THE CURSE OF LABOUR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1898, 21 July 1888, Page 3

THE CURSE OF LABOUR.

A contemporary siys ; — Drunkenness ia emphatically the curse of labour. It is the groat obstacle that stands in the way of all ameliorating Influences. Ii confronts the agents of progress tt every atop, opposing their eeveral efforts with gloomy and dentrucivo power. If it be true, as Ward Beecher puts it, that " the moment a man has gone beyond the line of Temperance he has lost his place as a

producer in society, and is a waste and a burden," how much more de&p'cable 13 the position of the miserable being who puts his veto npon every attempt to improve the trade with whioh he Is unhappily oonneoted ? How this veto cm be exerolsed we do not need to point out. It oan be see a for Itself every c|*y. . If is not that the drunken man Is less prepared to encounter a labour struggle in the shape of a lopk-out or a afrike. That is a comparatively amall matter. The rocjt of the mlaohief lies in the circumstance tint the shiftless, shameless wretch must under estimate his labour, must work any number of hours when he gets the chinoe of employment, and, it often happens will do it at any price. How oho the sober and industrious workman protest against overtime, how oan he hope to succeed in organising opposition to It, when he sees these wastrels in every workshop ready to snap the bread out of his mouth, ready to oriuge and creep for a casual job, and ready to sacrifice every interest without regard to the consequences.