PART FIFTHCARRIERS.CARRIERS.CHAPTER XXI.There is no subject that has received so much attention and has worried so many good people as the liquor question. Saloons and drinking never cease to be problems for our well-meaning temperance people. Why man created saloons, no one undertakes to answer. The strongest man is never too strong in a saloon, and the weak is to be pitied. The saloon is an evil that has been with us a long time and seems to be here to stay in one form or another. While we cannot eradicate the evil, especially by extreme methods, can we not modify its influence? We have tried the probation method, and failed. We have tried the open saloon, the clubs, the no-treating, the open reform saloon, the wet and dry division—but the saloons are still with us, and this because of the fact that the state, the city, property owners, recognize the saloon legally, through the assessment of heavy licenses and taxes, and good well-meaning people ask and receive money from the ever-willing giver, the saloonman, and use it for charitable as well as church purposes. The world today is heartless in its mad rush for money getting,and the “graft” is in the minds of thousands of well-meaning, but over-anxious to get-rich-quick men; among them the saloonman. Let us suggest to our saloonmen how they can stop a great deal of misery in the world. We have in mind a saloon that was “made good” by five newsboys. “A real live saloon, where politicians congregated to lay plans for work, and whose owner had an eye to making money, and saw nothing else, even to the ruining of boys and men.”“Say, pres.,” said a newsboy from the saloon district, and an officer of an auxiliary, “Jimmy Smith is drunk and laying in the alley at the saloon where politicians hold their meetin’s. The bar-tender throwed him out.”The books showed Jimmy Smith’s father was a “ward politician,” a good fellow who was often taken home drunk by his son, a newsboy. Jimmy was eleven years old, very bright and intelligent for his age. He learned to drink liquor through his father and mother sending him to the saloon for beer, and “dropping in the alley on the way home and tasting the beer, until he began to like it.”To the question, “did you ever see Jimmy drink in the saloon?” the boys answered that itwas a common thing; “but today when the bar-tender took Jimmy’s nickel, and he was full, he throwed him out. He said he didn’t want the kid to disgrace his place.”Three of the best officers were called, they went to the alley, and took Jimmy home. Three of the five boys who were assigned this case, belonged to a gang and were familiar with all the inside workings of a saloon, they were never slow in showing their appreciation of a saloonman who defended them, and who turned them down for entering the saloon. The method adopted by the boys was their work. They knew the proprietor of the saloon, and knew him to be a very kind-hearted man. No person ever asked him in vain for a donation to any cause. His own boys were model young men, stood high in school, and associated with the best of church members. Strange to say the two sons of the saloonman were regular at Sunday-school. It is a fact that when any society, church or other organization desired aid, this saloonman was sought after by a dozen persons. They knew he was easy. This man in his home, on the street, in the lodge room (and he belonged to many societies), in any publicgathering, was recognized as an honest man; but behind the bar he saw nothing but money.He never thought he was doing a wrong by taking the last cent from a drunken man; it was business, and that was why he was there. When reminded of it he simply replied that, “I might as well have it as any one else, for someone will get it.” Often he said: “He is bound to drink and the best way is to let him drink up all his money and that is an end of it.”When the newsboys called upon him to plead for their friend, Jimmy, they were received with, “the utmost attention and kindness.” The following is what the chairman reported:“We said to the boss, we come to see you about Jimmy Smith and his father. You see Jimmy has been in bad company, the bad company was at his home, his father an’ mother. He learned the habit of drinking by tasting beer he was sent after by his father, and he said when he learned to drink that your clerk gave him a glass of beer every time he came after it. So the other day your bar-tender threw him out of the saloon. He had gradually taught the boy to drink, and when he began to get so that it annoyed him, he didn’t want him. We come to see if you won’tplease stop giving Jimmy any more drink and tell your man to throw him out of the saloon before he drinks. We’ll stand for that, but we won’t stand for his pitching him in the alley when he’s got all of Jimmy’s money and is drunk. As to his father, we don’t want you to sell him anything when you see he has enough. Don’t take the last cent he has when you know he is full already. Send him home. His family needs every cent. And don’t sell Jimmy any beer if he comes with the bucket.”The boys were treated with great kindness by the owner of the saloon who promised to do more than they asked of him. His bar-tenders were instructed, under penalty of dismissal, not to permit a newsboy in the saloon.“I realize the wrong being done to the boys,” he said to the president, “and it is through thoughtlessness that we permit the boys to come here at all. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. One of my relatives has an interest in a commercial college. I’ll buy this boy, Jimmy, a scholarship if he’ll go to school.”Jimmy was only too glad to accept.Two years pass, and Jimmy is about to graduate from the college. The manager said: “Ihave four men after this boy. He has the right kind of push in him to make a splendid business man.”Four years later Jimmy received a monthly salary of $100, and during that time has assisted in helping many a street boy.
