The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-06-03
Or IllAlGES SUNDAY SERMON.
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE.
Improvidence and Alcoholism Arraicned
Most .Overpowering Enemy of the
Working People IL Strong Drink-A
Plea for Earnest Christian Prudence.

wages to put into bag with holes. Flag
| gai /, 6.
In Persia, under the reign OF Darius
Hystaspes, the people did not prosper
| They msde money, but did not keep it.
Ihey 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 m>de incapable of holding valu-
ables. As fast as the coin was put in one
end OF the sack t dropped out OF the 9TH
| er. Ii 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 mon
| eys have gone for house rent, or the
purchase of homesteads. or wardrobe. or
family expenses, or the necessities OF life,
or to provide comforts in old age. What
has become of other billions? Wasted in
foolish outlay. Wasted at the gaming ta-
Bile. Wasted in intoxicants. Put into u
bag with 100 holes.
Gather up the money that the working
classes have spent for drink during the last
thirty years, and | will build for every
workingman house and lay out for him n
garden, and clothe his sons in broadroth
and his daughters in silks, and place at his
front door prancing span of sorrels or
bays and secure him a policy OF life insur-
ance, so that the present home may be well
maintained after he is dead. The most per-
sistent, most overpowcrinS 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 American labor. 1t
Is to 1t worse foe than monopoly and
worse than associated capital.
1t annually swndles industry out OF n
large percentage Of earnings. 1t holds out
Its blastings solicitations 20 the mechanic
or operative on his way to work and at the
noon SPELL and on his way hone at even
tide; on Saturday, when the wages ere paid, ,
II snatches large part Of the money tnat
might come into the family and sacrifices ii
among the saloon keepers. Stand the sa-
looms OF this country side by side and it is
carefully estimated that they would reach
from New York to Chicago. Forward
march, says the drink power, "and take
possession of the American Nation"
Ihe drink business is pouring its vitriOlic
and damnable liquids down the throats of
hundreds of thousands of lAborcrs and
while the ordinary strikes are ruinous both
to employers and employees. | proclaim II
strike universal against strong drink,
which, II kept up, will he the relief OF the
working classes and the salvation of the
Nation. ] will undertake. to say that there
is not healthy laborcr in the United States
who within the next ten years. if he will re-
fuse all intoxicating beverages and be saw
Ing, may not become II capitalist on a small
scale. Our countryin Il year spends 81
500, go 900 for drink. OF course the work
ing classes do great deal Of this "Npcndi-
ture. Careful statistics show that the
wage earning classes OF Great Britain rN-
pend in liquors rl00,00 600 900 or $500
900 600 year. Sit down and calculate oh,
workinSmcn, how much you have "N-
pended in these directions. Add it all up.
Add up what your ncighborS have rX-
pended and realize that instead Of answer
ing the beck of other people You might
have been your own capitalist, When you
deplcte wOrkingmans ) physical energy,
you deplete his capital. The stimulated
workman gives out before the unstimuIatcd
workman. Ny father said: IL became Il
temperance man in early life, because /
noticed in the harvest field that though !
was physically weaker than other work
men, | could hold ont longer than they.
They took stimulants. Itook none" A brick
maker in England gives his experience in
regard to this matter among men in his
employ. He says, after investigation:
"The beer drinker who made the fcwest
bricks made $4,000, and the abstaincr who
made the fcwest bricks TAG, 900. The diff
ference in behalf Of the abstaincr over the
indulger 81 900"
l have no sympathy for skinnint saving
but l plead for Christian prudence. You
say II Is impossible now to lay up anything
Tor rainy day. ! know it, but we are at
the daybreak of National prosperity. Some
people think it is mean to turn the gas low
when they go out of the parlor. They feel
embarrassed If the doorbell rings before
they have the hall lighted. Theyapologizc
tor the plain meal, il you surprise them ut
the table. Well, il is mean II It is only to
pile up miserly board But if II be to cdu-
cate your children, II it be to give NOR"
help to your wife when she does not feel
strong, If it be to keep your funeral day
from being horrible beyond all endurance,
because it is to be- the disruption and an
nihiatiOn Of the domestic circlc-if it be
Tor that then 1t is magnificent.
There are those who are kept in poverty
because Of their own fault. They might
have been well or but they smoked or
chewed up their earnings, or they lived be
yond their means, while Others on the same
wages and on the same salaries went on 10
competency. | know Il man who Is all the
time complaining of his poverty and'crying
out against rich men while he himself keeps
two dogs and chews and smokes and Is full
to the chin with whisky and beer. wilkins
WIZ b'i H"ih " i'uNlu NpIp'lltii' 'bI-
perfeld, my boy, II income, expenses, 2Os
3D.; result misery. But, Copperleld, my
boy, Il income; expenses, 19s. Cd; result,
happiness" But, o workingman, take
your morning dram, and your noon dram,
and your Ievening dram, and spend every
thing you have over for tobacco and excur-
sions, and you insure poverty for, yourself
and your children foreverl
Jf by some generous fiat OF the capt.
talists Of this country or by new law of
the Government Of the United States
twenty-five per cent. or fifty per cent. or
100 per cent. were added to the wages OF
the working classes o. America, it would
be no advantage to hundreds Of thousands |
of them unless they stopped strong drink.
Aye, until they quit that evil habit the more
money the more ruin, the more wages the !
more holes in the bag.
My plea Is to those working people who |
are in a discipleship to the whisky bottle, |
The beer Jug and the wine flask. And what |
! say to them will not be more appropriate |
to the working classes than to the business |
classes and the literary classes and the pro-
fessional classes and all classes and not |
with the people OF one age more than OF all |
ages. Take one good square look at the |
OF the man whom strong drink |
has enthralled and remember that toward |
that goal multitudes are running. The |
disciple Of alcoholism suffers the loss OF |
self respect. Just as soon NJ n man