The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-26
SCORED IRE NINE ROOMS
REV. THOMAS HAMBLY DENOUNCES
THEM IN UNMEASURED
TERMS
WHAT THE PREACHER SAW
Visited the Old Olympic and Gath
cred Some Pointers - Statfs-
ties of the Evil in
Chicago.

AS short prelude to the services
this evening 1 desire to say few words
regarding the wine rooms" announced
Rev. Thomas Hambly last night, to the
congregation of the Clinton avenue NJ
E. church.
81 want to say a few things that peo-
pie do not generally know about the
wine rooms of this and other cities.
Crime is not so prevalent as it used Ia
be half century ago. People are not
SO much better, but vice is more bold
although there may not be so much of it.
One of the oldest centers of corruption
is the wine room. 1t is also one of the
boldest, but not so bold, 1 hope, but that
few of my audience may know of its
workings.
Among many vices, the wine room is
the most fragrant. There is the gambling
hell, the robbers roost, the dancing hall.
all schools Of vice, but none SO indie
scribably sinful and corrupting as the
wine room. All are the outgrowth of the
saloon. There are thousand more vices
among the social inventions for the de-
basement of mankind to the level of the
beast and the brute, but the wine room
stands unparalleled as a success. In
these rooms gather persons Of no reputa-
ton and those of questionable reputa-
ages.
RAMPANT IN CHICAGO.
at is declared on the best authority
that more women any day in the week
may be found in the wine rooms of Chi
cago than can be counted in the churches
on Sunday. It is not only possible, but
it is so. The Hull house in Chicago is an
attempt to cure the evil. 1t is doing more
work than any other movement for q
similar purpose Originally commenced
in London by body Of students who
voluntarily went to live in the slums
and lived there on a higher plane than
their surroundings; it was brought to
Chicago and carried on there by Jane
Adams. One of the first things accom-
plished was the institution Of a school
where children were brought in and
taught to dance properly. It takes no
brains to learn to dance or play cards,
although it may take falseness.
"Jane Adams said that the, only thing
to do was to touch their lives through
the avenue natural to them. I went to
see the school. L saw perhaps 300 dirty
little Italians, French and Bohemian
and other children all gathered together
enjoying themselves. That is the way
to reach them when they are children.
NOW the statement about the wine
rooms in Chicago is very conservative.
There are 5000 saloons in Chicago, and
assuming that there are on an average
four women in each wine room, there
would be $4,000 women altogether, which
is more than can be found in the church
es of Chicago. This estimate was made
by a gentleman connected with the Hull
house, and it is very conservative, for
at that moment one house had 100 IN
mates, and the very smallest at least
four.
cit is astonishing, it is bewildering that
an American citizen can look these state
ments in the face and not blush. AS
said liquor is sold to people of all sorts
in the wine room. Most of them are
persons of a baser sort but some are
from miles away, coming from pure
homes. Go there and see them. Men
who ought to be at home by their IRE
sides, preferring the company of the
damned outcasts. What is SO there, is
so here.
."The same characteristics are true Of
ST. Paul Why only the other day, a
woman of Minneapolis left her home to
seek the places of her desire in st. Paul.
Her husband left Minneapolis for the
same reason. They met in II st. Paul
wine room and he shot her with intent
to kill.
''Now I speak advisedly; in the cities
there are women as pure and as inno-
cent as can be found in the length and
breadth Of the land, but 1t is in the
centers of population, in the cities, that
the devil phys his trade with the best
results But l am glad to say that in
the younger portions of our land the
evil is less firmly planted than in some
Of our older cities 1t is true that our
judges are declaring that no such thing
as the wine room ought to exist. The
supreme bench of the state has so de-
clared; and as the decisions are given
the partitions in the wine rooms will be
torn down, the screens pulled away and,
the curtains destroyed which hide the
vice from the light. AS the sunlight Of
public knowledge and inspection rests on
the vice, the worms will crawl out and
leave it's victims transformed.
eve are fast scoring that great point
The bill is now in the hands Of the
council.
MARRIED MEN THE WORST.
Now let me say that it is not the
young men nor the young women, who
are supporting the wine rooms of this
city. 1t is the older married men. Some
here may deny that but they can't tell
that to me.
81 went to the old Olympic some time
ago, after I had got through preaching
here, and I have never got over what I
learned and saw there. And when [ got
back, told what I saw and some nave
never liked me since. Of those there
that night more than half were over
forty years of age.
Il saw four married men there to one
unmarried. [ tell you the married men
of this city are supporting those places.
DR.. Talmage declares, in a lecture,
that if all professional men and others
of standing were arrested for freGuenting
those places, arrested right there with
twenty reporters to point him out and
name him in the press, 50 per cent
OF the trouble would be eliminated
There is the acknowledgment of DR..
Talmage and if any of you doubt it
l can show a copy of the statement.
If that plan were put In operation.
public sentiment would not permit the
evil to exist to the extent 1t does exist
tonight
At the conclusion of his remarks the
pastor asked if the temperature down
there" was uncomfortably warm. He
admitted that he was a trifle warm him
self. Some one declared that to say the
least it was not chilly. A niekering laugh
went around and the service was re-
sumed.