The Somerset reporter., 1901-11-21
Drink and Commerce.
{ By Skowhegan W. c. T. o.

in papers in Belgium, France and Eng
land and was sent from this country for
publication in Europe by NJ. Rudolph
Meyhoffer, who came from Brussels as
an international delegate to the Young
Mems Christian Association jubilee in
! Boston last June. He staid long enough
To study industrial and educational con
ditions in the leading States, including
the question of American trade suprem.
acy:
England and other European countries
are anxiously asking for the causes of
the commercial supremacy of the United
States A recent number of the English
edition of the "Review of Reviews' says:
"Cassier's Magazine, IAN English peri
OdicaD contains an interesting series of
short articles by some of the most prom
irent engineers and business men in the
United States upon the question of
american competition.
Most of the writers agree in saying
that the American workman is the chief
agent in enabling American manufactur-
els to take first place in the world.
Walter Mcfarland of Pittsburg gives one
important reason for this. He says:
at appears that the American work
men are much better timekeepers and
far less given to dissipation than those
in Great Britain. One of the best firms
of British shipbuilders recently stated
that there is loss of time amounting TO
nearly 20 per cent, due largely to drunk
enness. If anything approaching these
figures is tue generally, there can be no
surprise that (English) firms open to
competitor from well managed Ameri-
can works should have hard time"
In inquiring as to the cause of this
greater sobriety of the American, the
fact appears that twenty years ago bust
ness interests in the United states PAID
no attention to the effect of the bever-
age use of alcohol or of tobacco on work
ing ability. About that time the now
almost universal study of physiology,
which includes, with other laws of
health, those which relate to the nature
and effects of alcoholic drinks and other
narcotics, began to be legal require
ment for all pupils in the public schools
of this country.
During the last ten or fifteen years the
children have been carrying from the
schools to the homes of the 100000
people of the United States the story of
the evil nature and bad effects of alco-
holic drinks and other narcotics
AS a result of the diffusion of this
knowledge the railroads of the United
States now almost universally.refuse EN-
ployment to men who drink, whether on
or off duty.
Carroll d. Wrights Labor Bureau in
vestigations show that more than 70 per
cent of the employers of skilled labor in
the United States require total abstin-
ence of their employees, and so per cent
of the employers of unskilled labor de-
mand the same. These requirements,
the cordial acquiescence in them by the
employed, and the commercial suprem-
aoy which this knowledge helped to Sc
cure to the United States, have been
promoted by the truth taught by the
school that alcoholic drinks injure work
ing ability
The American workman does not re.
sent the employers demand for abstin-
ence, because he has learned, often from
his child in public school that alcohol
not only dulls the brain, but weakens
that nerve control of muscle that is nee
essary to the precision essential for fine
work.
The nomination for knighthood of Sir
Hiram Maxim, the American born in
ventor, for his work in England, was one
of the last official acts of Queen Victoria
In an article in the June number of 1.-The
Worlds Work." sir Hiram furnishes in
direct testimony to the same point.
While describing the results of the Eng
lish trade unions, he says:
"The English workman spends great
part of his earnings in beer, tobacco and
betting; he has no ambition" OF course
not, for beer in dulling the brain dulls
ambition. "The American workman
he says, d" wishes to get on; he accom-
plishes "A great deal more work In day
than any other workman in the world
England is beginning to see the differ
ence in results between occasional talks
by temperance advocates to school chill
dren and the systematic graded public
school study of this topic required by
law in the United states.
At recent meeting in Birmingham,
addressed by the Archbishop of Canter
bury, the presiding officer, Edwin Smith,
said:
1--WE are being beaten in skill by Amer
lea. She has been lavish in spending
money in educating the brains of her
people, while we have been lavish in
poisoning them. If we spent per head
on alcohol the same as America, our
drink bill would be about SOC, 1000, 5000
less than it now is We cannot succeed
commercially while we are handicapped
In this way TO the extent of 48 per cent.
The great mass of the working people in
this country are totally ignorant of the
effects OF drink" He said that England
ought not to leave the education on this
subject merely to the temperance socie.
ties, but that it "should be undertaken
by the State. Surely if the State must
encourage the traffic for revenue, ii
should in fairness educate every child in
government schools as to the nature and
danger of alcohol, and the benefits of
total abstinence
Hesaddeel in closing:
'If the State will only educate the
children against strong drink, England
commercially may even yet be saved
1t has been wisely said that Indus
trial supremacy belongs to that country
which enjoys the cheapest materials, the
most improved machinery and the most
efficient labor"
AS clear brains and steady nerves are
needed for the preparation of both ma
terial and machinery, as well as for their
use in production, that nation, other
things being equal, whose Trains are not
dulled by alcohol and other narcotics,
will win in the worlds competitions.
Spreads Like WIidflre.
When things are ''the best" they be,