The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-10-07
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
The VICE or lNTEMPERANcE-

1t is Done Mt the Counier-Tbnt Is the
Place Where Diseased Bodies, Ruincss
Homes and Crowded JaiIs and Aims
houses Are DIspensed.
i have lately seen in an English news
paper the announcement that a public
house is for sale. and the adyertisemens
contains the following sentence: 'These
premises are surrounded by numerous
manufactures, employing thousands of
well.paid hands, who inhabit numberless
dwellings in this dense neighborhood. The
trade Is large, full priced, and mostly
done at the counter, approaching 5000
fiOO) per month";
This eoldb!ooded announcement smells
OF the pit. Beelzebub himself could not
frame more internal sentence than this
one, in which the dram dealer tells how
cunningly. he has planted his death trap
between those laborers' wages and all their
needy wives and children. He has reared
his toll gate right in the very track of
these well paid hands, SO that he may
levy on them at the rate OF $1,000 per
month! For this sum he retaih to these
operatives disease, poverty. disgrace and
endless destruction. We feel our fingers
instlnctively twitching to get such a scouu-
drel by the jugular, and gripping it Il
he is as purple in the countenance as any
OF his victims.
But why spend our righteous indigna-
ton upon a foreign liquor seller, when
this same conspiracy against the wages
and honor and lives OF workingmen is
heing carried on in our land? Precisely
the crime which that Englishman so
shame.ess,y advertised is being pcrpetrat-
ed here in all our factory towns, in all
orr cities, and in great majority of our
villages. AT this time the labor question
Is one of the foremost questions of the
hour. Discussions about labor, about
and nhnut fbn nop1s rs Tho Iahor,u.w
classes are engaging the pens and the
tongues OF the ahlest writers Of the cOun-
try. Both patriotism and philanthropy
are Studying the problem: "EIow shall
the laborer be elevated?' and How shalt
the inequalities in degree be remeded?'-
After all, the chief problem, to my mind.
IS to teach the laborer how TO save and
how to nsc aricht the money which he
earns. High wages are not ALWAYS a bless
ing They are often a curse. Master me
times" when they paid their hands hiCh
wages, the increased pay was a terrible
temptation. With such wages, much
'arge'- traffic in tobacco and rum was done
at the counter" when wages are low,
end work is scarce. he is tempted to
drink, in order to drown worry and sor-
row. All wl0Gs seorn to blow towards
the dram shoN. This traffic il intoxi-
cants is sometimes tremendous. How else
could high rents be paid on 80 many cor
utINs anu Nb tnNUN DarS De
kent, up i'll the fashionable saloons and
hotp's?
Mu,titudcs OF the humber classes may
be rescued from the clutch OF the dram
shop by personal effort. This is the line
1t Of effort N which the S2wyer;;, Mo1dys,
did their best service. Father Mathew
saved thousands of his ellow-countrymen
from the whisky shop bv his own personal
effort. My Irish gardener refused to
touch whisky even as medicine when he
was sick. Ile belonged to 4 Father, Ma
of the irish apostle held him back. There
is an immense field for this Christian
temperance propaganda among the work
ing classes, and the educated Christian
told me that none of his work paid better
than this-to open temperance coffee
houses. holly tree inns and reading rooms.
1t is vast boon to the poorer class.
who have been done at the counter OF
the cram dens-
Nav of even the better grade of IA
horin" 0eople are pitiablv ignorant as to
the nature and effect of alcoholic
stimr 'ts. Patrick OF Sandy really be-
live 1t glass OF whisky gives warmth
and strength. This error is being correct
ed in the public schools nv teaching every
child the principles Of true temperance.
If the commonwealth suffers by the uov-
erty. crime and decentralization caused by
the bottle, then the commonwealth is as
much bound TO save its children from
the bottle as to teach them to read and
write.
All attempts 20 break down the counters
are baked rs long as costly bars are sus-
tanned by the upper classes. The drink
ing usage of workingmen will continue
Just as long as their employers practice
the same. Social Influences work down
ward, And in the highest tier of society
the decanter is Staying its thousands, too.
Alcohol is no respecter of persons.
Perhaps some of nv readers. who Will
redden with Indignation at that English
advertisement, will themselves
offer wine at their own tables, They set
ont LIQUORS at weddings and on New Years
day. Practically, they put their own tables
on a par with the dram shop counter,
Fashion tempts them to do what avarice
tempts the liquor seller to do. Are they
anv less guilty? Before they warm into
Indignation at the temptation set before
the moor laborer. let their cheeks crim-
son with shame at the example they thew
selves arr setting-Thr Rev Theodore L.
Cuyler, ID. d., in the National Advocate.