Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-13
every department OF industry felt the
effects.
Glasgow overstocked With Laborers.

Glasgow is overstocked with labor at
all times said Mr.. Lugton. 1T has
such a variety of industries that almost
everybody can find something to do here
in flush times. and when a depression
comes in other parts of Scotland it Is
difficult to convince people who are out
of employment In other places that they
they drift in here from all quarters and
make matters worse. Many Italians have
come over here recently. and good many
Greeks and other Europeans. but the
majority of the common laborers are
Irish who live from hand to mouth and
are ignorant of the commonest COM
forts of life. They live OH the merest
pittance. They eat scraps of food that
are indigestble and afford no nourish-
ment and spend most of their money for
liquor
MY theory is that drunkenness in
Scotland is due to poor food and bad
cooking. In the first place the laboring
people of Glasgow and other Scottish cities
houses-one room or two rooms at the
most for large family. without any fur
nitnre. without any comforts, without
anything to brighten or attract. and nat
urally both fathers and mothers as well
as the children seek amusement and So
ciety elsewhere. The children find 1t in
the streets. and the older people in the
saloons, which become their clubhOuseS
anu III comparison Will tllclT ucsOldtC
homes are as attractive as paradise.
Poor Food Causes Drunkenness.
Then again. the food they eat affords
little nourishment, for it is coarse. indi-
gestible stuff, badly cooked and creates
a craving for drink. They eat a great
deal of saited fish. which. as you know,
produces an abnormal thirst, and their
common beverage is the cheapest sort OF
tea. which they boil until ali the tannin
is extracted from the leaf and il becomes
u poison. 1t doesn't satisfy the thirst Or
the hunger. 1t doesn't nour,sn but leaves
Il thirst that nothing will satisfy but al
coholic drink. The beer they use here
is very strong. the whisky IS stronger,
and is vile stuff. It's common saying
that anybody can get drunk for a tup
pence. And there Is a good deal of truth
in 1t. 1t requires strong head to resist
the effects of even one glass Of their vile
whisky.
1t is impossible to cure drunkenness
in Scotland by reducing the number of
public houses. The working people will
have liquor. and Ii they can't get it at
legitimate places. they will patronize the
sheebeens or 'speak-asies. The only way
is to change the manner of living-to start
souphouses and cooking establishments
where poor people can buy well-cooked
and nourishing food at low prices, as Is
done in Norway and Sweden, instead OF
trying to cook 1t themselves. Then the
women must be educated to cook and to
make their homes attractive, and that is
a difficult task.
Employers Liability Law Not So
Good.
a good many old people. those who are
least capable of taking care of them
selves, have been thrown out of employ
ment by the recent legislation Of parlia-
ment." continued Mr.. Lugton. The en-
ployers' liability law, which compeis an
employer to indemnify everybody under
his control for any accident or ill-heaith
they may suffer. has caused many large
employers of labor to discharge all the
lame and sicily. old and intirm people on
their pay ro.is and those who are most
liable to meet with accidents or suffer
illness. That is perfectly natural be-
cause it Is good business policy to reduce
their liability AS far as possible. The pas
sage of the old age pension bill has been
a sort of salve to their consciences. They
can say to themselves that the govern
ment has assumed the responsibility for
looking after their superannuated serv-
ants.
MIR. stevenson. chief constable of Glas-
gov, agrees with MI Lugton's theory as
but insists that a larger amount OF money
Is spent for liquor In England than In
Scotland, although the number OF drunk
en- men is not SO large. That IL explained
because the English drink beer and the
Scotch drink whisky.
Money Spent in Drink.
1.-The estimated expenditure per capita
for Intoxicating drink in Scotland in 1907
was the same as in 1906" said Mr.. Ste
venson, in reply to my question, and was