The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-09-06

Cnlcago, Sept. b.--Joseph II. Fran
els, formerly alderman from the
Thirty-fifth Ward, had his only son.
John Francis twenty-nine years old,
arrested for drunkenness and fined
Woo. He told Judge Gray that young
Francis was running his life with
drink and he took this as a last step
to save him from himself Then the
rather led the young man to the sta
ton and left him behind the bars. II
broke his heart to have to do it. he
said, and afterwards. he told the
story of why he didn't want his only
boy to throw his life away, as his
father had done.
oh, I've wheezed away many a
night in damp CELL" said Francis as
he ran his thin hand over his
white hair. They say the war is
horrible. They say 1t is full of such
awful sights that strong men grow
sick. It's true, but was Is only tenn
porary. Whiskey war ia everlasting
and the sights are just as horrible.
I've been on the water wagon now
for twenty weeks. and for the thou
sandth time l declare / will never
touch whiskey again. I'm getting
back the love and respect Of my
friends, and I've been from the best
down to the worst. Now l am start
'hS oANh w tiiC ct
I've passed bad checks for 50. bought
hat and spent the change for
whfskey. I've passed $4,000 worth
Of bad checks in two years, but 1
always had friends and / always man
aged to get out right. Now / am in
position TO begin my good work
at home,
"Drunkards don't start at the bar
rel houses They talk about starting
reform by getting rid of the barrel
houses. That's where the poor devils
end. They begin at the fashionable
bars In the hotels and business blocks
Why don't they begin by getting rid
Of those and in time there wouldn't
be any dirty barrel houses full of
whiskey that makes demons OF men
Dcnounces Costly Bars.
NO man who hampers with whis-
key Is safe. No such man Is immune
from drunkenness and. a wretched
barrel house finish The man who
boasts that he Is only a moderate
drinker is the fellow who never
drinks except when his friends In
wife him, and he has so few friends
that he doesn't get many drinks.
Ten years ago they used TO give you
an egg or an oyster with every drink.
to lure you into the place again,
tempting you with something for
nothing. Now It's different. They
give snake with every drink of
whiskey.
Il have told my boy so often that
II is much easier for an old man of
sixty with his hair colored to get a
job than ii is for a young man Of
thirty to ge, one II his nose Ia coll
ored. 1t Is this attitude of the sub
stantial business men against whis-
KEY that Is doing the real good. They
won't hire men who drink. The
drinkers chances are getting slim
mer and simmer. When men get up
and howl about saloons needing reg
ulation they. don't know what they
are talking about 1t Is strangula-
ton that they need The license
money obtained from saloons Is moth
ing compared with the injury they
do.
Il have obtained positions for this
son / had arrested.
"Wrcnch in Efficiency"
Sometimes he would fill them for
a day or two. Often ne wouldn't go
near the place after I got him the job.
For two years / have supported him
in the vain hope that surely the next
day ne would make up his mind to
quit whiskey. l have tried hard to
show him that whiskey is the monkey
wrench in the machinery OF efficiency.
and it's bitter thing to learn by
years OF experiences and then not to
be able to make your own children
profit by the horrors you have been
through.
Why have seen monkeys and
snakes and frogs crawling over my
bedposts and coming up the sheets
toward my face, and / have shrieked