Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-05-24
THE BAG WITH HOLES
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON ON IMPROv-
IDENCE AND ALCOHOLISM.


Work-Drink the Anarchist of the Cen.
turies-A Plea For Christian Prudence
J Christ as an Aid Against Temptation.
WASHINGTON, May 23.-This sermon
of DIR. Talmage is an arraignment of
improvidence in all classes, and of al
coholism as the greatest enemy of the
working people. The text is Haggai i,
9, HE that earneth wages earneth
wages to put it into bag with holes. :"
In Persia, under the reign of Darius
-Hystaspes, the people did not prosper.
They made money, but did not keep it.
They were like people who have a sack
in which they put 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 it dropped
out of the other. 1t made no difference
how much wages they got. for they lost
them HE that earneth wages earneth
wages to put it into bag 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
robe, or family expenses, or the necessi-
ties of life, or to provide comforts in
old age. What has become of other bill
lions? Wasted in foolish outlay. Wasted
at the gaming table. Wasted in intox-
icants. Put into bag with 100 holes.
: Gather up the money that the work
ing classes have spent for drink during
the last 80 years, and / will build for
every wOrkingman house and lay out
for him garden, and clothe his sons in
broadcloth and his daughters in silks,
and place at his front door a prancing
span of sorrels or bays, and secure
him policy of life insurance, so that
the present home may be well main
tanned after he is dead. The most per
sistent, most overpowering enemy of the
working classes is Intoxicating liquor.
1t is the anarchist of the centuries and
has boycotted and is now boycotting
the body and mind and soul of Amer.
lean labor 1t is to it worse foe than
monopoly and worse than associated
capital.
Strike Against Strong Drink.
It annually swindles industry out OF
q large percentage of it's earnings. II
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 eventide; ON Satur.
day, when the wages are paid, il
snatches large part of the money that
might come into the family and sacri-
fees it among the saloon keepers. Stand
the saloons of this country side by side,
and it is carefully estimated that they
would reach from New York to Chica.
go. Forward, march, says the drink
power, land take possession of the
American nation.
The drink business is pouring its Wit.
riolic and damnable liquids down the
Threats of hundreds of thousands of la.
borers, and while the ordinary strikes
are ruinous both to employers and en-
ployees 1 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 |
undertake to say that there is rot
healthy laborer in the United States |
who within the next ten years, if he |
will refuse all Intoxicating beverages |
and be saving, may not become cap
italist on a small scale. Our country in
a year spends 81, 500, O5O, 600 for drink |
OF course the working classes do great |
deal of this expenditure. Careful stats. |
tics show that the wage earning classes
of Great Britain expend in liquors
4100, co.,, 600, or $500, 900, 600 year.
Sit down and calculate, oh, working |
man, 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 you
deplete workingman's physical ener-
gy, you deplete his capital. The slim
ulated workman gives out before the |
unstimulated workman. Ny father
Eaid: 81 became temperance man i'll
early life, because | noticed in the har-
vest field that though [ was physically
weaker than other workmen, could
hold out longer than they. They took
stumulants, I took none.'' A brick
maker in England gives his experience
IN regard to this matter among men in
his employ. He says, after investiga-
ton: 1.-The beer drinker who made the
fewest bricks made $50, 900, and the alb
stainer who made the fewest bricks
TAG, 000 The difference in behalf Of the
abstainer over the indulger. 7,OOO.'
The false Strength of Liquor.
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 canteen. Drink helps man to
fight when he has only one contestant,
and that at the street corner, but when
he goes forth to maintain some great
battle for God and his country, he
wants no drink about him. When the