The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-03-20

Of the 60 entries on these four pages
30 are for whisky, beer and drinks"
almost one-half the number. The
total amount of purchases is $1,000,
but of this $4.35 is for these Internal
poisons. These entries are but a fair
sample of the whole book. ANY four
pages, taken at random, would show
similar figures.
That the owner of this book is poor,
is evident from the character and the
small quantity of his purchases. As
there are no entries, save at one or two
places in the book, of vegetables pur-
chased, we infer that he raised his own,
which were probably stored in the eel
lar, and afforded part of the subsist-
ence of his family. If they ate any
meat except the behring's mentioned, It
was probably bought elsewhere. But
leaving these items out of the question,
what picture of poor fare and pinched
housekeeping do these entries show!
That there is at least one child in the
family is probable from the item, ''doll,
seven cents" What chance has that
poor starveling little one, think you,
to grow to perfect manhood or woman
hood, with sound body, with full physi-
cal powers, and education enough to
battle with the world on terms of equal
ity with the children of men who are
free from the domination of the ac-
cursed drink habit? None. 1t is one
of the worst of the unnumbered woes
that follow the drink habit, that the
curse falls heavily upon the children.
To grow into a strong adult, capable
OF bearing life's burdens, a child must
have plenty Of good, nourishing food.
must be warmly clad, must be well
cared for physically; and in our mod
ern civilization, an education is as
necessary preparation for the life
battle as strong, healthy body. And
the children of drunken parents very
rarely have strong, well-baianced
minds; they inherit the enfeebled brain
of the rum-poisoned parent.
In the two weeks we Judge these en-
tries to cover, this man guzzled 81. SO
in beer, S2.05 in whisky, and IS cents
in rum and drinks In the same
time, he and his family purchased So. 26
in flour. Compare 81. 30 spent in
drunkenness with an expenditure of
So. 26 for flour in the same time! Look
over the rest of the list of purchases;
there is but one thing that can by any
stretch of Imagination be called a lux
ury-jelly-and that purchased a few
cents worth at a time, probably to
render the bread and oleomargarine
butter palatable to the little child
But why comment longer on this
teXtP The bare facts are enough for
any thinking man. He can fill out the
painful picture without aid. He CAP
imagine the bare, comfortless home,
the careworn wife, the ill-fed child, the
coarsely-clad, bloated husband and
father. Unfortunately, such cases are
all too common. Any one familiar
with the life of the poor in cities will
recognize this unknown case as but
one of thousands and tens of thousands
of men going surely down to poverty,
misery and death, dragging their
wretched wives and innocent children
along with them. 1t is only the COM
mon instance of a man upon whom the
rum demon has its internal grasp, that
is ell; laboring man, nearly half of
whose outlay, the first week in this
month of February, was for drink.
Is there any argument for the dam
nable rum traffic that can stand for a
moment in the sight of such a showing
one which is simply representative
of uncounted others in all the cities and
towns of our landp What is. there so
sacred in rum that it must be allowed
to continue its hellish work of making
men insensible to the needs of wife and
children, deliberately brutalizing and
running themselves day by day, steadi-
ly sinking deeper into the horrid pit
which shall sooner or later engulf
them? What is there in this damna-
bic business that men should be al
lowed to follow ito The rum-seller is