Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-08-05
WHY SHOULD THE SALOONS BE
TOLERATED.
Powerful Araienments OF the Liquor
Traffic.
LETTER FROM Rev. AxoRr BATTLES

LETTER FROM Rev. AMoRr Battles
TO the Editor If the Wing and Courier:
| As we go through our streets we see the
dry goods merchant. the grocer. the tailor,
the market man, the blacksmith, the joiner,
the painter, the upholsterer, the mill man.
and various other artisans pursuing their vo-
cations and we feel that every one Of them is
minis,ering to the real comfort and prosperity
of the community. They each help supply
the actual wants of men and women. Not
one Of them could be dispensed with. without
bringing inconvenience, if not suffering
But Of what benefit to anybody is the
salOonf Whose happiness or comfort or
prosperity does it promoter Does it tend
to preserve health3 Said the late cele-
brated DR.. Guthrie. Of Scotland, sif you
wish to preserve dead mans body put it
into alcohol. If you wish to kill live
mans body put alcohol into it," This 10
the almost universal verdict of medical
science to day as voiced by the eminent
DR.. Parker. of New York, when he said,
"alcchol is an irritant poison having no
place in healthy system
Does alcohol help one to greater physic
endurance? The greatest feats of strength
and endurance on record have been per-
formed without alcoholic stimulants. When
Weston walked his thousand miles in thou
sand consecutive hours. when Wilson swan
across the English channel. when Lieut..
Greeley went nearer the North Pole than any
white man ever went before or since, they
each wnn their triumphs without alcohol.
| Does ;he saloon help the laborer? Says
Geo. +. Parsons in the Atlantic Monthly for
July. 1888: lone years remission of what
laborers pay saloons would solve every labor
| problem extant. At present the workngman
can hardly make both ends meet. Is it not
because he insists in creating capitalists out
Of saloon-kee pers. The saloon is the most
hideous abuse of the day. 1t keeps working
men poor"
What interest of society that good men
and women cherish and try to promote
does the saloon advance9 Not one 1t is
continual menace to everything that
makes up high civilization. 1t blocks all
true progress. Where it fourishes, police
men must be increased. jails, prisons and
insane asylums enlarged. Rich men pat
ronize it and grow poor. Poor men pat
ronise it and their poverty increases.
Healthy men give it their custom and be-
| come sick. Sick men walk up to the bars
and hasten their death. Men go into it
orderly citizens and come out felons. Kind
husbands pass through its doors and are
changed to brutes. Affectionate fathers
pour their money into its Golfers and be-
come cruel to their children. There may
be no bread at home, hut they will have
money for the saloon. Young men begin to
frequent it and from tina, day their start in
the road to shame is dated.
John Bright once said "if the saloon
should be kept closed for four years in Egg
land, Englishmen would hardly know their
native land" So if the saloon should be
closed and kept closed, as it may be. in Ban
gor four years. there will be such a change
in the order and prosperity of our city that
We should hardly recognize it. Let the ex-
pertinent be tried.
Catalogue all the virtues that have been
honored among Christian people, and the
saloon is the enemy Of them all Make a
schedule Of all the vices and crimes that
have ever cursed humanity. and the saloon
encourages and sbets everyone of them. |
II violates law. it trsmples on good order. |
il interferes with thrift. il bights the |
Joy Of home, it breaks women's hearts be. |
cause it brutalizes husbands and fathers and |
degrades sons and brothers. at puts rags
on meme backs, disease iato their bodies and |
shame and despair in their hearts" 1t has
no rights which honest and virtuous men and |
women are bound to respect. Why, then.
should it be tolerated? II should not be- 1t
ought to be shut up.
With Garbage deienda ea,"-Carthase
must be destroyed. So would 1 close every |
discussion upon the temperance question,
srRorEp. A. BATTLES.