News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1900-10-17

the town it could easily be told where
a large part of the other 60 per cent.
we're. 1t was not uncommon to see a
boy or girl eight or ten years old
come out of a saloon with pail of
beer. boU order | suppose,
the law prohibiting the sale to chill
dren. This, friends, would be the tx
act condition in any place where sa-
looms existed, am convinced, as it is
so in every place of it's kind and to
such an extent as the laboring class
is large or small.
was for two months located in a
town in Indiana with an Incorporate
ed village of less than one thousand
people. There were three licensed sa-
looms and one drug store which
amounted to the same thing only
more aristocratic. The amount of
liquor and beer consumed in that
place was something enormous for
its size. One saloon keeper told me
himself that he cleared above expens-
es $3.50 in the month Of July; .hot
month you know, and of course the
rest come in for their share of the pat
ronage. The village is the centre of
trade fDr quite a large territory
around. To see one or two men
staggering around which occurred
q lite often caused no comment at all
but after ball games, etc, when eight
or ten would be seen under the
weather" it would perhaps be spoken
Of
The city where | am now has a pop
ulation of between 1000 and 5000
people has % saloons, open all
night and Sundays; being open after
IL O'Clock, and on Sundays is contra
ry to the law, but it's done Just the
same.
Gambling of most every description
is carried on in most of the saloons
against the law also, but a little
hush" money now and then on the
side will allow most anything in some
places. Last Saturday evening a
friend and myself while walking up
and down the main street in the space
of time of about 40 minutes counted
1S men who were more or less intoXi.
Gated and no one knows how many
more there might have been inside it
being night of pay day at the mines.
In all my ex oeriences it seems that
such things exist in places which con-
tain the most number of labOring
men just the opposite of what it
should be, if at all, which illustrates
to me that as long as the United
States licenses the sale of liquor it
would be best for the people of every
State to legislate in favor of schools,
institutions of learning of all kinds,
with attendance strictly compulsory
until of age and free if necessary.
OF course it would be harsh to
blame everything of this kind onto
the poor laboring man but as be-
long to that class myself | have only
words of sympathy at heart when ex
pressing conditions as they actually
exist.
haven't the least doubt but what
in the present strike in Pennsylvania
the 60 per cent. mentioned above
who were not at work in the mines
are the foremost and leaders ip,t he
trouble while the other 40 per cent.
are good, honest, law-abiding citizens
with family, and while knowing
that they are i'll treated, misused and
cheated by the coal kings are still
willing to keep at work even if they
do have to pay 90 cents per pound
for powder which costs 30 and 80
cents and many such instances which
| know to exist.
I'll be running this into political
argument if | don't look out so | will
close. Yours truly,
E. M. STEVENS.