THIS ARTICLE IS FROM THE TEMPERANCE WITNESS OF NORTH OF ENGLAND.
This explains the danger to honest trade. The reason why we have
capital against labor. The concentration of money without compensation
to labor. The funds that accumulate corrupt the government and enslaves
the people:
THE CAUSE OF BAD TRADE.
"Every shilling invested in the liquor traffic inflicts a distinct
injury to the cause of labor, for there is no trade which pays less
wages in proportion to its receipts than the traffic in intoxicants. If
therefore the capital which is now invested in the manufacture and sale
of these liquors could only be turned into other channels there would be
no difficulty in finding an honest wage for an honest day's work for
every unemployed laborer in the land. Let us illustrate this. In a blue
book on wages and
production, issued from the Board of Trade in 1891, it was stated that
for every £100 received in mining, £55 went in labor; of
every £100 in shipbuilding, £37 went in labor; of every
£100 in railways, £31 went in labor; of every
£100 in cotton manufacturies, £29 went in labor; but of
every £100 in brewing, £7 only goes into the pocket of the
workman. The same result was shown in another way by Mr. W. S. Caine, M.
P., when he said: `He was in Scotland, in the neighborhood of a very
large soap factory. He was shown in the locality twelve old cottages and
one hundred new ones. A short time ago the soap factory was a
distillery, and then the twelve old cottages sufficed for all the men
the industry employed; but when it was turned into a soap factory it
became necessary to build one hundred cottages to accommodate the extra
hands which the manufacture of soap required.'
The shutting up of the distillery and the building of these hundred
cottages meant increased trade to all the local shopkeepers, and in turn
this benefited the wholesale trade and caused increased employment. The
way in which labor is starved by the liquor traffic is further illustrated
by the following facts:-
The Publicans' Paper says: Two breweries in Sheffield turn out
50,000 barrels of beer a year each, but they only employ 660 men. An
Edinburgh Distillery with a turnover Of £1,500,000 a year only
employs 150 men. An Iron Ore Company in Cumberland, with a turnover of
£250,000 a year, employs 1,200 men. Our largest ironworks employ
3,000 men each for the same turnover that the distillery employs 150."
Say She Is Insane. From a minister, Rev. William Ashmore,
D. D.— "They say Mrs. Nation in insane. The wonder is that tens of
thousands of mothers and widows are not insane along with her. The
wonder is that instead of one hatchet slashing away among the decanters
there are not ten thousand of them all over the land. To stand by the
grave of a husband or son ruined by drink is enough to drive a woman
crazy. Instead of criticising Mrs. Nation, let us turn on those
heartless saloon-keepers and the negligent and responsible judiciary
and that indifferent and callous community. They are the ones who put
the edge on Mrs. Nation's hatchet. The Master said: `If these should
hold their peace immediately the stones would cry out.' It is because
those pledged to public order hold their peace that Mrs. Nation's
hatchet is flying about."
A Catholic Priest. Mendota, Minn.—"Mrs. Carry Nation. Dear
Sister:—These days back the season's routine duties of a Catholic priest
have prevented me from expressing to you my sympathy and my admiration
for your pluck. You are the John Brown of the temperance cause.
Your smashing of saloon fixtures has been but a very little thing beside
the effect it had, and was bound to have, all over the country, and the
world, in building up backbone and courage and holy emulation in hundreds
of thousands of those reading of it. You are a credit to womankind
and humanity; you are infinitely more deserving of the gratitude
of the country than are the men at the head of our armies and fleets
in needless and demoralizing war. I want to send you $2.00 but have
some fears it may not reach you safely if I enclosed it herein. Praying
that the Lord may comfort and sustain you, I am yours very respectfully,
MARTIN MAHONY.
Trinadad, Colorado, Feb. 28, 1901.—Dear Carrie Nation:—Go on
save all you can. If it had not been for the drink and dance halls I
would not be at deaths door at the age of 28. I am thankful to have
enough life to repent, MINNIE MAY.
