Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1902-01-09
TIE GREAT DESTROYER.
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANcE.

Drink and Coinmerce-yvhy the American
Worilingman is Said to BE Superior to
the English and German - Alcohol
Dulls the Brain and Prevents Precision.
The article given below has appeared in
papers In Belgium, France and England
and was sent from this country for publi-
cation in Europe by M. Rudolph Meyhof.
fer. who came from Brussels as an inter
national delegate to the Young Mems
Christian Association jubilee in Boston.
He stayed long enough to study industrial
and educational conditions in the leading
States, including the question of Ameri-
can trade supremacy:
England and other. European countries
are anXiously asking for the causes of the
commercial supremacy of the United
States. recent number OF the English
edition of the Review of Reviews says:
Casters Magazine ian English periods
call contains an interesting series of short
articles by some of the most prominent
engineers and business men in the United
states upon the question of American com
petition.
Most of the writer's agree in saying that
the American workman is the chief agent
in enabling American manufacturers to
take first place in the world. Walter
MacFarland, of Pittsburg gives one i'm
portant reason for this. He says:
1T appears that the American work
men are much better tinekeepcrs and Jar
less. given TO dissipation than those in
Great Britain. One of the best firms of
British shiobulders recently stated that
there is loss of time amounting to nearly
twenty per cent. due largely to drunken
ness If anything approaching these
figures is true generally. there can be no
netition from well managed American
works should have hard time"
In inquiring as to the cause of this
greater sobriety OF the American, the fact
appears thct twenty years ago business in
terests in tie United States paid no at
of alcohol or OF tobacco on working abil-
lty. About that time the now almost uni
versal study of physiology. which includes
with other laws of health those which re
late to the nature and effects of alcoholic
drinks and other narcotics, began to be a.
lie schools of this country.
During the last ten or fifteen years the
children have been carrying from the
schools to the homes of the 75,000000 peo-
pie of the United States the story of the
evil nature and bad effects of alcoholic
drinks and other narcotics.
AS 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. Wright's Labor Bureau in
vestgations show that more than seventy
five per cent. of the employers OF skilled
labor in the United States require total
abstinence of their empo)yes, and fifty per
cent. of the employers or unskilled labor
demand the same. Thee requirements,
the cordial acQuiescence in them by the
employed. and the commercial supremacy
which this knowledge helped to secure to
the United States. have been promoted by
the truth taught by the school that alco-
holic drinks injure working ability.
4,
men to the employers demand for absti-
nence where scientific Temperance is not
taught in the public schools is well illus
trated in the following incident:
The manager OF the Borsig factory in
Germany recently posted an order forbid
ding the worimen to bring into the fac
tory beer or other sprtuous liquors. or
TO drink the sane during working hours:
The workmen. numherin". over 1903. held
a meeting, and objected to this order:
The next day they consplcuous.y carried
in their beer.
During the excitement caused by the or
der a pamphlet appeared. by an old factory
Official who affirmed that the use of aico-
holic drinks was detrimental to the labor
ers' own interest. He referred to the ciev-
erness and sobriety OF the American work
men. which makes them able to do very
exact and precise work. which he says IL
not possible in German industry, because
of the drinking habits OF the laboring
classes.
The American workman does not resent
the employers demand FOR abstinence. be
cause he has learned. often from his child
in public school. that alcohol not only dui!s
the brain, but weakens that nerve control
of muscle that is necessary to the precision
essential for fine work.
The nomination for lnighthood of Sir
Hiram Maxim, the American born inven-
tor, for his work in England was one of
the last official acts of Queen Victoria; In
an article in the Worlds Work Sir Hiram
furnishes indirect testimony to the same
point While describing the results OF the
Enq,ish 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 dallinG the brain duils am
biton "The American workman. he
SAYS, "wishes to get on; he accomphshes
a great deal more work in y da'- than any
other workman in the world
England is beginning to see the, dlhnr-
ence in results between occasional talks
hv Temperance advocates to school chill
dren and the systematic graded pubic
school study of this topic required by law
in the United States.
Drank Up His Fortune.
NJ Courtinaud's uncle died in April and