The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1897-06-10
TO BREADWINNERS
Rev. DR.. Talmage Addresses tho
Working Men Of the Land.
Proclamation Of . Strike Against strong
Drink, Which should bring salvation
~ the Working Classes and Eman-
elpation 70 the Nation.

0k40n OF y StR1ke ARAlult StfOnK
Drink, which should Bring salvation
" the Working Glasses and Eman-
elpation 70 the Nation.
n. ,,,,,u;ru n D. n
n.yr;.. Ts,. ~
ss
nm 49, go.
We TIM, sarrs,, ~,... ..,,a,, . :, 40,
It In a BAY with holes~HavgaI l. a
In Persia, under the reign of Darius
Hystaspes, the people did not prosper.
They made money, but did not keen it.
They were like people who have a snck
In which they nut money. not knowing
that the sack is torn or eaten Of moths,
or In some way made incapable Of hold.
ing valuables. As fast as the coin was
put in one end of the sack II dropped
out of the other. Itmade no difference
how much wages they rot. for they
lost them. ale that earneth wages,
earneth wages To nut Il into q bay with
holes"
What has become Of the billions and
billions of dollars in this country paid
to the working classes? Some of these
moneys have gone for house rent, or
the purchase of homesteads, or ward
robe, or family expenses, or the neces-
sites of life, or to provide comforts in
old age. What has become of other
billions? Wasted in foolish outlay.
Wasted at the gaming table. Wasted
In intoxicants. Put in q bag with a
hundred holes.
Gather up the money that the work
ing classes have spent for drink dur
ing the last 80 years, and l will build
for every working man a house, and
lay out for him a garden, and clothe
his sons liz broadcloth and his daughters
in silks, and place ut his front door a
prancing span Of sorrels or bays, and
secure him a policy of life insurance.
so that the present home may be veil
maintained after he is dead. The most
persistent, most overpowering enemy
of the working classes is Intoxicating
liquor. 1t is the anarchist of the cen
turtles, and has ~boycotted, and is now
boycotting, the body and mind and
soul OF American labor. 1t is to it a
worse foe than monopoly and worse
than associated capital.
It annually swindles industry out of
| a large nercentage of it's earnings II
| holds ont its BLASTING solicitations To
| the mechanic or operative on his way
To work. and at the noon smell. and on
his wav home at eyentide; on Saturday.
when the wages are paid. it snatcbes n
| large mart Of the money that MIGHT
| come into tho family and s,cr; tcss n
among the sal~oonkeeners. stand the
saloons of this country side bv side.
and It is carefully estimated that thew
would reach from New York to Chi
caoo. FORWARD. march saws tho
drink power. .and take nossessiop of
| the American nation.
The drink business is no,r;no ito
| vitriolic and damnable lands down
| the throats of hundreds Of thousands of
laborers, and while the ordinary strikes
are ruinous both to employers and en-
Moves, I proclaim a strike universal
against strong ari,k which ~ kent
mn. will be the relief nj the vvork;ng
classes and the salvation ~ the nation
I will undertake. to SAY that there is
not q healthy laborer in the United
States who, within the next len years,
II he will refuse all Intoxicating lbev-
erage and be saving, may not become q
capitalist on a small scale. Our coun-
try in a year spends 81, 500, $50, 900 for
drink. OF course, the working classes
do a great deal OF this expenditure.
Careful statistics show that the wage
earning classes of Great Britain ex
pend in liquors R100, 900, 900, or $780,
900, 900 u year. Sit down and cal
culate. 0 workingman! how much
you have expended in these
directions. Add it 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
vou deplete a workingman's physical
energy you deplete his capital. The
stimulated workman gives put before
the unstimulated workman. My
father said; II became a temperance
man in early life, because l noticed in
the harvest field that, though l was
physically weaker than other work.
men, ! could hold out longer than they.
They took st%imulants; l took none"
A brickmaker in England gives his ex-
p~erience in regard to this matter
among men in his employ. He says,
after investigation: THE beer drink
er who made the fewest bricks made
659. 900; and the abstainer who made
the fewest bricks 746, 900. The differ
ence In behalf of the abstainer over
the indulger, $1,000"
When an army goes out to the battle
the soldier who has water or coffee in
his canteen marches easier and fights
better than the soldier who has whisky
In his cantcen. Drink helps a man TO
Oh ,,hn- L. 10. ,,xl,, 500 czrxnvt