Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-09-01
FEW EVER DESERT THE CALLING
Most Of Them Steady, Reliable Men
and Not Many Of Them Are
Hard Drinkers.

career. And yet the great number
of them who, sooner or later, find
their way into it to make their living
testify to the scope of bartending in
supplying employment to men.
There are 10000 bartenders en-
ployed in the country at large, writes
Matthew Kramer in the Chicago Trib-
une. Of this number Chicago has
need for, or at all events uses, $500.
These figures show that bartending
must be reckoned among the larger
trades, at least in the matters of
numbers. While every conscientious
bartender who has ever been in the
business for any considerable length
of time will testify that it is poor
business, and one that he would un-
der no consideration permit his son
to follow, it seems hardly possible
that the 10000 who follow the trade
from one end of the country to the
other can all be catalogued under the
heading of BLASTED hopes
Why Men Become Bartenders.
A good percentage of the white ap-
roned army undoubtedly are men who
have turned to bartending when no
other avenue of employment was op-
en- to them; others are lazy men, to
whom steady indoor employment of
light nature is pleasing; still 9TH
ers are attracted to the work merely
because the saloon is their natural
environment. But again there are
thousands of men standing behind the
bars who are enterprising and ener-
getic good citizens" They tend bar
because they want to make a good
living and their skill as mixologists
and drink dispensers enables them
to do it in saloon. They are Meth
er "bums" nor wrecks. They get in.
to the trade just as grocery clerk
gets into his trade and sticks at it for
the same reasons.
This class Of men. of whom there
is large percentage in the better
bars Of the large city, are certainly
just as well off as the average man
with trade. They earn from $50 to
$3.50 per month, with the average
figure near 500. Their work is not
hard, the hours not overlong, and
with care they should be able to save
something out of their pay. The ar
gument that all these advantages are
neutralized by the fact that they work
in saloon where drinking and money
spending habits will come to them as
second nature. is entirely without
ground, for these men, the best class
of bartenders. do not drink any more
than does the average business OF
professional man. Many of them dc
not drink at all. The percentage OF
them that are exceedingly temperate
in their indulgence in liquors is sur
prisingly large. Few. if any of them
are confirmed hard drinkers In fact
the drunkard cannot find employment
as bartender. The saloonkeepel
knows that the man to whom liquor
constantly holds forth temptations is
at all times liable to succumb to the
temptation. and when he succumbs
he is in no condition to attend to his
work. Sobriety is the requirement
par excellence of the bartender.
No Future in Tending Bar.
But, regarding all this in even the
most favorable light. it is impossible
to consider the vocation of the bar
keep as a vocation into which one
will deliberately step with a view tt
making a career for oneself There is
no future in the work. 1t is simply {
means OF wage earning for the pres
ent. To save enough money to gel
into the business for himself is the
only chance that a bartender has OF
progressing through his occupation
And to own a saloon can hardly be
called praiseworthy ambition on the
part of any young man. So the bar
tenders hope for success lies in get
ting out of his trade to the best ad
vantage.
The barkeeper come to be a bar
keeper usually through accident. Some
times it is that he is broke and out
OF job. and sometimes a position
offers itself through a friend. Invar
iably man starts his career as a bar
tender in the cheaper class of bars
sometimes in a small town, sometimes
in the outlying sections of large
city. Here the requirements of the
work are few and simple. A man
who knows how to draw beer make
change and shove a bottle of whisky
over counter is quite competent to
go to work and earn $50 a month
If to this be added the ability to take
1he bolsterOus patron who has i'm
blbed not wisely but too we'll the fire
water dispensed in the house by the
collar and heave him dexterously out
where his lOudness will not offend the
saloons patrons he will be still bet
ter qualified to act as bartender in
the poorer sort of saloon. The WORT,
mere is more akin to the work of the
bruiser than that of the expert who
works in the finer bars of the city.
Change in Methods Downtown.
AS the bartender progresses in his
art" he gradually works away from
his early environments. He gets a
job in bar down town. Here he is
better paid. works shorter hours, and
Is more of gentleman" altogether
than was possible in his old place
In return for this he must be of a bet
ter appearance. more polite and atten
tive in his treatment of the bars pa
irons. and able to mix drinks thai
the patrons of the cheap saloon new
err heard Of Some barkeepers have
a mixed drink which is their speciality
and make the manufacture of this one
concoctiOn their fad, and the concoc
tlon sometimes in turn makes them
famous, or notorious. according to its
reception at the hands of discrimi
mating drinkers.
In the best bars may be found oc
casional living answers as to why
some men act as "barkeeps.' To see