The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-03-20
A LABORER's VIEWS.

present local option fight of your city
was to be purely local affair for
Richmond to settle, but l find it has
Wldened out until it has reached this
little burg, and while I have no de-
sire, nor do I believe l have the
right to NEEDLE in your affairs, do
believe all will concede me the right
to enter any discussion of the ques-
ton originating in this community, so
If you will grant me a little space, l
Will reply 10 the Rev. McCormick's
letter In your issue of the 14th.
He starts out with the statement
that it takes the entire time Of $50
men to dish out the oh-be-joyful to the
dry men of your city. (Surely no one
but dry man would drink Having
no reason to doubt the correctness OF
his figures, we vii. accept them as
corrects, and add that the saloons
probably employ that many more in
one capacity or another, janitors, de-
livery men, cooks and walters for the
free lunches, etc, and the reverend
gentleman proposes to throw these
men all out of employment, ana pray,
brother, what have you to offer these
men in the place of the jobs you pro-
pose to rob them Of?
If half the reports of unemployment
are true, it will be impossible for one
man out of this whole bunch to go
any place in the United States and Sc
cure employment without depriving
some other man of his job, as it is self
evident that there are not near enough
jobs to go round now
l know personally that the laboring
men of Richmond are pretty we'll post
ed on the economic question; in fact,
| many of them could tell you more
about it than you ever did or prob.
! ably ever will know. They know the
! labor market does not differ materially
from any other market, and that to
throw three hundred more men
on market that is already
employed, in order to try to
get their jobs would mean lower
wages for all, so l fear your argu-
ment will have the effect of helping
the vets by calling the attention of
some to this phase Of the situation
that they had not thought of before.
nature. these people must and will
live. even if they have to bootleg a
little On the sly.
Then our brother says: saloon
keepers make big profits, and should
treat their patrons better and that
their patrons have to work hard for
the money they shove over the bar,
while a saloon keeper has a compare
lively easy time, often having money
to spend for luxury that most of his
/ patrons could not Afford and then
| winds up by saying, 'let these people
get out and earn an honest living, like
other people"
Let's see, I either saw, heard or
dreamed of something some where or
| some place that runs something like
this: Judge not least ye be judged
ten-fold by the same judgment"
! The reverend gentleman probably
doesn't know that large per cent OF
our people are beginning to doubt the
moral right of big, able-bodied men
to live in comparative ease and luxury
off the nickles and pennies they can
beg, scare or cajole out Of women and
children. However, he might strength
en- his position some by showing the
per cent of his donors that live easier
and better than he does.
Titles to mansions in the skies may
be alright, but they are poor assets tC
a man out of job and hungry. There
is not place to my knowledge where
one can be pawned for the price of a
ham sandwich. If the reverend gen
! tleman can site such a market he
will no doubt be doing greater Chris
tan act than when engaged in an eff
fort to throw several hundred men out
of employment. Then again, the sa
loon is always open and cheerfully
lighted; it is a common meeting place
where soul-starved men may fine
warmth. welcome and social inter
course and a warm lunch, if hungry
Usually the liquor men drink; it |:
only incidental to the companionshiI
they crave. Perhaps if the church
took the pains to become the soca
center the saloon does it would find it
influence growing instead Of waning
Then he makes a great TODD abou
finding a kind-hearted man in thu
church. Why, there is nothing So
strange about that: it happens ever,
once in a while: nor do those wht
know Mr. Manlove need any such in
cident as our brother related to prov,
his fine character. | fail to see Wher'
he has proven anything by sitting tn
incident of this drunken man bein:
down in the snow, except that WI
have DRINKS in dry territory, the sam
as in wet (this is supposed to be DIR.
territory, and as far as | can see
just about as many as when we hal
: two saloons; nor do | believe tina
there is a man in this township bu
E would have done as much for this poo
unfortunate, under the same circun
!. stances, as did Mr.. Manlove.
Then he takes the case of a poo
! dead man and rattles his bone
around a while, not even caring t.
: spare the feelings of his good oil
father, whom he mentions, by refrain
ing from advertising his sons nam
: in connection with his shortcomings
!. The facts of the case are that thi
poor fellow was only one of the man
! victims of the system our brother w
: holds so manfully.
l. This wOJld-be guardian of the publ
G welfare probably doesn't know tina
there were 10000 just as horribl
G deaths in the industries last year. an
that nine out of ten Of them coul
2 have been prevented. If he does, h
has never preached any sermons on i
: to my knowledge. (Straining afte
, the small ones, as usually
- Now, my dear brother, if you ar
, ! really DESTROYS of doing away with tn
D liquor business, and since there ca