The National tribune., 1907-08-22
"THE MIXER AND SERVER,


Every day discovers some new Trades
Union of wide membership and aggres-
sive character Because such an or
ganization is discovered does not imply
at all that it is a new thing Organ
ization" has been in the air for many
years now. Probably the civil war gave
it its greatest impetus. by teaching men
the advantages and power of combined
] effort. Then. the Organizer" has been
| abroad in the land. In every calling are
men ambitious of prominence. To be
| leader in their own class seems an
| easy way to get this.
The development of day may not
be new Labor Union, but the coming
into the spotlight of one long organized,
but which has so far not attracted no.
tice.
For example, there has appeared on
our desk an apparently new magazine.
'The Mixer and Server" but which its
title page asserts is the seventh number
of the 18th volume. 1t is the organ of
the 'Bartenders' International League
of America which is mighty high
sounding for what too many people
usually call "beer jerkers." 1t is also
the organ of the Hotel and Restaurant
Employees International Alliance. The
gents who organized these had the
fondness of their class for the biggest
names they could find. AS usual with
Trades Union journals. THE Mixer and
Server is part of the headquarters out
fit, and it's editor the -Secretary-Treasur-I
er of the International organization.
1.-THE Mixer and Server is really in
teresting and amusing reading. At least
one number is. but we fear more would
be dull and boresome. 1t is amusing
for the dead seriousness with which it
takes itself and its organization. Most
of all, from the soberness with which
it claims to belong to organized labor.
Undoubtedly standing behind a bar
from daylight till the law compels clos
ing at midnight Is work of the most
arduous and nauseating kind. Think
of all that it inrolves-the dealing out
of liquid poison to men to stimulate
them to crime or drown their fears AMI
remorse after the commission of crime:
of taking a mans last dime, and send
ing him to his squalid home to beat his
ragged, starving wife and children; of
helping other men soak themselves with
the mindnumbiEs body-rotting beer;
of the long hours in the hot, fetid, moi
some atmosphere of the liquor joint, air
heavy with the smoke of vile cigars and
reeking with the profanity, the obscen-
ity. the brutality of besotted men. 1t is
true this is work, and work vastly
harder, vastly more repulsive than any
in the sewers or the cornfied. 1t is
work incomparably more destructive to
health as well as to mind and morals
L
hear so much about. The bartender
like the wicked of the Psalmist, docs
not live out half his days"
While it is the hardest of work, is it
labor" in the sense usually employed?
We cannot believe so. 1t seems like an
insult. degradation to honest labor, to
have this class of men force themselves
into its ranks and try to put themselves
on level with the men who are toiling
faithfully, cleanly and honestly at some
employment which the world needs.
Like the rest. THE Mixer and Server"
has it's poetry" and the following is a
sample, in which it is hard to tell which
is the worse, the meter or the ideas:
The Man Who Pours 1t Out and the Man
VINO k'OuTS
dedicated to the Blue-Button Boys.)
There has been much discussion
About this tending bar
And l listen to the opinions
OF people near and far;
But I've come to the conclusion
That it's no more of sin
For him who stands and pOurs it out
Than for him who pours it in.
Perhaps there's some who are sincere
In thinking all are bad
Who stand and pour the liquor out
That makes SO many glad:
But find that the majority
Who call it such sin
Are the ones who like to sneak around
And slyly pour it in.
The position doesn't make the man,
AS all of you will find,
And he who stands behind the bar
May have a noble mind:
only feel contempt for those
Who tell you it's q sin,
And then when no ones looking
Co and gladly pour it in.
Miss Irene Vickrick, Secretary, Local
$40.