PART FIFTHCARRIERS.CARRIERS.CHAPTER XXI.There is no subject that has received so much attention and has worried so many good people as the liquor question. Saloons and drinking never cease to be problems for our well-meaning temperance people. Why man created saloons, no one undertakes to answer. The strongest man is never too strong in a saloon, and the weak is to be pitied. The saloon is an evil that has been with us a long time and seems to be here to stay in one form or another. While we cannot eradicate the evil, especially by extreme methods, can we not modify its influence? We have tried the probation method, and failed. We have tried the open saloon, the clubs, the no-treating, the open reform saloon, the wet and dry division—but the saloons are still with us, and this because of the fact that the state, the city, property owners, recognize the saloon legally, through the assessment of heavy licenses and taxes, and good well-meaning people ask and receive money from the ever-willing giver, the saloonman, and use it for charitable as well as church purposes. The world today is heartless in its mad rush for money getting,and the “graft” is in the minds of thousands of well-meaning, but over-anxious to get-rich-quick men; among them the saloonman. Let us suggest to our saloonmen how they can stop a great deal of misery in the world. We have in mind a saloon that was “made good” by five newsboys. “A real live saloon, where politicians congregated to lay plans for work, and whose owner had an eye to making money, and saw nothing else, even to the ruining of boys and men.”“Say, pres.,” said a newsboy from the saloon district, and an officer of an auxiliary, “Jimmy Smith is drunk and laying in the alley at the saloon where politicians hold their meetin’s. The bar-tender throwed him out.”The books showed Jimmy Smith’s father was a “ward politician,” a good fellow who was often taken home drunk by his son, a newsboy. Jimmy was eleven years old, very bright and intelligent for his age. He learned to drink liquor through his father and mother sending him to the saloon for beer, and “dropping in the alley on the way home and tasting the beer, until he began to like it.”To the question, “did you ever see Jimmy drink in the saloon?” the boys answered that itwas a common thing; “but today when the bar-tender took Jimmy’s nickel, and he was full, he throwed him out. He said he didn’t want the kid to disgrace his place.”Three of the best officers were called, they went to the alley, and took Jimmy home. Three of the five boys who were assigned this case, belonged to a gang and were familiar with all the inside workings of a saloon, they were never slow in showing their appreciation of a saloonman who defended them, and who turned them down for entering the saloon. The method adopted by the boys was their work. They knew the proprietor of the saloon, and knew him to be a very kind-hearted man. No person ever asked him in vain for a donation to any cause. His own boys were model young men, stood high in school, and associated with the best of church members. Strange to say the two sons of the saloonman were regular at Sunday-school. It is a fact that when any society, church or other organization desired aid, this saloonman was sought after by a dozen persons. They knew he was easy. This man in his home, on the street, in the lodge room (and he belonged to many societies), in any publicgathering, was recognized as an honest man; but behind the bar he saw nothing but money.He never thought he was doing a wrong by taking the last cent from a drunken man; it was business, and that was why he was there. When reminded of it he simply replied that, “I might as well have it as any one else, for someone will get it.” Often he said: “He is bound to drink and the best way is to let him drink up all his money and that is an end of it.”When the newsboys called upon him to plead for their friend, Jimmy, they were received with, “the utmost attention and kindness.” The following is what the chairman reported:“We said to the boss, we come to see you about Jimmy Smith and his father. You see Jimmy has been in bad company, the bad company was at his home, his father an’ mother. He learned the habit of drinking by tasting beer he was sent after by his father, and he said when he learned to drink that your clerk gave him a glass of beer every time he came after it. So the other day your bar-tender threw him out of the saloon. He had gradually taught the boy to drink, and when he began to get so that it annoyed him, he didn’t want him. We come to see if you won’tplease stop giving Jimmy any more drink and tell your man to throw him out of the saloon before he drinks. We’ll stand for that, but we won’t stand for his pitching him in the alley when he’s got all of Jimmy’s money and is drunk. As to his father, we don’t want you to sell him anything when you see he has enough. Don’t take the last cent he has when you know he is full already. Send him home. His family needs every cent. And don’t sell Jimmy any beer if he comes with the bucket.”The boys were treated with great kindness by the owner of the saloon who promised to do more than they asked of him. His bar-tenders were instructed, under penalty of dismissal, not to permit a newsboy in the saloon.“I realize the wrong being done to the boys,” he said to the president, “and it is through thoughtlessness that we permit the boys to come here at all. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. One of my relatives has an interest in a commercial college. I’ll buy this boy, Jimmy, a scholarship if he’ll go to school.”Jimmy was only too glad to accept.Two years pass, and Jimmy is about to graduate from the college. The manager said: “Ihave four men after this boy. He has the right kind of push in him to make a splendid business man.”Four years later Jimmy received a monthly salary of $100, and during that time has assisted in helping many a street boy.
PART FIFTH
CARRIERS.
CARRIERS.
