STRIKE! FELLOW-WORKMEN, STRIKE!!
By Editor
AMONG the incidents of the strike, it has been reported that certain cigar makers' and brewery workmen's unions had struck. Good. Not that we have aught against the men engaged in either line of business, but it would be a blessed thing for thousands of the workingmen and their wives and children if every worker, rich or poor, in the tobacco, beer, and alcoholic interests would strike, and strike forever. It would pay the workingmen of this country to pension them all liberally, on the condition that not another leaf of tobacco should be grown, nor another gallon of beer brewed, nor another quart of intoxicating drinks distilled or manufactured. Of course this will not be as long as men have appetites uncontrolled by reason or grace, but it is a thing devoutly to be wished. Many of the rumsellers who "sympathized" with the strikers, whose saloons became the gathering place of the disaffected, have well filled their tills from hard earnings, or will absorb the greater part of the first month's wages after the strike is over, while in many instances the grocer, butcher, and baker will go unpaid. The worst foe which the workmen of this country have, the one which robs them of manhood, honor, and comparative plenty, the one which dulls the brain, brutalizes the mind, and enslaves the whole being of thousands, is King Alcohol, together with his myrmidons, beer and tobacco. These stimulants and narcotics are not needed. We know they are not. The writer has worked on the farm from 4 A.M. till 10 P.M., in the iron mines for twelve hours a day, at the printer's case, in building, in the lumber woods, in sawmills, for the same length of time, at hard brain labor for from fourteen to sixteen hours a day, year in and out, in Europe and America, indoors and out-of-doors, when the thermometer stood at 110° Fahrenheit in the shade, and 10° to 20° below zero in the sun, and in all the various places, times, conditions, and environments, he has never needed either alcohol, beer, or tobacco; and he has fared as well, and been happier, he believes, than those who used these poisons. There are hundreds of others who can testify to similar experiences. Fellow-workmen, strike on these things, connect with God in this strike, and blessing and victory shall be yours. A YEAR ago, in obedience to the instruction of Pope Leo XIII., England was dedicated and consecrated by the faithful "to the most Holy Mother of God, and to the Blessed Prince of the Apostles" (which, being interpreted, means the pope of Rome). How England regarded this he did not ask, but she is trending that way as fast as she can. Germany, England, and the United States, the former strongholds of Protestantism, are not able to raise a manly protest.