Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-03-30
The Handicap of Drink.

A representative of The New York Voice
asked of several business men, we'll known
and highly esteemed in New York COM
mercial circles, their Views upon the use
Of liquor by business men and their en-.
ployes. The answers given by all Of them
showed marked hostility to drinking habits
and many OF them remarked upon the
change that has come to pass in the bust.
ness world in this respect within the last
few years. The old custom of treating,
that used to play so large part In the
transaction OF large wholesale deals with
out-of-town customers, they all agreed has
largely disappeared.
Among the men with whom The New
York Voice Representatives talked was Henry
Clews, one Of the m ost widely known fnan.
cial operators in the city. Mr.. Clews said:
Drinking dwarfs mems abilities, makes
them erratic, and interferes with good
judgment. 1t makes them see things with
a distorted mental vision and leads them in
to disastrous enterprises. Competition Is so
keen to-day that man must keep his head
cool and his Judgment unimpalred in order
to protect his own and his customers in.
terests. Drink makes man see either the
brightest or the gloomiest side OF things
which Is dangerous. On the Stock Elk.
change to-day man who drinks habit.
ually Is apt to be avoided, where few
years ago the fault was overlooked. Busl-
ness to-day is conducted on a different
basis from that OF twenty years back. II
was then thought that II man was con-
vivial and made friends, business would be
induced; and some of the houses in the
Street used to have drinking" part.
ners" to take customers out and treat
them; but such thing is not known any
more. 1t Is no longer necessary for s
broker to open wine for his customers; IL
fact, such course Is to-day regarded with
suspicion. Men are apt to think less OF
man for putting temptation in their way
Mr.. Clews, who is familiar with the social
custom of the best families of the city,
also expressed his opinion that the con-
sumption of liquor in the homes OF wealth
has very materially diminished and also
that "bar drinking" In Wall street has
within the last fifteen years decreased not
less than fifty per cent.
The subject was also brought up in con-
versation with Mr.. Chester s. Lord, VINO
has for eighteen years been the managing
editor Of the New York Sun. Mr.. Lord de-
cidedly believes that a newspaper man in
these days of intense competition can not
succeed if he allows his powers to be i'm
paired by the use of liquor. With regard
to the condition of affairs in the once Of
the Sun, he said:
"Intemperance will not be tolerated in
this office on the part of anybody. The
only men whom have been compelled to
let go during the last three or four years
owe their dismissal to intemperance."
President John ClaAin, of the great
wholesale house of H. b. Claflin Company
speaking of drinking among employees,
said
"We can not afford to keep man who
drinks habitually-no matter how good a
salesman he may be. There is a marked
change for the better in this respect
throughout the entire business section Of
New York, and think throughout the
country Competition is so active that
every concern must be on the alert for
trade, and intemperance on the part Of
statesmen will not be put up with"