CARRIERS.
CARRIERS.
CARRIERS.
CARRIERS.
There is no subject that has received so much attention and has worried so many good people as the liquor question. Saloons and drinking never cease to be problems for our well-meaning temperance people. Why man created saloons, no one undertakes to answer. The strongest man is never too strong in a saloon, and the weak is to be pitied. The saloon is an evil that has been with us a long time and seems to be here to stay in one form or another. While we cannot eradicate the evil, especially by extreme methods, can we not modify its influence? We have tried the probation method, and failed. We have tried the open saloon, the clubs, the no-treating, the open reform saloon, the wet and dry division—but the saloons are still with us, and this because of the fact that the state, the city, property owners, recognize the saloon legally, through the assessment of heavy licenses and taxes, and good well-meaning people ask and receive money from the ever-willing giver, the saloonman, and use it for charitable as well as church purposes. The world today is heartless in its mad rush for money getting,and the “graft” is in the minds of thousands of well-meaning, but over-anxious to get-rich-quick men; among them the saloonman. Let us suggest to our saloonmen how they can stop a great deal of misery in the world. We have in mind a saloon that was “made good” by five newsboys. “A real live saloon, where politicians congregated to lay plans for work, and whose owner had an eye to making money, and saw nothing else, even to the ruining of boys and men.”
“Say, pres.,” said a newsboy from the saloon district, and an officer of an auxiliary, “Jimmy Smith is drunk and laying in the alley at the saloon where politicians hold their meetin’s. The bar-tender throwed him out.”
The books showed Jimmy Smith’s father was a “ward politician,” a good fellow who was often taken home drunk by his son, a newsboy. Jimmy was eleven years old, very bright and intelligent for his age. He learned to drink liquor through his father and mother sending him to the saloon for beer, and “dropping in the alley on the way home and tasting the beer, until he began to like it.”
To the question, “did you ever see Jimmy drink in the saloon?” the boys answered that itwas a common thing; “but today when the bar-tender took Jimmy’s nickel, and he was full, he throwed him out. He said he didn’t want the kid to disgrace his place.”
Three of the best officers were called, they went to the alley, and took Jimmy home. Three of the five boys who were assigned this case, belonged to a gang and were familiar with all the inside workings of a saloon, they were never slow in showing their appreciation of a saloonman who defended them, and who turned them down for entering the saloon. The method adopted by the boys was their work. They knew the proprietor of the saloon, and knew him to be a very kind-hearted man. No person ever asked him in vain for a donation to any cause. His own boys were model young men, stood high in school, and associated with the best of church members. Strange to say the two sons of the saloonman were regular at Sunday-school. It is a fact that when any society, church or other organization desired aid, this saloonman was sought after by a dozen persons. They knew he was easy. This man in his home, on the street, in the lodge room (and he belonged to many societies), in any publicgathering, was recognized as an honest man; but behind the bar he saw nothing but money.
He never thought he was doing a wrong by taking the last cent from a drunken man; it was business, and that was why he was there. When reminded of it he simply replied that, “I might as well have it as any one else, for someone will get it.” Often he said: “He is bound to drink and the best way is to let him drink up all his money and that is an end of it.”
When the newsboys called upon him to plead for their friend, Jimmy, they were received with, “the utmost attention and kindness.” The following is what the chairman reported:
“We said to the boss, we come to see you about Jimmy Smith and his father. You see Jimmy has been in bad company, the bad company was at his home, his father an’ mother. He learned the habit of drinking by tasting beer he was sent after by his father, and he said when he learned to drink that your clerk gave him a glass of beer every time he came after it. So the other day your bar-tender threw him out of the saloon. He had gradually taught the boy to drink, and when he began to get so that it annoyed him, he didn’t want him. We come to see if you won’tplease stop giving Jimmy any more drink and tell your man to throw him out of the saloon before he drinks. We’ll stand for that, but we won’t stand for his pitching him in the alley when he’s got all of Jimmy’s money and is drunk. As to his father, we don’t want you to sell him anything when you see he has enough. Don’t take the last cent he has when you know he is full already. Send him home. His family needs every cent. And don’t sell Jimmy any beer if he comes with the bucket.”
The boys were treated with great kindness by the owner of the saloon who promised to do more than they asked of him. His bar-tenders were instructed, under penalty of dismissal, not to permit a newsboy in the saloon.
“I realize the wrong being done to the boys,” he said to the president, “and it is through thoughtlessness that we permit the boys to come here at all. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. One of my relatives has an interest in a commercial college. I’ll buy this boy, Jimmy, a scholarship if he’ll go to school.”
Jimmy was only too glad to accept.
Two years pass, and Jimmy is about to graduate from the college. The manager said: “Ihave four men after this boy. He has the right kind of push in him to make a splendid business man.”
Four years later Jimmy received a monthly salary of $100, and during that time has assisted in helping many a street boy.