Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-12-13
BREAD AND BEER.
which Are Used to Trap the
InwRry.

A little straw, showing which way
temperance sentiment is blowing. may
be seen in the method now commonly
employed by the saloon to entice the
unwary and to hold custom
"A hot sandwich with glass OF
beer" Fresh buttermilk.' The very
latest political news inside" Chicken.
soup Free" Good positions furnished
to workingmen, Farm laborers want
ed at $25 month, "Kindergartens for
the poor, and rest-rooms for tired
mothers" and even, Religious pa
pers," are fair samples of the placards
used to con pei attention and TO adj
vertise intoxicants.
The reflectively optimistic person
may see-ip all this a hopeful sign Of
the times, a sort of millennial break
ing, indicating that something more
is needed than formerly TO entice men
into the broad way that leads TO de-
struction; that the raw material used
by their forefathers is no longer suf
fcient to attract without the AID of
substantial elements. The appeal
comes to the better side of mans ma
ture, tempting him with that which
nourishes and sustains the body, feeds
the mind, and uplifts the spirit.
This artifice, in it's guise of respecta-
bility, is powerful agent standing
outside the saloon and Turing behind
its screened doors and windows the
hungry, the ignorant, the uDsuspect-
ing, the weak, and the victim of cir
cumstances, not to mention regular
customers" who hold their life-cou-
pons and need no such extra induce
ments.
These advertisements, boldly facing,
the passer-by, unconsciously assert
that educated man is outgrowing
the old impositions and must be hood
winked in new way. He must be de-
ceived into thinking that he is getting
for his nickel something that is worth
while. But right here lies the danger.
If those same placards could be made
TO speak the whole truth, Keeping back
no part, they would read:
"a hot sandwich-that kills body and
SOUL" Fresh buttermilk-but poi
soned; The very latest political news
inside-the cave of Despair; ""Chicken
soup free--to him who will pay the
price" Good positions furnished
workingmen-which they cannot
keeps" Farm laborers wanted at SIS
a moRth-but such as you need not
apply" "Kindergartens for the poor
where children learn to become pa
irons of the salooR-and rest-rooms
for tired mothers--where is found
eternal unrest; Religious papers-to
draw the better classes" How many,
reading such a bin of fare, would stop
and partake of It?
This apparently hopeful sign is in re-
atty an admonition that it were well
to heed. 1t is the hidden reef against
which the vessel in full sail may CRATE
and impotently dash itself to pieces.
The pilot steers clear of dangers in
plain sight, of rocks rising threaten
ingly above the waves, where the white
breakers send out harsh cries of warn
ing, but the CLASSY surface, the breath
less calm, give no hint Of hidden treach-
cry below.
Approaching all classes, becoming
all things to all men so that it may
win all to its selfish ends, the influence
of the adversary of temperance was
never more to be dreaded than now.
God save America and all lands from.
that day when the saloon shall become
"respectable!"-Union Signal.