TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 9109, 9 March 1898, Page 3

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

J7ie mutter printed under this headwg w supplied by the Temperance Party w Napier, who have arranged for the spact occupied.

Wβ have ehown that the buaineea of the liquor trader is despicable became ha gjvas II customer, in teturn for sterling oom, something whioh is not only of no benefit to the recipient, bat which is actually capable of doing him greatest inja.y. And because ihe business of the liquor-ss Her is to take advantage of the unnatural *?P»tite his wares have created, and io build up his wealth npon tw euetomer'e downfall, honeat-heaited men the world over hate the .liquor traffic and fight for its suppression. Bat there ia one part of the ootaia.unity to whom the question of the liquor trade aflxdsteoce appeals wi h especial foroe-it is the working olaeees, who finanmally lose most sunder tiw present system, and who wjll ™ap the greatest benefit from "No Lioense." Let the working men of this colony once realise that of all industries the liquor trade proportionately— 1. Kmploys the spiallefit number of ■2."&i7ee' the greatest return to tho oapitetiei, yet 3 iVva tb*: lowest wage to ita workers, —and tie drinfc trade is doomed. Xhe ■workintr m<& of New Zealand must grasp the fact, already proved by bitter expense in older lands, that if labor does no .combine to crush Liquor then Lvfitor mil irU £xamiZ' the following table, oompiled from the Blaa Book of 1891, issued by the Boird of Trade in England {the percentage of wagea to reoeipts Jβ shown in these different oooupation) :— jp^rcentaga of wag*; to Occnpatiou. reoeipts. Sliniag S5 0 iihip-building .. .. f" Doske and harbere ~ • • J4 I Sailwaye .. .. " fA Agriculture , 29 0 >Oanals +*" €otton mannfature,• .. , Waterworks.. .. .. 25 7 Iron and steel manufacture 23-3 Textile industries .. .• 22 6 Gas manufacture .. •« 200 Brewing- 7 5 The above table speaks for itself, and •eloquently showa that in oonpaneon with other induetries, ptaatioaliy THE LIQUOR TBAD2i GIVES NO LABOB. Ihe United States of Amerioa te.il the game doleful tale. Its official oensua returns for 1890 form the basis of the following very inetruotivetable:- r(wntof of net pro.- cent of duct going gi OH9 Industries. towages, profits Glass " "* Boots and shoes .. .. W « Iron and eteel (orude) .. 6«i "| Foundry and maohinery., 61 Cotton goods .. .. 61 12 Woollen goods .. .. 56 17| Worsted goode .. .. 56 i»4 lieather *] f5 Agricultural implements., 44 w Paper 43 -1J Liquors (malted) 24 39 Liquors (distilled) 3 178 —Here we find one ugly fact universal ie its operation staring ue in the face, viz., that money spent in liquora owells the profits of the manufacturer instead of enoouragang the employment of labor. It will thus be seen that all the world over THE LTQUOE TBADS 18 A HUGE FUNNEL, having & large capaoity for reoeiving, but a one for giving out. Mere is the great enemy to labor, attaoking it from two special quarters— (1) It absorbs the h&rd earnings of Labor given by other industries; and (2) ltpraotioally refuses to employ Labor In its own production. Distilled liquor reoeives over nine Umea at much profit as the agricultural implement industry, which enormous margin is only made possible by giving onejlfteenth as much in wages Here is food for thought for the worltinjy man!