Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-06-14
LABOR'S FOE IN THE CUP.
TALNfAGE DELIVERS THE FIFTH
OF HIS LABOR SERMONS.

BROOkL4N, y. - June Aos--AeS''
Dewitt Talmage, ID, preached to-da
in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, the fifth
his series of sermons on "Tbe Labo
Question" His subject was, "Stron
Drink the Worst Foe of Labor" Tn
opening hymn was:
80 let our lips and lives express
The Holy Cos ell we profess;
So let our works and virtues SHINE
To prove the doctrine all divine
After explaining appropriate passages
of Scripture, DR.. Talmage took his text
from Haggal l., V. 6: "He that earneth
wages, earneth wages to put it into bag
with holes.v DR.. Talmage SAID:
In Persia under the reign of Darius Hys
taspes, the people did not prosper. Ihey maze
money but did not keep 1t. They were IKE
people who have sack IN Whlch they put
money not knowing that the sack e torn or
eaten of moths or in some way made incapable
of holding valuables. As fast as the coin was
put in one end OF the sack IT dropped out OF
the other. Ii made no difference now much
wages they got, for they lost them. HE that
earneth wages, earneth wages to put 1t into
a bag with holes"
what has become of the billions and
billions of dollars in this country paid
TO the working classesl Some of these moneys
have gone for hon rent or the purchase OF
homesteads or wardrobe, or family expenses
fortsin old age. Whathas become OF other Bit
houe2 Wasted in foolish outlay. Wasted at
the gaming table. Wasted In lntoXiCants.
Put into a bag with hundred holes.
Gather up the money that the working
classes have spent for rum during the last 80
years ana l will build for every wOrkingman
a house. and lay out for HIM garden, anu
rlothe his sons in broadcl0th and his daughters
in silks and stand AT his front door a pran-
eng span of sOrrels or BAYS, and secure MIN a
policy of life insurance so that the present
home may be well maintained after he IS
dead. The most persistent, most overpower-
ing enemy of the working classes is intOXl-
eating liquor. II is the anarchist or the CEN
turtles, and has boycotted and is now boycott
ting the bOCy and mind and soul Of
American labor. Ii is TO it a worse foe
capital. 1t annually swindles industry out of
a large percentage of its earnings. It holds
out lts blasting solicitations to the mechanic
or operative on his way to work, and at the
noon spell, and on his way home at eventlde;
or Saturday, when the wages are paid, II
.snatches large part OF the money that m ight
come to the family and sacrifices it among
the saloon keepers. Within 500 wards OF sand
Street Methodist church, Brooklyn, it mas
ffty-four saloons and Is plotting now for an
other. stand the saloons of this country side
by side, and it is carefully estimated they
would reach from New York to Chicago.
Forward march, says the rum power, and
tai e possession OF the American nation
The rum business Is pouring its vtriOhc
and damnable liquids down the thrOats of
hundreds of thousands Of labOrers, and while
the ordinary strikes are ruinOus both to en-
ployers aud employees. proclaim universal
strike against strong drink. which if kept no
will be the relief of the working classes and
the salvation OF the nation. | will undertake
to say that there is not a healthy labOrer IN
the United States who, within the next ten
years, if he will refuse all intoxicating
beverage and be saving, may not become "a
&C pitalIst on a small scale. Our country in
year spends one billion five hundred million
anu fifty Thousand dollars for rnm. OF course
the working classes do great deal of this eX-
penditure, Careful statistics show that the
wage earning classes OF Great Britain eNpend
in liquors one hundred million pounds, or five
hundred million dollars year. Sit down and
calculate. wOrklngman! how much you
have expended in these directions. Add it all
up. Add up what your nelghbOrs have eX-
pended, and realize that instead of answering
the beck Of other people you might have been
your own cap tailst.
When You deplete a WOrkingman's physical
energy yen depleJe his capital. The stimu-
la ed workman gives out before the unstimu-
lated workman.
AIy father said: ~ became Temperance
man in early life because j noticed in the har-
vest field that, though was physically weak
er than other wOrkmen, | could hold out
longer than they. They took stmulants. 1
took none"
A brickmaker in England gives his expe-
rience in regard to tins matter among men in
his employ. He says after investigation +:
'''The beer drlnker who made the fewest
bricks made $4,000; the abs amer who made
the fewest bricks. $4,000, The difference in
behalf of the abstainer over the indulger,
81 ,000."
There came a very eNhausting time in the
British Parliament. The session was pro-
lOnged until nearly all the members got sick
or worn out. Out of G52 members only two
went through unchanged; they were tee
totalers.
When an army goes out to the battle the
flfa. laf. has, Il
IN arches easier and fights better than the sol
der who has whisky in his canteen. Rum
helps man to fight when he has onl one con
testant and that at the street corner
tain some great battle for God and his
country he wants no rum about him. When
the Russians go to war a corporal passes
along the line and smells the breath of every
soldier. II there be in his breath faint OF
Intoxicating liquor the man is sent back TO the
barracks. Why? He cannot endure fatigue
All our young men know this, When they
are preparing for regatta or for a ball club
or for an athletic wrestling, they abstai L.
Our working people Will he wiser after
while, and the money they fling away on
hurtful lndulgences they will put into coop
eratve associations and 80 become capitalists.
II the workiAgman put down his wages and
then take his expenses and spread them out
so they will just equal, he is not wise. / know
workingmen who are in a perfect fidget until
they get rid of their last dollar.
The following circumstances came under
our OBSERVATION: young man worked hard
TO earn his $500 or 500 yearly. Marriage day
came. The bride had inherited $500 from her
grandfather. She spent every dollar Of it on
the wedding dress. Then they rented two
rooms in third story Then the Young man
took extra evening emp,oyment-amOst eN-
hausted with the day. work, vet took even
ing employment. It almost extinguished his
eyeslght. Why did he add evening employ
ment TO the day employment? 10 get money.
Why did he want TO get moneg2 10 lay up
sOmethlng for rainy dayY No. To get his
life Insured so that in case of his death
his wife would not be a beggar? No
He put the extra evening work II the
day work that he might get $3.50 to get his
wife a sealskin coat. The sister of the bride
heard OF this achievement and was not 10 be-
eclpsed. sue was very poor, and she sat up
working nearly all the nights for great
wnile until she bought sealskin coat. have
not heard OF the result on that street. The
street was tull OF those who are on small I'M
comes. but | suppose the cOntagion spread
and that everybody had q sealskin coat, and
MAI the people came out and cried. practi-
sally. not literally: Though the heavens
tall we must have a sealskin coat"
was out West, and minister 81 theGosuel
told me IN Iowa mat ms church and the
Deighb rhood had been Impoverished by the
Tact that they put mortgages ON their farms
Ia order to send their families to the Phila.
delphia Centennial. ID Was not respectabie
not to go To the Centennial. Between nurh
evils and paupcrism there h. very short
step. The vast M aiOrity of chi dreu in your
a'msh0uses are there because their parents
are drunken, or lazy, or rcckic5.ly improve
dent.
have nOsynpathy for skin. fints1y.ug. but
! plead for Christian prudence You say 10 IS
impossible now 10 lay mp anything Tor a rainy
day know it; but We are 40 he da vbroak
Of national prosperity. some people think 10
b. mean 90 turn the gas low when they g0 ont
Of she parlor. fhcy feel embarrassed if the