The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-01-18
A COMMON ENEMY.

The Rum Traffic tho Business Mans Foe
An Argument from the DolIar-and-
Cent Standpoint.
There is business side to the liquor
question as we'll as a moral side; and
though rum-selling is not legitimate
business, it has an important bearing
upon all kinds of retail trade-a bearing
too often overlooked by the very men
who are themselves the most interested.
1t is an important matter to them, be-
cause it affects their poclietS-and we all
know that the pOCliGt-ncrve is q very
sensitive one. 1t is touched constantly
by the rum traffic; for it is perfectly
safe to say that every cent spent in in
toXicantS is taken from the retail deal
ers of the city; and it is worse than
wasted, because it does the purchaser
harm instead of good. 1t is not only a
dead waste of the money spent, but it
incapacitates the user from earning
more. No confirmed drunkard is a good
or reliable workman. He can not do as
much work as temperate man, nor is
its quality as good, if his line of labor
lies i'll any occupation in which the quail
GRAFTON.
Look about you and you will note
that the regular drunkard never lives in
good house; that he mover owns his
residence, nor pays rent promptly for
the rented tenement he occupies. What
stands in the way of his either owning
his own, or of his paying rent promptly
for decent residence? Ask him and
he will reply that he is too poor" But
his poverty is the result of his drinking
habits; hence the real reason that he is
living in a hired hovel is rum-nothing
else. The saloon, mcrcenary to the last
degree, absorbs the money that would
buy him q comfortable cottage, or pay
the rent for decent tenement for the
occupancy of himself and his family
The lumber-1ealer, the hardware man,
the carpenters, masons, painters, plas-
terers-in fact, all who are engaged in
the building trades-are thus robbed by
the saloon.
Did any ono ever see a confirmed
drunkard's family properly and health
fully fed? Never. The wife and chill
dren do not have food of the proper
quality, nor enough of it, such as it is.
Helpless dependents upon a drunken
husband and father, they are compelled
20 live upon just enough TO sustain life,
and that of tho coarscst and cheapest.
They do not live, they merely exist. 1t
is not because they wish to have scanty
fare and poor food, hut because they can
get no better. The saloon robs them of
what should enable them to do it; and
1t robS the butcher, the baker, the
groceryman, the gardener and all
others who make the purveying of food
their occupation, of tho money that
should buy proper food. The drunkard
is their customer only for the cheapest
and poorest of tLcir stock. The saloon
gets the bulk of his money.
Did you ever see drunkard who wore
decent clothes, or one whose family
we're comfortably, neatly and warmly
clad? Never. They usually are dressed
in airy rags in the warmer portion of
the year, and during the winter shiver
through the cold weather in garments
utterly inadequate for their comfort.
Tho children go in summer with bare
ieet and in winter wear the cast-off
'cot-gear of happier and more fortunate
'nes. The drunkard is too poor" to
BUY proper clothing. The money he
'hould spend for such articles goes into
The till of the saloon. That institution
'cbs his family of the price of the gar
nents necessary for their comfort, their
:cspectability in appearances; it robs the
iry-goods merchant, the clothing man,
The dealers in boots and shoes. If it
we're not for the saloon the money that
is now wasted in rum would be spent in
part with them, for the proper dressing
Of the drinher and his family
Shelter, food and clothing are neces-
nties of life. The drunkard himself
buys the poorest and cheapest of these
things in order that he may have the
more money to waste for rum. As for
The comforts of life-articles not abso-
mtely required to sustain existence, but
which stand next to them-such as
books, carpets. pictures, periodicals, |
nus cal instruments and the thousand |
md one things that fill the happy