The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-05-11
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
ABOLISH THE POOR MANS cLuHq

Some one says: "At the end of a
days work man who is tired and
feels the burden of loneliness and the
cares of life, wants to get rid Of
them, and a glass of beer will do it.
1t does not intoxicate him, but it pro-
vides certain relief from sheer care
and loneliness. II that can be given
by any other thing, more can be done
to solve the so-called temperance
problem than by any direct attack on
the thing that does relieve the man.
Take the average man who earns a
dollar and half day. Where can
he go? He hasn't place. In our
American cities as we take them to-
day there is only one door that swings
open to him at all times of the day
and night. When it is cold, it is warm
inside; and when the weather is hot,
it is as cold inside as anywhere else.
A man goes there for recreation; and
the liquor business of the United
States today probably supplies the
only continuous recreation for the
workingman."
The newspaper quoting this OBJ
serves: Why can't man with intel
ligence enough to be a professional
man have the sense to perceive that,
once the saloons were out of the way,
there would be no need, or practical
ly no need, for Substitute" for it?
It is the saloon that creates the bad
conditions which put men into condi-
tons from which they seek escape by
alcoholic drugs.
Where, it was asked, is the man
who earns dollar and a half a day
going to 60 for comfort and recrea-
ton if there is no saloon? It may be
said, to begin with, that if there were
no saloon the man would probably be
getting two dollars or two and a half
day. However, as it is, the most
notable result of his going to the sa-
loon is that he makes himself less fit
to earn wage of any sort, and his
home becomes not only more uncom-
Portable for him, but more uncom-
Portable for his wife and children, who
cannot in decency go even to the sa-
loon.
Any one who has the slightest &C
quaintance with the results of scien-
tifc investigation knows that the
glass of beer which, it is said, will
make the workingmen get rid of 'the
burden of loneliness" and the "cares
of life," when once the first effect is
gone, will leave him in a condition
where loneliness will press down only
the harder upon him, and the cares
will grind deeper and be heavier. But,
it may be asked, what is to be offered
to the poor man in place of the sa-
loon where he now spends his spare
time and finds recreation? Simply a
chance to provide for himself and for
his family a decent and comfortable
home, where he and they can enjoy
life and it's blessings. .-s.
Nine-tenths of all the people whose
awful home conditions are source OF
grief to all who have the welfare of
the poor at heart could and would have
homes of reasonable comfort if the sa-
looms direct and indirect taking of
the money of the poor were stopped.
The money that the poor now spend
for drink would wholly change the con-
ditions of the greater part of all the
homes of poverty in the land. The
man who earns a dollar and a half a
day and at night seeks in the saloon
relief from the loneliness and cares
of life, spends for this relief more
money than would pay the rent of an
extra room in his home and make a
substantial improvement in the fam
ily's food, and provide also an occa-
sional outing for the entire family.
One need not be in sympathy with
the cause supported by the Vindicator,
from which the foregoing has been
condensed, to perceive the truth of it
all, says Rev. M. A. Landing in the
Pittsburg Observer. It cannot be de-
MED that what is spent directly for
drink, not to speak of it's indirect cost,
would be more than enough to relieve
all the poverty Of the country. Usual
ly the man who seeks relief from
the loneliness and the cares of life
in the saloon, is unable to recognize
this. He has eyes and sees not, or If
he sees he has not will power to act.
1t is the part of his more fortunate
brother and temperance workers to
convince him of the advantages of so
briefly. But even they too often do
not recognize his condition. What
the eyes don't see the heart don't
feel" is generally too true. If one
had to live in the same house with
an Incorporate husband or father or
son or brother, and see that wife and
mother abused, and with her little
ones driven onto the street by the in
toxicated husband and father when he
comes home from the saloon or club,
relieved of the loneliness and cares of
life;" or had a daughter forced to be
the father of such drunkard's chill