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The? Commoner
APRft 3917
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Liquor and Labor
(By Charles Stelzle, in National
Advocate.)
According to the defenders of the
saloon 1,000,000 workingmen would
permanently be thrown onto the la
bor market following the Introduc
tion of national prohibition. This
argument is based entirely upon the
absurd proposition that if the liquor
dealers fail to get the money now
spent for. beer and whisky nobody
else will get it. "It is assumed that
if a man does not? spend a dollar for
booze he will throw that dollar into
the sewer or into aome kind of a
bottomless pit, instead of using it
to purchase some other commodity
which will do good instead of harm,
which will have a permanent value
and which will give the workingmen
of the country more work, more
wages, and greater prosperity in
every way than if the same amount
of money were spent for beer and
whisky.
A good deal is being said about
the enormous amount of capital in
vested in the liquor industry, and
yet, according to the Statistical Ab
stract of the United States, for every
$1,000,000 invested in the average
industry, practically four times as
much raw material is required, four
times as much wages is paid and
four times as many workers are em
ployed, as is the case in the liquor
industry.
Let us take five leading industries
in the United States and compare
them with the liquor business. For
every. $1,000,000 invested in each of
these industries the following num
ber of wage earners are employed:
Liquor, 77; iron, ana steel and their
products, 284; paper and printing,
3G7; leather and its products, 469;
textiles and their finished products,
578; lumber and its manufactures,
579. These figures prove that the
iron industry .employs nearly four
times as many, paper and printing
nearly five times as many, leather
six times as many, textiles seven
and one-half times as many, and
lumber seven and one-half times as
many workers for every $1,000,000
invested as does the liquor industry.
The figures given by the liquor
interests as to the number of men
who would be affected by the aboli
tion of the liquor traffic are greatly
exaggerated. The census report for
1910 tells us that in all manufactur
ing industries there were then em
ployed 6,616,046 persons. The li-
qour- industry employed 62,920, or
just about one per cent of the total.
But of this number only 15,000 were
brewers and malsters, distillers and
rectifiers. The remainder . of the
62,920 were employed as engineers,0
carpenters, machinists, teamsters?
etc. occupations which are not at
all peculiar to the li.quor business.
There were more jjeamsters employed
than there were brewers and malt
sters, distillers and rectifiers.
There are about 100,000 bartend
ers in the United States. -What will
become of these whe the saloon is
abolished? What is it that makes
a successful bartender? It ishis
ability as a salesman, and a man who
is a good bartender will make a good
clerk or salesman in practically any
other kind of business. Furthermore,
it requires many more people to sell
$2,000,000,000 worth of bread and
clothing, for example, than it does to
sell liquor of the same value.
The BreVers and the Farmers
But what about the 15,000 or so
brewers and maltsters, distillers and
rectifiers? They -will of necessity,
bo compelled to adjust themselves to
changed conditions. But this does
not mean that they will either go
adrift or cause a panic. Tho con
stantly changing situation in tho In-
uuouiai wona in tins country ofton
compels men to transfer from one
occupation to another, many of them
being required to learn entirely new
trades. -
As a matter of fact, however,
more workingmen lose their jobs
because saloons are open than would
bo the case were tho saloons to be
closed. As somebody put it, "When
liquor puts a man out of a job it un
fits him for another job. When no-license-
puts a bartender out of a job
it makes him a wealth-producing
workingman instead of a wealth-destroying
workingman. It is hotter
that the bartender should lose his
job and get. a better one than that
dozens of his patrons should lose
their jobs and be unfitted for any
job.
There are. about 10,000,000 farm
ers in tho Unijted- States. They con
stitute ten per' cent of our entire
population. The .value of their an
nual products is approximately $10,
000,000,000, or $1,000 for each
farmer. Tho liquor industry pur
chases every year from the farmer
about $100,000,000 worth of prod
uce, or just one per cent of all that
the farmer produces; that is $10 for
each farmer in the United States.
The question Is, what will the
"poor" farmer .dp' with his $10
worth 6f produce wliich te liquor in
dustry can- ,nbt purchase when it is
put out of business? It is abso
lutely certain that ho will never be
compelled to throw, away this $10
worth of material which is troubling
tho liquor men so grievously. The
chances, are that somebody else be
sides tho liquor men will find use
for the farmer's grain and. grapes
and apples and cherries. To listen
to the defender of the saloon one
would think that nobody, likes
grapes and cherries unless they
come in the form of booze.
If the 100,000,000 people in this
country were each to increase their
nuriVhnQinf' nnwor hv an miiMi na r
two-cent postage stamp per week, it
would amount to about $100,000,
000 per year the sum of the liquor
men's purchases from the farmer,
There is n need to worry about the
farmer. Anyway, haitr voting out the
saloon every time he gets a chance,
tuny realizing tne iorce-oi wnatever
there may be in the argument of the
liquor men as far as he is concerned.
