The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-10-27
The Saloon and the Wage Worker.

the saloon, setting forth some rea-
sons why an intelligent and civilized
people should not foster it.
| In the first of this series, we will
give some observations as to it's eff
fects upon the class of people called
Wage Workers. There is no class
of people who can so lily afford to
spend money unnecessarily as the
class named. OF course we admit that
| as a matter of personal liberty, If
any one should have the right to be-
come a drunkard, the wage worker
has as good a right as any one; but
can he afford it? The average wage
| of the average wage worker in the
United States is about $500 per an
mum. OF course it is more in some
localities, and more for certain trades;
but when the average is struck, this
seems to be about the figure. Now,
what are the demands upon him for
the expenditure of that money? We
will suppose he has a family, for If
he has not, he must hire board and
room rent and that is about equiva-
lent to the expense Of keeping a fam
| lily, especially when we consider that
| the wife and children of the wage
worker often contribute their share
! to the expense of the family. If he
has a family, he must pay rent, which
will be on an average $3.50 per year.
This leaves him $3.50 with which to
buy clothing, fuel, food and grocer
les. In this estimate there is nothing
counted for doctors bills, a nurse in
case of sickness, nothing for books,
papers, music, nor any of those things
| that are so common among the peo-
| pie educated in our m odern schools.
Any one knows that the $3.50 is not
| too much and the family that lives
on that amount and keeps out of
debt, has to practice the most rigid
economy. But suppose part of that
| is expended for drinks, what then?
| Nothing except that the family is
robbed of the necessaries of life; and
the husband and father who drinks,
is feeding an unnatural appetite while
he starves his wife and children.
We will suppose, however, that ne
cares so little for his family that he
will not endeavor to control his ap-
petite for drink in order to feed and
clothe them. We will suppose that he
is so selfish as to care only for him.
self. We know when we make this
supposition, that it is far-fetched and
in most cases not true to the facts;
but we make it for the sake of COM
parison in an extreme case. If it be
true that he is thus selfish, he is in
his indulgence for strong drink dimin-
ishing his earning power. He does
this by diminishing his physical en-
durance and his mental accuracy as
we'll. AS he becomes physically
weaker, he cannot stand the physi-
cal strain of hard places, and as he
becomes mentally inaccurate and I'M
reliable, he is not capacitated in the
same degree for those positions that
require mental application, percep-
ton, precision and continuity. In
other words he Is worth less to his
employer than he would be if he
were sober, and the employers every
where are quick to observe his hab-
it's, and to discharge him If he does
not suit them. More and more, as
expensive machinery is used in the
industries, men are selected for the
handling of this machinery who are
total abstainers and the others are
not employed. Very many employers
of labor will not have in their list of
employees men who drink because of
the influence they have upon others,
especially of the younger men who If
they became drinkers would become
less reliable. With the introduction
of machinery that takes the place of
man power, it is possible to do the
work of the world with less than the
wi n1 mn m ~
makes it possible to discharge the
poorest and least reliable and to re-
tain the sober and otherwise desira-
BILE. In a labor report of Carroll d.
Wright, several years ago, the fol-
lowing comparison was made Of man
power in the production of goods as
compared with machine power. IN
the manufacture of socks one person
with the machinery now in use can
do the work of 500 persons knitting
in the old fashioned way In weav-
ing, one person can do the work that
1t formerly required 95 persons to do.
In the manufacture of shoes. one per-
son can do what it formerly required
166 persons to do. In tine manufac-
! ture of cotton, one person can do
what 1t used to require 500 persons
TO 40. III the manufacture Oh Halls,
one person can do what it used to
require 1000 persons to do. This IL
| Illustrates a large class of labor saving
machinery, becoming more and more
efficient and perfect, so that Chaun-
cey M. Depew said in an address
some time ago, that it was now pos
| sible to do the work of the world
with third of its labor power. This
may be an over statement, or it may
not; but there is no Disgusting the
fact that all the workers are not
needed all the time. Who are most
! likely to be discharged? The an
swer to that question can be given
! by any one who has observed, and 1t
needs no argument to prove that the
drinkers are among the first. What
I then should be the attitude of the
wage worker toward the saloon? The
J answer is, he would be much better
/ off If the saloon were abolished. How
will this class of men vote when the
question is submitted? Well, of
course they will be divided, as they
always are on public questions; but
IL thew vote for their own interests