The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation [95]
with dedicated
fervour in unremitting and widespread agitation, till the danger is past.
Deep and living must be the zeal and the faith that inspire our work.
The campaign of protest and of "active resistance" has started vigorously,
and it must never slacken till victory is won. Day by day the pressure
of public opinion must increase, till the impression made on Parliament
by resolutions and petitions shall be overwhelming. The struggle against
the 'Trade' and its Government backers is hard, but we must fight straight
on, for the issue is of vital importance and we should be ready to make
a determined and triumphant resistance to the Prime Minister's sinister
and unashamed attempt to sell our immemorial rights to England's
most dangerous foe, that gigantic Drink Trade, which lives and thrives
on the sorrow and degradation of our people.
The worth of our temperance party as a fighting force is once more
being tested, and I trust that we shall not be found unworthy servants
of the great cause which is in our keeping. It rests with the Temperance
stalwarts, leading the conscience of the nation, to win the day. They
fought and they won the same battle in 1888, and again in 1890, and the
achievement of those years can assuredly be repeated today, if we rightly
grip the principles that underlie our old Temperance beliefs, holding fast
to them without wavering or losing heart, and if we work ever zealously,
glowing with the cheerful faith which belongs to those who know that
Right will win in the long run, if only reformers are patiently steadfast
in their task, even when the ultimate goal is not yet in sight. We must
spend ourselves, still marching with our faces set.
ROSALIND CARLISLE,
President North of England Temperance League.
President British Women's Temperance Association.
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 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
fervour in unremitting and widespread agitation, till the danger is past.
Deep and living must be the zeal and the faith that inspire our work.
The campaign of protest and of "active resistance" has started vigorously,
and it must never slacken till victory is won. Day by day the pressure
of public opinion must increase, till the impression made on Parliament
by resolutions and petitions shall be overwhelming. The struggle against
the 'Trade' and its Government backers is hard, but we must fight straight
on, for the issue is of vital importance and we should be ready to make
a determined and triumphant resistance to the Prime Minister's sinister
and unashamed attempt to sell our immemorial rights to England's
most dangerous foe, that gigantic Drink Trade, which lives and thrives
on the sorrow and degradation of our people.
The worth of our temperance party as a fighting force is once more
being tested, and I trust that we shall not be found unworthy servants
of the great cause which is in our keeping. It rests with the Temperance
stalwarts, leading the conscience of the nation, to win the day. They
fought and they won the same battle in 1888, and again in 1890, and the
achievement of those years can assuredly be repeated today, if we rightly
grip the principles that underlie our old Temperance beliefs, holding fast
to them without wavering or losing heart, and if we work ever zealously,
glowing with the cheerful faith which belongs to those who know that
Right will win in the long run, if only reformers are patiently steadfast
in their task, even when the ultimate goal is not yet in sight. We must
spend ourselves, still marching with our faces set.
ROSALIND CARLISLE,
President North of England Temperance League.
President British Women's Temperance Association.
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 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