The record-union., 1896-03-19
HOMES, CLUBS AND SALOONS.


The very latest idea in the way of
drink reformation is that the wife of
the man who drinks and insists that
the saloon is the poor mans clubhouse
should herself become the saloon
keeper. Suppose the husband should
say to her: Procure the necessary
liquors, say forty-f1ve gallons, at
SIP so. Now, will drink at home and
pay you just what I would at the sa-
loon. That will mean, at 10 cents,
S562 80 for the forty-five gallons, and
you and I will be ahead when 1 have
consumed the whole, just $3.50. So we
viii make money to put in the bank for
the rainy day"
Now there is just enough sense in this
appeal to the pocket nerve to make it
suggestive of danger to the saloon man.
Suppose all the poor men who drink at
the saloons drank at home, and paid
into the chimney-piece bank the same
price paid the saloon, would there not
be a social revolution?
OF course the other side of the case
is this: The plan would eliminate the
companionship incident to the saloon;
it would knock out the masculine idea
of sociability. Only topers wish to
drink alone And here is the key to
the whole matter-one-h half of all the
perpendicular drinking is due to the
''sociable" sentiment, not to the appe-
tite.
But then, too the bar at home would
be bad for wife and children 1t would
tend to lead them into tipping, and the
result of that need not be stated. More
over, the disposition to run an ac-
count" at the home bar would be quite
irresistible and wreck the financial
scheme. 1t would depend good deal,
however, on the nerve of the wife
The Chicago Record, in considering
the matter, asks ''if the saloon is the
poor mans club, where is the club of
the poor mans wife?" Whereby hangs
a moral The Chattanooga Times
says ''the saloon may be a necessity,
but it is not a necessity as a poor mans
clubhouse and then it adds:
1t is as mean a thing as men are
ever guilty of, to abandon the society
of their wives and babies, for that of
boon companions amid the coarse envi-
rcnments of a barroom. Say nothing
about the money squandered that ought
to be spent to better feed, clothe and
educate the family, the practice of bar
room loafing is a low and degrading
habit that respectable men, whether
they drink much or little, should not
acquire. 1t is ridiculous to talk about
a poor man having mo place else to
CO." He can take his wife for a call
on a congenial neighbor. She may have
such neighbors to call on her, and the
two families may play games, discuss
what they have read in the newspapers
and so on, all to their Improvement.
And let US add to the Times sug-
gestion these questions: What is the
matter with the free library, with the
literary and free entertainments going
en- in all considerable communities?
What is the matter with forming neigh
borhood clubs for light amusement, for
recreation and for change from every
day routine? Is there anyone so poor
that he cannot take pleasure in the
company Of friends and neighbors? Is
there any community where poor man
cannot find congenial companionship
of sensible, sober people, outside of the
saloon?
Then there is the lecture hall, the de-
cent cheap theater, and the varied en-
tertainments given by societies and
churches at small cost that will give
reasonable change at least twice
week, and the cost for both man and
wife not be one-third the price that a
man pays for club privileges in a sa-
loon for himself.
The truth is that the manly man who
loves his home will always despise
himself for putting the club, be it ssa-
loon or club house. before his home. If
he does not love his home, then God
help that home and pity that wife and
family. We do not wish to believe that
men leave their homes to waste their
time in barrooms because they have
cause to love the latter more than the
former. But it is logical to believe it
to be true that whether for cause or not
some do so love the saloon before the
hcme, despite the sentiment we would
wish TO entertain.
On the other hand, it is positively
known of all men that hundreds of hus-
bands and fathers who have lovely
homes. affectionate wives and charm
ins children, and who love them tender