Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-02-10
ONLY SOBER MEN WANTED.
Whisky Drinkers Find II Difficult to
Get Employment.

Whisky Drinkers Find IL Difficult to
Get Employment.
The best advice that can be given
to a young man who Is trying to make
mark for himself In business is:
stay out Of saloons"
| Let this rule of life be absolute. Do
not compromise with the saloon.
Taste not, touch not, enter not into
temptation, have nothing socially to
do with men who frequent bars"
and have as little business connec-
tions with drinking men as you pos
sibly can. Make this one of the lead
ing principles of your business life
and the chances are good that you
will be success in anything you
undertake. On the other hand, II you
neglect this advice, II you wave 1t
aside as the puritanical prejudice Of
crank, you will fail in everything
as certainly as the sun shines in the
sky.
|
1t matters not how brilliant man
may be, it matters not how successful
he may have been as an employe, or
in his early efforts as a proprietor,
once that he acquires the saloon hab-
1t, his failure Is assured. Saloons and
business are incompatible: they are
not miscible, as the medical experts
say Of oil and water.
I was talking not long ago to a man
Of 35, perhaps. who, as an employe,
had held numerous positions Of trust.
and had made as high as $1,000 a
year as a credit man for one Of the
largest wholesale clothing houses in
Chicago This man, when I chanced
to meet him, was out Of employment.
He had gone down the scale until now
he was glad to get odd jobs to do In
the great business house where once
his word had been law. His en-
ployers stood ready to take him back
at his old salary the moment he would
give up the saloon for good. And yet,
knowing this perfectly well. realizing
to himself the frightful penalty he was
paying for the privilege Of spending
few hours day In some drinking
den, he deliberately preferred the de-
structive entertainment he got in
the saloon to the position Of trust
and profit that was offered him as an
alternative. He reminded me Of the
man in one of H. G. Wells stories, who
/ was given his choice between the
| ability to perform miracles and his
nightly drinking spell at the bar Of
1.-The Long Dragon" and who chose
the latter.
Some Of the sapient counsels Of my
chance acquaintance are worth pre-
serving here for the benefit of young
men who are starting out In a busi-
ness career.
| 1.-The greatest curse to the business
man." says he, "is the saloon. I don't
mean now, that a man must go and
get beastly drunk In order to be a
failure. l mean that the man who
goes into a saloon every day. or two
or three times a week. takes his drink,
and then tries to do business Is plain
fool. In Chicago the whole business
district Is infested with saloons. These
saloons tempt the young man to take
his midday meal In them. They serve
I'D a good luncheon and incidentally
the young man. From going into the
| saloon at noon he is more easily led
into saloons at night. Then he stays
| up late, reports for work the next day
tired and half fuddled instead Of bright
and fresh, and has already begun his
| downward career. He finds that men
less bright than he but who have not
| acquired the saloon habit, pass him on
the road to success; and then he finds
himself in the situation 1 am In today.
The saloon is all he has left. and sorry
comfort he finds In 1t.
Large business concerns are waking
up to the importance Of the saloon as
a factor in the employment Of their
men. The business employer Is getting
to be as particular in his questions as
doctor. They do not want drinking
men. You apply for a position In
big house. The manager says to you,
among other things. DO you drink?
II you can truly reply, No, I never
touch intoxicating liquor half your
case is won. II you put bold face on
1t and say, Yes, take a drink when
ever I feel like It; but / never get
drunk you have already lost fifty
points of advantage. The average en-
ployer has heard that kind Of thing be- |
fore, and he knows the man who says
1t is telling him a lie. There Is not
one man in 500 who takes his drink
whenever he wants It but Is fire.
auenter Of the saloon, and every now
and then gets drunk. The only answer
that puts the employing business man
perfectly at his ease Is: I never touch
thing When an applicant makes
that answer the road Is clear.
"The house in which used to work |
does not want men who can take their |
drink and leave it alone This house
knows that the man who takes his
drink does not leave it alone. and they
don't want that kind Of man around
the place. My old house treated me
like a prince. could be a rich man
now If it hadn't been for the saloon.
And l believe my own case made the
house adopt a rule which. as a matter
of fact, is now in vogue in three out
of every five business concerns. The
questions asked man nowadays are
something like these: do you drink?
No. you say, I don't touch drop
Were you ever in the habit Of getting |
drunk? When were you drunk last?'
You are compelled to admit that
you were drunk a short time ago, but |
you hastily add that you've quit per-
manently now. No good. You are not
wanted.
employers do not want man who |
comes into their Office In the morning |