"MAY GOD AID RUSSIA," SAYS
CZAR IN ABDICATING THRONE
A Petrograd cablegram, via Lon
don, dated March 17, says: The fol
lowing'Ms the text of the imperial
manifesto in which tho Russian em
peror announced his abdication and
that of his son:
"We; Nicholas II, by the grace of
God emperor of all the Russias, czar
of Poland, and grand duke of Fin
land, etc., make known to all our
faithful subjects: In the day of the
frreat strucclo against a foreign foe
who has been striving for three
years to enslave our country, God
has wished to send Russia a new and
painful trial. Interior troubles
threaten to have a fatal repercus
sion on the final outcome of the war.
Ti,n iionHnies of Russia, the honor
of our dear fatherland, require that:
the war be prosecuted at all cost to
a victorious end. The cruel enemy
is making' his last effort -and the
moment is near when our valiant
army, in concert with thoso of our
glorious allies, will definitely chas
tiso the foe. ' ,
"In thoso declsivo days in tho lifo
of Russia, wo beliovo our people
should havo tho closest Union and
organization of all their forces for
tho realization of speedy victory.
For this reason, In accordanco with
tho Duma of the ompire, we havo
considered it desirable to abdlcato
the throno of Russia .and lay asldo
our supremo power. Not wishing to
bo separated from our lovo In tho
son wo leavo our heritage to our
brother, tho Grand Duko Michael
Alexandrovltch, blessing his advent
to tho throno of Russia. Wo hand
over the government to our brother
In full union with tho representa
tives of tho nation who nro seated
in tho executivo chambers taking
this step with an lnviolablo oath in
tho namo of our well beloved coun
try. Wo call on all faithful sons of
tho fatherland to fulfill their sacred
patriotic duty In this painful mo
ment of national trial and to aid our
brother and tho representatives of
tho nation in bringing Russia . Into
tho path of prosperity anv(l. glory.
May God. aid Russia." ':
m
BEAUTIFUL WATKIl
(By Geo. K. Edwards, McLeans
boro, 111.) r ',;.
Water is ever changing; It h the
"poetry of motion." It hastens to
the sea, but the sea can not retain
It; it floats in the clouds -and falls
to tho earth again in- .rofrdbhng
showers. To him that hath oy'cj
and ears, it speaks a various lan
guage. It patters on the roof; It
bubbles in tho spring; it gushes in
tho streamlet; it splashes ,in the
pool; it sings in 1 -the mountain
brook;' It dances in; tho'Cascadea.; It
laughs In the cataract; it ripples in
the lake; it weeps in tho storm;
surges in the sea, and roars in the
ocean. It has been tho world's
music since the dawn of creation,
and will be until tbd'end of time on
tho earth.
In tho geysers it seethes, boils,
hisses, spouts, and plays all sorts of
whlnsltfaU tricks, .. In thoWg
Jceborgs Hmd snowy pcfekaSvttylitfVf
mountains It Is wondrously'b'cMt
fill. It haloes tho moon; if toafnlfr"
tho hues of tho rainbow aW tk,
sunsets, and forms tho bcaiiimmtt
tno mystic cJoud-Iand. Wlth':tl
frost crystals It draws fantastic (
turea on tho window imnn. nmt 1
frozon dow-drops sparklo llko dia
monds in tho light of tho early
morning. Aided by tho south-wind
and tho sunshine, It makes the grass
io grow, ana flowers to bloom, tho
trees to bud and boar fruit. With,
tho north wind it covers tho trees
with silvery coats of Ice; and with
tho snow crystals It weaves old
mother earth a now whlto dross, in
which sho appears puro and Inno
cent, (although sho has drunk tho
blood of many of her sons In bat
tle;) and It furnishes skating and
sleighing for thoso who delight In
out-door recreations.
As It gracefully flows along tho
river to tho sou, It furnishes power
which Is utilized In promoting our
commercial enterprises; when heated
into Bteam, It turns tho wheels that
move tho world along In Its mad
rush for wealth; and it Is (of itself)
tho groat broad highway upon which
tho world's trafllc is transported.
Pure, cold, clear, sparkling, crys
tal water It relieves pain; it
quenches tho fevered thirst; It In
llfo-glvlng, without it nothing could
live; it is the emblem of purity, It
cleanses the world. Study It to bo
wise, drink Jt to bo strong, slug its
praises to be free from rum's awful
curse,
Water contains no poison that In
toxicates .the brain and causos de
lirium. . It never drives women and
children homeless and friendless in
to tho streets. Our prisons nro not
filled with Its victims; It doesn't
rob the nation of Its manhood; It
does not "regulate" our elections by
fraud; neither does It cost the Amer
ican people two thousand million
dollars every year. It Is one of God's
free gifts. It was "Adam's ale"; let
it bo our drink, for the Lord made
nothing better.
HENRY FORD'S OWN STORY
0
,
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!
HOW A FARMER BOY ROSE TO
THE POWER THAT GOESWITH
MILLIONS, YET NEVJERLOST
THTTfiTT WTTTT TTTTMANTTV
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THE COMMONER, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
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