salary Gay of marriage came. His wi
inherited 500 from her grandfather. Sh
exTend2d every dollar in a wed ling equip
ment. Then they rented a loom. Then tn
young man found it necessary TO take even
ing employment. He was already nearl.
worn out from overwork; but now to tn
day must night employment be added, unit
his eyesi2ht was nearly extingui.hed and hi
health nearly gene. Why did he add nigh
employment to the day emp oyment3 t
get II ore money. What did he wan
10 get more money for2 To put ava,