The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. NationNation, Carry Amelia
History
The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation
Nation, Carry Amelia
Nation, Carry Amelia, 1846-1911; Social reformers -- United States -- Biography; Temperance -- United States
"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 L100 received in mining, L55 went in labor; of every L100 in
shipbuilding, L37 went in labor; of every L100 in railways, L31 went in
labor; of every L100 in cotton manufacturies, L29 went in labor; but of
every L100 in brewing, L7 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 L1,500,000 a year only employs
150 men. An Iron Ore Company in Cumberland, with a turnover of
L250,000 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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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