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Show The Liquor Business. What a Saloon Keeper fias to Say to a Prospective Buyer. We have tecently seen the letter written by a saloon keeper to a man who had written .to him olfcrlng to buy his business. The man who wanted to buyhad a wife and four children. He did not wish to take i his family to live In the place where the saloon, was located, nor did he wish his mother or other relatives to know about his going into the business busi-ness To this man the saloon keeper wiole, advising him not to go into "the degrading position of a whiskey dealer." He sajs: "1 do not blame vou for not wanting want-ing your relatives to know that you intend to deal in whiskey; and if you have one lota of self-respect left, 1 beg of you, for the sake of your wife and children and aged mother, please do not degrade jourself by going to selling i urn, but assist them In this world to be elevated instead of being an Inducer of vice and sin. You may be surprised at these words com-. com-. Ing from one who sells booze. However, How-ever, fate, and that only, has thrown me into this damnable vocation. I hope that it is not too late for you to mend your ways, that your picsent intentions can bo changed upon the advice of one who is in this business, ! and who Is giving jou, free of charge, advice which I hope you will heed. Not having the pleasure of a personal acquaintance, I hope that you may be ' In a position at some futuie date to ! thank me for this information, and I p jour hours of devotion olTer up a silent prayer for one who is suffeilng through the misguidance of human I fate." ! Not Even a Stimulant. In the great laboratories scientists have been carefully studying the ef fects of alcoholic liquors upon the various organs of the body, and, although al-though Ihcy dllTcr in their conclusions upon some points, the result is that those physicians who have most closely close-ly followed these investigations have, I almost or entirely, abjured alcoholics ' as a necessary part of their theapeutlc outfit. These elaboi ate studies of alcohol al-cohol have convinced many that the . nourishing and strcngthlng properties formerly ascribed to alcoholics existed l only in the imagination, and belong to the errors of an age which had no faculties fac-ulties for accurate observation. The ' food qualities of the grain and fruits, It Is now believed by many authorities, arc dcslioyed In the process of making a'coholic di inks. Kven the stimulat- I ing qualities asciibed to alcohol are denied by many, who class It among the narcotics because of Its depresant effect. j Kven politicians have a growing re-1 re-1 spect for sobriety. When President I McKlnley was the guest of the city of , itostoti. at one of the gieatest ban-1 ban-1 qtiets ever given In the city, two j thousand picked business and public l men sat at the tables, and there was , not a drop of Intoxicants visible How I did that come about? itishop Mai-l.tlleu, Mai-l.tlleu, who Invoked the divine blcs-' blcs-' sing, sajs that the question of intoxl-'eating intoxl-'eating drinks was left to (ioternor ' Crane, who decided as a Christian man.' Three years later he was succeeded suc-ceeded by (iovernor Hates, another Christian man, and when the Ancient and Honorable Aitlllcry Company of London were feted In ltostou in a banquet costing ."0,oOO, and all sorts of liquors weie present, (iovernor Hates had the backbone to offer a toast in a glass of pure watei. In the past nine years there have been .1,000 alcoholic patients at Hello-vtte Hello-vtte hospital, New Voik, not counting the 'repeaters." Of this number on por cent were between thirty and lifty years of age. Fifty-one thousand persons, per-sons, in the prlmo of life, wrecked mentally and physically by the use of strong drink! At what infinite cost to our race do we purchase the revenue from the licensed saloon! ' Nlnoty-tlvo per cent of the railroads and great coiporatlons are demanding only tho employment of total abstainers. abstain-ers. Saloons aro advertising for good moral men of good habits for bartenders. The boon companions of a oung man may bo tlte deciding factor. How few smokers that did not learn with some boy companion out behind the bain. How few drunkards that bought liquor and took It to the solitude of their looms to taste their first glass. It Is natural for a young fellow to like some other fellow better than he likes the rest of the crowd. If that one urges him to take a glass, his temptation Is strong. What Is the obvious conclusion? Sec to it that your boj's Intimate friends arc not picked up by chance on the sticct or In some gathering. Plan to have him fall in with the kind of joung fcPows jou would like to have inllucncc him. How long will it be before Utah learns the lesson that Maine, Kansas and North Dakota have learned, namely, that they do not have to depend de-pend on their share of this Ill-gotten gain to have beautiful walks and giand municipal improvements. The large cities In these three states have just as beautiful walks, drinking foun-tlans, foun-tlans, street sprinkicis, etc, as any cities In tlie union In addition to all theso they aic raising up the jounger generation compaiatively free of the moral and physical leprosy that contaminates con-taminates even the innocent victims In less favored states. Never was drunkenness so odious as it Is today, so damaging to a joting man's career; and never were the temptations marc insidious, and the steps to a ilrunkard'sgravc so carpeted with velvet as now. Hoys all you nejd to do, Is to look aiound you. The man wlio ucvii tiles a good position today jet ill InUs does not occupy that position posi-tion as a result of his drinking but despite de-spite that, lie stands the chance of losing his job any day In tho year as a result. No biHinesi except, that of the saloon, lcqulres the consumption of liquor for its success. Theieare lorty-llvc countle in the state of West Virginia and of these thirty are iindei non-license laws. West Virginia is all mountains, practically, pract-ically, and much of the state Is wild and tough, et in Mils respect the state is far ahead of most. Few states of the union arc makitigsiicli material piogiess in every direction as Is West Virginia, considering her resources. In the United States today there are 2 10,707 saloons, making 020 miles of solid frontage, allowing the usual 22 Toot frontage for each saloon; there aie 2,.-)00,000 diunkards; 100,000 die everj twelve months and go from under the stars and stripes of American Ameri-can freedom to a drunkard's grave. Statistics an to the fore Just now. They arc wholesome diet sometimes, and alwajs vety frank. The superintendent superin-tendent of the Cherokee (Iowa) Insane and Inebriate asylum states that "good fellowship" Is the trap that caused the fall of 10S of tho Inmates now confined In that Institution. |
