The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-12-09
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE
BUSINESS FIGHTING ALCOHOL.

For generations" says Burton j.
Hendrick, in Harper's Magazine, "busi-.
ness and industry had not only
tolerated alcohol, but had almost SUI
perstitiously regarded it as essential
to success. In the early nineteenth
century the town bell regularly rang at
ten in the morning and four in the
afternoon; this was a signal for the
laborers to pause and take their grog.
Farmers regularly provided rum at
harvesting time; the belief prevailed
that it protected the men against sun
stroke. On the other hand, Workmen
exposed to cold, such as ice-cutters, or
carpenters and masons, in. winter time
used this universal solvent as a pro-
lection against chill. American indus
trialism, as it developed, took over all
these ideas, the growth of factories
greatly stimulating the retail trade in
alcohol. The saloon-keeper showed
natural affinity for the factory; when
the occupation was peripatetic, like
railroad building or numbering, the
grogshop automatically followed the
workmen's headquarters. Men regu-
larly drank on the way to the shop
in the morning, on the way home in
the evening; the laborer at his noon
day meal ate at the free lunch counter,
and frequently took back with him to
the factory plentiful supplies of re-
freshments in pals, bottles and some
times in kegs. Until the last decade
the dramshop performed any number
of business and social uses. Fifteen
years ago. said Samuel Gompers, in
1904, the labor union usually had it's
meeting place in saloon 1t
sheltered workmen at night, thus serv-
ing as a Club it acted as bank, the
gentlemen in white apron obligingly
cashing all pay checks. The steel
mills displayed particular tolerance
toward whisky; they believed that the
worker in a blast furnace would die
if he did not have frequent potatioIs.
After every heat the men regularly adj
journed to the nearest saloon and re-
inforced themselves for the next
But times have changed, the scien-
tific laboratory is showing up the fool
ishness of thinking that alcohol is
helpful. ''We all know, of course, no
scientific experiments are necessary to
teach us, says Mr.. Hendrick, that
excessive indulgence is injurious; the
Significance of these modern studies,
however, is that they condemn alcohol
In moderate amounts. These conclu-
sions have the utmost Importance for
every citizen, but they have a particu-
lar meaning for laboring men. For al
cohol affects unfavorably all the physi-
cal and mental operations most essen
tial to working efficiency.
The movement for workmen's COM
pensation, even more than scientific
studies, is giving the last stroke to al
cohol. The adoption, by most of our
large industrial states, of laws making
employers responsible financially for
injuries suffered by employees has
suddenly brought them face to face
with the problem of drink. For alco-
hol plays an important part in causing
accidents.
"The new liability and compensation
laws give the employer no option; he
must pay for an injured workman, IT.
Irrespective of the cause. If he toler-
ates alcohol-users on his premises, he
must pay the cost of their mistakes.
AS a result of these laws employers
have installed safety appliances and
started safety campaigns; their new
rules against alcohol have precisely
the same inspiration"