The Brookhaven leader., 1886-03-18
woRKlNo-MEN AND WHISKY.
A Drinking Man Not Capable of Doing
Good wOrk-An Annoyance and a Vile
Smelling Nuisance.

Drinking Man Not Capable of Doing
Good work-An Annoyance and a Vile.
Smelling Nuisance.
The fact is that no man who is the
slave of the drink demon is first-class
workman. He may he able, when he
is sober, to do good work. But when
he is flushed with drink, the clear head.
the steady hand, the accurate eye, are
all gone. The brain, dazed by the ac.
cursed fumes of alcohol, is incapable
of its best work. IL Is fact, proved
time and again in post-mortcm exami-
tainons of the bodies of men who have
come to their deaths when drunk, that
the assures of the brain contain some
times as much as a teaspoonful of pure
alcohol. The workman in this condi-
ton is certainly not capable of doing
his best, The eye, the hand, share the
condition of the brain, for the nervous
system. of which the brain is the center,
partakes of that organ incapacity to
exert its powers properly and fully.
Nor is the condition of the confirmed
drinker. on those occasions when he is
not poured down any of this alcoholic
poison for time-very much i'm
proved. 1t is law of nature that every
excess, in any direction, is followed by
a corresponding reaction. The stimu-
lus of the fiery liquid is gone. Every
muscle is relaxed and weak. and the
system is enervated. The brain is weak
and irritable from the poison that has
been carried to its every fiber by the
blood, and every nerve is unStrung.
| The man is cross, sulky, suffers from
the blues, is ''hard to get along with, y
because of this depression of his ncrv
Gus and muscular system after the un
natural tension to which it has beer
subjected. He does not feel like work
IL requires a supreme effort to enable
him to go through his round of daily
duty even in perfunctOry manner.
Again, drinking workman is an an.
noyance to every body with whom he
comes in contact When under the in
tluencc of rum he is hilarious, noisy,
often profane and fOul-mouthed in
speech; a vile-smelling nuisance to the
respectable workmen, disgrace to
himself and to the establishment.
When suffering from the reaction of
his debauch. he is equal ly unpleasant
either sulky and silent, or giving vent
to his spleen in being quarrelsome and
insulting.
Is not all this a matter which is
worthy the attention of the labor or
CARNATIONS of the country? Master
Workman Powderly, of the Knights OF
Labor of the United States, in his re-
port, issued at the close of the last year,
made use of this strong language in
regard to the admission of drinking
men to membership i'll that powerful
order:
"Ff man given to the use of strong drink,
and a serpent, applied for admiSS. on to the
order, | would vote for the serpent in pref
erence to the drunkard. do not ask of those
who join us that they shall be SAINTS: but
have right to expect, ana do ask OF them, to
be men"
But the eXigencies of the struggle to
control the laboring element of the
country by getting every work
ing-man enrolled in labor organi-
cations, leads to the acceptance
of men without inquiring as to
their habits Besides. young man
may be temperate when admitted, and
become a victim of rum afterwards.
Thousands of them do Is it not the
part of wisdom for these labor societies,
under whatever name they may be
known, to exert their powerful intiu-
ence in the work of crushing out the
making and selling of rum?-TOtedo
Blade.