The Monitor-register., 1897-05-28
THEBAG WITH HOLES
DR.. TALMAeE'S SERMON ON IMPROV-
IDENCE AND ALCOHOLISM.

The Greatest Enemy of the People Who
Work-Drink the Anarchist of the Gen.
turies-AP Plea For Christian Prudence.
Christ as an Aid Against Temptation.
WASHINGTON, May 23.-This sermon
of DR.. Talmage is an ~arraignment of
improvidence in all classes, and of al
cohelism as the greatest enemy of the
working people. The text is Haggal /,
6, "He that earneth wages earneth
wages to put it into a 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 v~aluables. 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 a 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
the purchase of homesteads, or ward
robe, or family expenses, OF 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 a bag with 100 holes.
Gather up the money that the work
ing classes have spent for drink during
the last 80 years, and l will build for
every workingman a house and lay out
for him a garden, and clothe his sons in
~broadcloth and his daughters in silks,
and place at his front door a prancing
span of sorrels OF bays, and secure
him a policy Of life insurance, SO that
the present home may be we'll main
tanned after he is dead. The most per-
sistent, most oyerpowering enemy of the
working classes is intoxicating liquor.
It 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 a worse foe than
monopoly and worse than associated
capital.
A Strike Against Strong Drink.
1t annually swindles industry cut Of
a large percentage of its earnings. II
holds out its blasting solicitations tc
the mechanic or operative on his way
to work, and at the noon spell, and OIL
his way home at eventide; on Satur
day, when the wages are paid, il
snatehes a large part of the money that
might come into the family and sacri-
fees it among the saloon keepers. Stant
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 drinA
power, "and 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 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. [ will
undertake to say that there is not a
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 a cap
italist on a small scale. Our country in
a year spends 81, 500, O50, 900 for drink.
OF course the working classes do a great
deal Of this expenditure. Careful Stats
tics show that the wage earning classes
of Great Britain expend in liquors
4100, 900, 900, or $500, 900, coo a 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 a w~orkingmran's physical ener
gy, you deplete his capital. The slim.
ulated workman gives out before the
u~nstimulated workman. My father
said: 81 became a temperance man il
early life, because l noticed in the har
vest field that though 1 was physically
weaker than other workmen, l coulC
hold out longer than they. They tool
stumulants, I took none." A brick
maker in England gives his experience
in regard to this matter among men il
his employ. He says, after investiga
tion: "The beer drinker who made the
fewest bricks made $50, 900, and the alb
stainer who made the fewest brick.
TAG, 900. The difference in behalf of the
abstainer over the indulger, 81, 000."
h 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 a man to
tight 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
russians go to war, a corporal passes
along the line and smells the breath of
every soldier. If there be i'll his breath
a faint OF Intoxicating liquor, the man
Is sent back to the barracks. Why? He
sannot endure fatigue. All our young
men know this. When they are prepar-
ing Tor a regatta or for a ball club or
for an athletic wrestling, they abstain.
Our. working people will be wiser after
awhile, and the money they fling away
ON hurtful indulgences they will put
into cooperative association, and SO be-
come capitalists. If the workingman
puts down his wages and then takes his
expenses and spreads them SO they
will just equal, he is not wise. I know
workingmen who are in a perfect fdget
until they get rid of their last dollar.
The following circumstances came
under Jul observation: A young man
worked hard to earn his 5000 or $70O
yearly. Marriage day came. The bride
had inherited $500 from her grand
father. She spent every dollar of it on
the wedding dress. Then they rented
two rooms in a third story. Then the
young man took extra evening employ
ment-almost exhausted with the days
work, yet took evening employment.
1t almost extirgyiahod his eyesight.
Why did he add evening employment to
the day employment? To get money.
Why did he want to get money? To lay
up something for a rainy day? No. To
get his life insured, so that in case Of
his death his wife would not be a beg
gar? No. He put the extra evening
work to the day work that he might get
$3.50 to get his wife a sealskin coat.
The sister of the bride heard of this
achievement, and was not to be eclipsed.
She was very poor, and she sat up work.
ing nearly all the night 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 who are on
small incomes, bat I suppose the on