The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1900-11-23
w. CT. u. COLUMN
CONDUCTED BY MRS. NJ. L. HOBBS.


going forward in the United States,
while the SO called temperance re-
formers have been themselves
scarcely aware Of its existence.
There are today among the hun
dreds of thousands of railway en-
ployees i'm the United States ex-
ceedingly few who drink to excess,
and these hold their positions Tor a
short time only. Managers refuse
to employ airy but sober and ielia-
BILE men, and the employees them
selves insist that such alone shall
be employed. Time was when
there was few railway EMPLOYEES
who did not drink to excess. None
can long hold their positions no"
who do so. The same kind OF rule
is being applied in other kinds OF
business where large numbers OF
men are employed, and it is now
generally insisted by employers and
EMPLOYEES that sobriety shall be
be the rule. The manager OF one
OF the greatest street railway sys'
TENS in the United States says:
II want steady and sober men
in my employ and have only that
kind. If a man when of duty
takes drink on the quiet, he il
not even reprimanded. lmmoder-
ate drinking is bad habit and will
not be tolerated by me. My lore.
men and others who have charge
Of men are repeatedly cautioned to
be very careful when they report
or duty. If man shows the least
sign of having taken drink or two
or does not appear steady in every
way, he is right then and there ask
ed TO step out. We must do that
in self protection, for let it once be-
come known that we tolerate drink
ing and decentralization would ensue
among the whole lot, while every
accident that happened would be
credited by the public to the drunk
en- antics of our men. We would
then be com elled to pay every
claim made against US. The courts
would allow them, a. Judges would
decide that we were responsible
for the acts OF our servants. This
explai why we must watch our
men and keep them out OF the sa-
looms; that we must not only threat
Ell, but also inilict punishment
when deserved. Some Of the labor
leaders accuse US of infringing on
personal liberty. They might as
well say it is needless to prevent
workers in a powder mill from
smoking
II is the right of every man who
has in his keeping the lives and the
safety of others to demard that his
employees shall always be in such
condition that they are reliable, and
the, are not so WHEN under the in
huence Of strong drink Employee:
themselves feel the same way about
this matter, for their own lives may
be imperied by drunken fellow
workman. A steamboat or rail
way, steam or cleo trio, run by 10
OF booty employees, is likely TO b.
wrecked without the interpo-ition 0
professional railroad wrecker.
The owners OF railroads an,
steamboats, have been compelled t
draw the line in the drinking pro
clivities Of their employees, and tn
rule is to refuse ployment to al
men who have formed the drinking
] habit. This is so obviously recog
7 nizing the law of self preservation
r that the principle needs no defense
e least of all from those who assail
as Interference with personal lib
, erty = No man has any rea
right to make himself curse to hi
fellow men, besides inhicting injur
upon himself. The right TO &c
drunk or to make a sot OF ones sci
, may well be questioned.
Referring to the slbj ct an eS
change says: In no business ha
the change in respect to lquc
drinking been more manifest tina
in the newspaper business. Th
time was when a newspaper ma
was con=idered by the public as in
separable from his cups. He wa
expected to drink and get drunk
There used to be newspapers in thi
country, and not obscure ole
either, which had not single ma
on the force to whom the road TO tn
saloon was not more familiar tina
!. the road to his home. From th
head OF the e. Enlistment dowr
they drank. and there wasn't a
? article in the paper. local, editori'
or general news, which WASH
favored more or less with the booz
Of those who prepared the matter
River and marine editors in thos
DAYS wore places on the bar wher