Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1904-12-02

anent which viii make your hair stand
on ends"
He did, but as the case does not at
ali apply to American conditions. l Will
cut out the details OF the narrowing
tale. Among the .heavies. said the
official. "delirium tremens is almost
/! epidemic. Few above % have suffered
| from IL, many are attacked three on
four times before they end their miser-
able existence. Look at the travail
leurs OF middle & Their noses are
red and swollen, their eyes ~bloodshot
Those who are strongest at ~ are
surest to die of consumption before
they reach twice that number of years.
Why? Because they can earn the most
money and because their prowess is an
incentive 10 alcoholic excesses. The
broad chest OF which they were so
proud fiattens and ecomes hollow,
quick consumption sets in and the
odor of death precedes and follows the
absinthe wreck. 1t is awful
Wives Forced to Work.
The city of Paris proudly publishes
the fact that ii employs no unskilled
labor below the daily wage of 81. Six
francs so. however, is the average paid
by industrial concerns all the year
around. With that amount, even With
5 francs a day, 1t is possible in Paris
TO bring up a small family honestly
| and d~ecently, for outside the big hos
tells and the Elysee quarter, where
Americans and other foreigners dwell.
life in the city of light is decidedly
| cheaper than in the small towns of the
American west. Yet ninety-five out OF
every 100 travailleurs' wives are obliged
TO go out to work to keep themselves
and children. for the husband uses
more than one-half OF his earnings for
himself.
Saturday being pay day, the number
of hours the heavy spent outside the
gin mill are figured up and he Is given
his wage. TO celebrate he doubles his
usual allowance of liquor during the
rest of the day, the evenings, and. sun
day as well, the debauch incapacitatlng
him for work on Monday. Hence the
'.heavy's" wage never amounts TO more
than 40 francs a week under the most
favorable circumstances-$S, of which
amount the head of the family absorbs
S2s66 for drink and from $i.40 to $l.15
for meals.
Out of the remaining 81 or there
abouts the wife has to clothe him and
her, pay rent, buy food for the house,
hold, pay the doctor, druggist, coal
merchant. She has to pay for bringing
chi~idrenlinto the world and schooling
them. for in France education is any
thing bur free.
Effect Seen in Work, Too.
But the effect Of alcohol is not only
felt by the consumer and his family,
ii tells on the work, too. Nowhere in
the world do public works progress SO
slowly as in Paris. The son of italy,
whom we employ in the United States,
though q dwarf compared with the
average Paris heavy" moves In eight
hours work 35 per cent. more earth
or other materials than his French
colleague does in ten or twelve hours
The heavy" knows that the wages
of alcohol is earthly death, but does
not worry as long as he keeps out of
the hospital ere he reaches his f~ortieth
year after 40" he argues, " a mans
muscles begin 20 relax and decay, n
if my muscles are playing out, who will
pay me the wageS2 | know that the
green fairy is the bride of death. Have
/ not seen hundreds of my colleagues
go that way? What matters It? A.
short life and a merry one"
Home Conditions DenlorabIe.
Statisticans point to the average
understood French soldiery of today.
They argue that there will be no Paris
.heavies" left in a decade or two. And
1t looks, indeed, as If they were right.
Only a return to the old fashioned life,
once the backbone Of prosperity among
the French working classes, can fore
stall or prevent such a calamity. AT
present the average Paris workman
finds no home deserving of the name
anywhere near his place of business.
He is Obliged to repair to the dirty and,
consequently, unhealthy suburbs; to
chambers devoid of sanitary arrange
ments or any comforts whatever.
Home is nothing but an i'll smelling
stable to sleep in" is the usual excuse.
What shall we do there. between cry
ing babies, dirt, slovenliness, and fight
ing women? Better delay going home
as long as possible.
There lis a faint glimmer OF hope in
a new undertaking of the Rothschilds.
who have decided TO invest S20, 000, 900
or $4,000, 600 in hygienic workmen's
homes within easy reach of Paris.
These homes are to combine s~anitari-
ness with comfort-a splendid prospect.
promising heavy financial returns If
carried out well.
The American workman In the most
squalid American town is a hundred
times better off than his most favored
colleague in the City if Light.