The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-02-20
A TERRIBLE ENEMY,
The Working Mans Most Inveterate Foe
"A Few Pertinent Questions.

rhe Working Mans Most Inveterate Foe
"A Few Pertinent Questions.
Look about you; did you ever see a
rolling-mill, large manufacturing es-
Establishment of any kind erected on
vacant ground in the thinly-settled
suburbs of one of our cities? And did
you note that before that structure
was completed, before a wheel was
ready to turn, that the ever vigilant
rum. power established saloon in
close proximity therefor And did you
realize the additional fact that on the
street or streets leading to it saloon
after saloon sprang up, until there
was no road an operative could travel
in going to and from his daily labors
that he would not pass a rum-holeP
There is not in the whole United
States one manufacturing establish
ment of any kind that employs a score
of workmen, that saloon is not in
close proximity to it. Let a new fac
tory be built in a spot a half-mile dis
tant from a rum-hole, and new one
opens its doors near by. The working
man has before him, day and night, the
constant temptation to drink. And
those already victims of the drink
habit-those in whom indulgence has
fixed that awful thirst whose torment,
when unsatistied, is the only earthly
thing which can give man a faint
id.9a of the pains of hel-are active
missionaries in the rum devils work
His slaves themselves, they act as
agents to bring their fellow-operative
under the yoke of the demon.
II the working-men of this Nation
were free from the appetite for rum,
threH,-fourths of the saloons would have
to close up for want of patronage.
Every man who takes the pains to in
veStiGate can find out the fact that the
saloon-keepers live principally off the
hard-carned wages of laboring men.
When payday arrives in any large
manufacturing town, the groggeries do
their most rushing business. The mon
ey that the mechanic or laborer should
spend on his family is squandered on
drink. and goes to fit up costly bar,
to dress the saloon-keepers wife in
silks and satins, to furnish his table
with rich fare-while the working
mans wife dresses in calico, his chill
dren in shreds and patches, and their
fare is of the poorest. Heaven alone
knows the misery suffered in that home
which has drunken father or drunk
en- son.
What is the reason that the honest,
sober element in the various trades
unions do not direct their energies to
the determination of this ruinous traffic,
which draws the bulk of its sustenance
from the very men they were organized
to benefit? Why is not the united pow
er of these unions directed to the loos-
ening of the rum-power's hold upon
their members, to saving the young
men in their ranks from falling into
the clutches of this demon? Why do
they not unite against this monster evil
of our land, which is the greatest enemy
of the working classes?
Who are these saloon-keepers, that
they should grow wealthy off the earn
ings of hard-handed labor-that into
their Golfers should flow the golden
stream that would bring comfort, and
joy, and happiness, into the houses of
the laboring menp What claim have
they that they should be preferred to
wife and children, or mother az
father?
"Oh, they are good fellows!" Yes,
on the outside. They are polite, and
agreeable, because it is to their inter-
est to be so; they are Jolly company,
because it attracts custom. 1t is mat
ter of money to them, not of kindly
heart or hospitable nature. Once let
the rum-besotted victim spend his last
cent, and they have no more use for
him. They are an utterly selfish class,
in whose eyes gold weighs far more
than the souls of men.
One fact proves this-that as a class
(there may he few exceptions) they
will furnish rum to a drunkard, so
long as he can pay for it, despite the
prayers of the drunkard's wife, despite
the tears and walls of his children.
The money they will have, and they
will furnish rum as long as it is forth
coming Toledo Blade.