The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-03-16

most men are, ne soon DeCOlneS IL sIdES
to appetite, a wreck of humanity.
If the whole truth were known we
doubt not that this is the history OF
thousands of men who have been
ruined by drink. They have been
brought under the power of the tempt
er through the leading of their social
instincts. They have gone to the sa-
looms in the first place, not because
they would not have been glad of some,
thing better, not because of the at
fractions OF drink, but because there
seemed to be nothing else for them to
do. 1t is not enough to say that men
should not visit the saloons under any
circumstances, that they should re-
main at home with their families if
they have any, and if not, they should
go on the street or anywhere but in
dram-shops. No doubt this is the,
right position to take in an abstract
view of the case. But we are not dis
cussing distractions now; we are con-
sidering facts; not what men ought to
do in all cases, but what they are
actually doing. The fact is, as we be-
lieve, multitudes of men do frequent
the saloons and become subject to
their temptations who might be saved
if other places were opened to them
where they could find what the saloons
furnish of creature comforts and social
pleasures without their accompanying
evils.
And now the practical question
arises: What shall be done about itf
What shall we do towards supplying
the needs which have been thus out.
lined? In England a very satisfactory
answer has been given to this question
in the establishment of coffee houses,
places that offer all the attractions Of
the saloon, minus their evils. The
English coffee-house system, in its
present form, originated in Liverpool
about fourteen years ago. 1t has since
spread all over the United Kingdom,
and now every city and nearly every
large town has it's coffee-houses. Liv-
erpool has over sixty of these estab-
lishments, all under the management
of one company. Birmingham has
twenty-three, Hull has sixteen and the
total number throughout the Kingdom
is not less than four hundred.
And an abundance of evidence is at
hand showing these coffee houses have
largely accomplished the main aim OF
their existence in effecting great re-
duction in the volume of crime and
no, 70 IN irly f1,Dff
1t is the universal testimony of all
who are competent to speak upon the
subject that they have had this effect.
1t is also shown that the English
houses have been successful not only
in a philanthropic, but in a business
sense. They were not established as
charitable institutions, and it has not
been necessary to run them as such.
On the contrary, many OF them have
paid as high as ten per cent on the
capital invested, and some of them
even more than that. The cases of
actual failure have been extremely
rare.
Now what has been done in England
can be done here, not exactly in the
same way, perhaps, but with the same
idea in view. We need such institu-
lions as the coffee house here, even
more than they do in England, be-
cause we have more drink shops in
proportion to our population. We.
need at least a hundred coffee houses
right here in New York to offset our
eight or nine thousand saloons. They
| should be sprinkled all through the
tenement house districts. sandwiched
in between the rum-shops where pos
sible, set up on the corners OF streets.
arranged with screened windows, if
necessary with machine music and a
free lunch adjunct. supplying pipes,
tobacco and cigars at lower rates than
the saloons furnishes them in short,
supplying any thing to beat the sa-
looms on their own ground, drawing
the line only on alcoholic beverages.
Here is an opportunity for some Of
our men of wealth to do noble work
for the Master. And If they need
other inducements than the approval
of conscience that comes from doing a
| good deed in a naughty world. let
such recall and by their own work
claim the fulfillment of the promise
declared in the Scriptures, that He
which converteth the sinner from the
error of his way shall save a soul
from death, and shall hide multitude
of sins '-Christian at Work.