Mrs. Nation a Modern Deborah. Thus Saluted by the Boston,
W. C. T. U., at Memorial Service in Honor of Francis Willard. Boston,
Mass.—Mrs. Carry Nation, the strenuous Kansas temperance reformer, was
hailed as a "modern Deborah" at a meeting of the local W. C. T. U.
yesterday afternoon in the vestry of Park Street Church. Not a
dissenting voice was heard from among the gathering of perhaps 200
women, but all over the room there was audible expressions of approval
of the Characterization, which was applied by Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, a
prominent member of the local branch of the union. Mrs. Hunt said that
Mrs. Nation is like Deborah of the Book of Judges, who led an army of
10,000 men to victory against her country's enemies, when not a man
could be found to lead the enterprise. She aroused unmistakable
evidences of indorsement from her audience when she remarked that the
lady with the hatchet can truly say, "Until I arose, there was no man to
punish unpunished rebellion against the law." Mrs. Hunt concluded by
saying that thoughtful reformers are waiting with much interest to see
what will be the result of Mrs. Nation's cyclonic campaign.
A Son Wrecked By Liquor. "Some day the mothers of this
country will burn all the saloons and never a man in all the land will
dare to check them."—New York Journal.
DEAR MRS. NATION:-I am one of these mothers and would be willing
to help you to wreck or burn these saloons. I have a son who is a
wreck from the accursed stuff. Oh! 'tis a dark blot on this republic. Even
Mohammedans do better than we, a Christian people, for in all Turkey
one can not purchase strong drink. But it follows our flag wherever
it is planted. Let me know if I can help you. MRS. P. D. OLIVER.
Helen M. Gougar, Lafayette, Ind., writes: "I want to thank the
editor of the SMASHER'S MAIL for the good she has done by her unique
method of campaigning against the liquor traffic. Her message has gone
around the globe for everybody has heard of Carrie Nation and her
hatchet. By the way I think the funniest thing on the pages of history
is the scare that has caused men (God save the mark!) to bolt and bar
their doors and turn pale with fright, because one little, old enthusiastic
lady was headed their way!! Oh, ye braves!! You are almost as brave
as if you used your opportunities to protect your offspring from the
accursed liquor traffic. Let the smashing go on."
Far Away New Jersey. Camden, N. J.—"Mrs. Carry Nation: DEAR
SISTER:—When our New Jersey Prohibition Conference was held at
Trenton February 14, we sent a telegram to you endorsing your work
in Kansas, a prohibition State. It was signed by our former candidate
for governor, Rev. Thomas Landon, Rev. James Parker, a former state
chairman, and myself, who offered the resolution. Not having received
an acknowledgement, I do not know that you received it; if so, will you
kindly let me have a word from you to give to our State Convention
that will be held May 7? I wish New Jersey had either statutory or
constitutional prohibition, there would be some smashing done here,
too. Yours for the extermination of the liquor traffic, D. W. GARRIGUES."
What St. John thinks of my work in Kansas: John P. St. John,
who was governor of Kansas twice and once headed the National Prohibition
ticket as candidate for President of the United States, warmly
indorses the acts of Mrs. Nation in her crusade against the liquor traffic.
In a letter written to Judge W. J. Groo from Olathe, Kans., he likens
her crusade to that of John Brown against slavery. The letter was not
written for publication, but Judge Groo secured permission to give it
to the World. It says: "My dear Judge: It was almost like grasping
the hand of an old friend to receive your letter of the 31st ult. Mrs.
Nation is all right. She is engaged in the very laudable business of
abating what our statute declares to be a common nuisance. She is not
crazy, nor is she a crank, but she is, a sensible Christian woman and has
the respect of our best people. Her crusade is much like that of John
Brown's, and I hope and pray that it may terminate as disastrously to
the liquor traffic as John Brown's did to human slavery. How much
more in accord to Christianity it would be if our government would use
its soldiers to protect our own homes in our own country, instead of
sending them 8,000 miles away to destroy the homes of a people who
wanted to be our friends and whose only offense is their love of human
liberty, the same that actuated our Revolutionary fathers four generations
ago. Yes, the Leavenworth mob was an awful affair and a burning
shame and disgrace to Kansas. But it seems that under the reign of
William of Canton the burning of negroes at the stake and the killing
of Filippinos has become a very popular source of amusement.
Very truly your friend, JOHN P. ST. JOHN."
