The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-05-28
THE BAG WITH HOLES
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON ON IMPROV-
lDENCE AND ALCOHOLISM.

WASHINGTON, May 23.-This sermon
of DIR. Talmage is an arraignment O
improvidence in all classes, and of al
coholism as the greatest enemy Of thu
working people. The text is Haggai i
9, "He that earneth wages earnetf
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 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. y
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 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 30 years, and I will build for
every workingman 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 q prancing
span of sorrels or bays, and secure
him policy of life insurance, so that
the present home may be we'll main
tanned after he is dead. The most per-
sistent most Overpowering 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 worse foe than
monopoly and worse than associated
capital.
Strike Against Strong Drink.
1t annually swindles industry out OF
a 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, it
snatches a 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 l proclaim strike universal .
against strong drink, which, if kept up,
will be the relief of the working classes
and the salvation Of the natien. will
to say that there is rot a
healthy labOrer i'll the United States
who within the next ten years, if h.
will refuse all Intoxicating beverages
and be saving, may not become a cap
italist Oh a small scale. Our country in
a year spends 81, 1900, $50, 600 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
800, 600, 900, or $500, 900, 900 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 workingman' physical ener-
gy, you deplete his capital. The slim
ulated workman gives out before the
workman. My father
said: 81 became temperance man in
early life, because l noticed in the har-
vest field that though l was physically
weaker than other workmen, l could
hold out longer than they. They took
l 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 500, 600, and the alb
;tainer who made the fewest bricks
TAG, 000 The difference in behalf of the
abstainer over the indulger. 81, 000."
The False Strength of Liquor.
When an army goes out to the battle,
he soldier who has water or coffee in
lis canteen marches easier and fights
better than the soldier who has whisky
n his canteen. Drink helps man to
light when he has only one contestant,
md that at the street corner, but when
he goes forth to maintain some great
,attle for God and his country, he
wants no drink about him. When the
Russians go to war, a corporal passes
Ilong the line and smells the breath of
very soldier. If there be in his breath
! faint of intoxicating liquor, the man
S sent back to the barracks. Why? He
annot endure fatigue. All our young
men know this. When they are prepar-
ng for a regatta or for ball club or
or an athletic wrestling, they abstain.
Dur working people will be wiser after
while, and the money they fling away
N hurtful indulgences they will put |
nto cooperative association, and so be-