The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-02-04
TO the Editor of the Palladium

To the Editor of the Palladium:
Dear Sir:-Will you kindly give me
space in your paper for few words
that would like for you to publish for
me in regard to the county local OPP
ton, that I have read and heard so
much about.
First I would like to say a word to
the laboring man and to the labor
unions of the city of Richmond and
county of Wayne and that is, have you
ever stopped to think how many men
would be thrown out of work if the
county goes dry. If not, I would like
to give you rough estimate of the
number that it would throw out of
work: From the saloons, 225; from
the breweries and agents, so; from
butcher shops, II; from the bakery. 6:
from the ice business. 8: from the
cigar makers, %; from the grocery
10; total, 335. Now brothers have
you ever stopped to think who would
give them employment. Would it be
by the dry party? You know that out
OF that number of men that there are
not very many that could stand to be
idle very long and they would have to
work to keep the family from starry
ing and that they would work for any
kind of wages in order to get bread
for the little ones at home. And as
you know that labor in Richmond
pays from $3.50 to 1925 per day,
think that with that amount of men
out of work you would be lucky TO
receive $1.00 a day for your labor
Now brother it is up to you as to how
you ought to vote to protect your own
interests and your own family AS
when you see such men as Judge Blair
ty, you can bet your last dollar that
the capitalist is behind the temper
ance movement. as the Judge is not in
the business for his health, as it is
well known that he is a corporation
man and this temperance movement
is on to crush out the labor union and
to throw thousands Of men out of en-
plOyment in order to reduce the wages
Of the labOring man. Now word to
the farmer on the question, and that is
in the past ten years you have receiv-
ed better prices for your produce, for
your livestock and for everything that
you raise on your farm, than you ever
got in your life. Now who is it that
consumes all your farm produce? Is it
the temperance party or is it the la
boring people? Answer that yourself.
Now as to the brewery. If they want
a team of good horses and you know
that they use great many teams
every year. Do they go to the tenn
perance party to buy them? No, they
go direct to the farmer and pay aim a
good round price for them, and when
the brewery wants corn and barley,
they don't go to the temperance party
to buy, they go to the farmer and that
IS what keeps the prices up for the
farmer. Now Judge Blair said in his
speech Sunday to keep your corn and
feed it to your hogs. Now if you vote
the saloons and the brewery out of
business, who in the h-will you sell
Your hogs to. Will the temperance
party pay you the prices that you re-
ceive at the present time? I say no.
Now as to the clergy. I have the
greatest respect for the clergy in their
own place, but l do hate to see a
clergyman standing on the corner
looking wise and milking his whisk-
ers and talking temperance-that is
talking to drive out the saloons and
drive in the blind tiger. That is what
call running out the little devil and
running in the big devil. / think that
they would do far better to stay in
the pulpit and preach the gospel to the
sinners on ahe inside and / know that