The Penn's Grove record., 1895-08-16
REV. DR.. TaLqAGE.
rhe Brooklyn Dlyine's Sunday
Sermon.
Subject: "Ths orst Foe of Labor

Subject: "Ths W orst Foe of Labor
lowing to great grief at the sudden deati
" his lamented wife, Rev. DIR. i. De Wit
Talmage cancelled his engagement to preach,
but in order that the vast congregation to
which he speaks through the press may not
be disappointed, a famous and always-ttme
ly sermon delivered by him on q preyiou
occasion is supplied for this week.
TEXT. aHe that earneth wages, earneth
wages to put 1t into . bag with holes-"-
Haggai l., 9.
In Persia, under the reign OF Darius Hy
staspes, the people did not prosper. They
made money, but did not keep 1t. They
were like people who have a sack In which
they put money, not knowing that the a
is torn, or eaten Of moths, or In some way
made incapable of holding valuables. As
fest as the coin was put In one end Of the
no difference how much wages they got, Tor
they lost them. "He that earneth wages,
esrneth wages to put 1t into a bag witt
holes"
What has become Of the billions and bill
lions Of dollars in this country paid to the
working classss2 Some OF these moneys
have gone for house rent, or the purchase OF
homesteads, or wardrobe, or family expenses,
or the necessities Of life, or to provide COM
forts in old age. What has become Of other
billions2 Wasted in foolish outlay. Wasted
at the gaming-table. Wasted 10 in~toxicants
Put into a bag with q hundred holes.
Gather up the money that tho working
classes have spent for rum during the last
thirty years, n 1 will build for every work
ingman a house, and lay out for him q gar
den, and clothe his sons in ~broadcloth and
b{a Jn-o6ta- ~ alba and mfanA az hfa fpAnf
ioor a prancing span Of sorrels or bays, and
secure him q policy Of life insurance, so that
the present home may be well maintained
after he is dead. The most persistent, most
overpowering enemy OF the working Glasses
Is intoxicating liquor. It is the anarchist OF
the centuries, and has boycotted and is now
boycotting the body and mind and soul Of
American labor. It is to II a worse foe than
monopoly, and worse than associated capt.
tai.
1t annually swindles industry out Of ,
large percentage OF its earnings. 1t holds
out its blasting solicitations to the mechanic
or operative on his way to work, and at the
noon-spell, and on his way home at even
tide; on Saturday, when the wages are paid,
1t snatohes a large part of the money hat
might come to the family, and sacrifices II
among the saloon keepers. Within eight
| hundred Yards of Sands Street Methodist
Church, Brooklyn, it has ffty-iour saloons,
and Is plotting now for another. Stand the
saloons OF this country side by side, and it
Is carefully estimated they would reach from
New York to Chicago. Forward, march,
saws the rum power, and take possession Of
the American Nationl The rum business Is
| pouring it's vitriolic and damnable liquids
down the threats Of hundreds OF thousands
Of laborers, and while the ordinary strikes
are ruinous both to employers and
employees, I proclaim a strike universal
against strong drink, which, If kept
up, will be the relief Of the working CLASSES
| and the salvation Of the Nation. I will I'M.
| dertake to say that there Is not a healthy
| laborer in the United States who, within
the next ten years, II he will refuse all intox-
| icating beverage and be saving, may not be-
come a capitalist on q small scale. Oui
country in a year spends one billion five
hundred million and fifty thousand dollars
for rum. or course the working Glasses do
a great deal Of this expenditure. Careful
| statistics show that the wsge-earntng classes
of Great Britain expend In liquors one hum
dred million pounds. or five hundred mill
ion dollars a year. Sit down and think, o
w~orkingmani how much you have expend-
ed in these directions. Add 1t all up. Add
up what your ~neighbors have expended. and
realize that instead OF answering the beck
OF other people you might have been your
own capitalist. When you deplete q work.
ingman's physical energy you deplete LII
capital.
The stimulated workman gives out befor.
the ~unstimulated workman. My father said
81 became a temperance man In early life
because I noticed In the harvest field that,
| though l was physically weaker than othei
workmen, I could hold out longer than they.
They took stimulants, I took none" A
briekmaker in Englrnd gives his experience
In regard to this matter among men In his
employ. BE says, after investigation: 'The
beer-drinkers who made the fewest bricks
made six hundred and ifty-nine thousand;
seven hundred and forty-six thousand"
TIL difference in behalf of the abstainer
over the indulger. eighty-ssven thousand.
There came a very ~exhausting time in the
British Parliament. The session was pro-
longed until nearly all the members got sick
or worn out. Out Of six hundred and fifty.
two members only two went through un
damaged; they were teetotaiers.
When an army goes out to the battle the
| soldier who has water or coffee in his San
| teen marches easier n fights better than
the soldier who has whisky In his canteen.
Bum helps q a to fight when he has only
one contestant, and that at the street cor
ner. But when he goes forth to maintain
some great battle for God and his country,
he wants no rum about him. When the
Russians go to war a corporal passes along
the line and smells the breath OF every sol.
| der. II there be In his breath q faint Of in
| toxicating liquor, the man IL sent back to
| the barracks. Whyp He cannot endure IA
| tigue. All our young men know this. When
they are preparing for regatta, or for q ball
club. or for an athletic wrestling, they alb
stain. Our working people will be wiser at-
ter a while, and the money they fling away
| on hurtful indulgences they will put into CO.
| operative associations, and so become capt.
talists. II the w~orkingman put down his
wages and then take his expenses and spread
them out, so they will just equal, he Is not
wise. | know workingmen who are in q
perfect fdget until they get rid of their last
dollar.
The following circumstances came under
our observations: Ayoung mar worked hard
to earn his six or seven hundred dollars
yearly. Marriage day came. The bride had
Inherited five hundred dollars from her
grandfather. She spent every dollar of 1t on
rooms in a third story. Then the young man
took extra evening employment; almost eH-
hausted with the days work, yet took even
ing employment. 1t almost exttnguished HE
eyesight. Why did he add evening employ
ment to the day employment To get money,
Why did he waut to get money! To lay up
something for a rainy day9 No. To get his
life insured, so that In case of his death his
wife would not be a beggar? No. He put
the extra evening work to the day work that
he might get a hundred and nifty dollars to
get his wife q bealskin coat. The sister OF
the bride heard of this achievement, and was
not TO be collapsed. She was very poor, and
she sat up working nearly all the nights for
a great while until she bought a sealskin
coat. have not heard Of the result on that
street. The street was full Of those VINO are
on small incomes, but l suppose the con-
tagion spread, and that everybody had a
sealskin coat, and that the people came out
and cried, practically, not literally; Though
the heavens fall, we must have a sealskfn
coat"
/ was out West, and a minister Of the Cos
pei told me, in Iowa. that his church and the
neighborhood had been impoverished by the
fact that they put mortgages on their farms
in order to send their families to the Phila-
delphia Centennial. 1t was not respectable
not to go to the Centennial. Between such
evils and pauperism there Is a very short step.
The vast majority Of children In your aim
houses are there because their parents are
drunken, or lazy. or recklessly improyidenk
Ihave no sympathy for skinfiint saving.
but I plead for Christian prudence. You say
n "a impossible now to lay up anything for
rainy day. know II, but we are At the day
break OF National prosperity. Some peopl'
fhtnk n Ia maan m furn tho Oaa Low UhAI