An earnest appeal to the working-men of England against the use of intoxicating drinks and tobacco / [by a Total Abstainer and No Smoker].

  • Total Abstainer and No Smoker.
Date:
[1870?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An earnest appeal to the working-men of England against the use of intoxicating drinks and tobacco / [by a Total Abstainer and No Smoker]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    NORWICH CHEAP TRACTS. No. 133. AN EARNEST APPEAL TO THE WORKING-MEN OF ENGLAND, AGAINST THE USE OF INTOXICATING DRINKS AND TOBACCO, Working-Men, I appeal to you as those who think, and 1 ask you to consider if what I am about to say, does not concern the well-being of yourselves and families. And what am I going to speak about ? The habit of drinking and smoking, to which, alas ! so many of you are addicted. I join the two together, because the one habit so frequently leads to the other. You often complain of low wages, but before you do that, you had better ask yourselves whether you spend the wages which you do get, as you ought to do. Now, is it not a fact, that the work¬ ing-classes of this country spend many millions a year in liquor and tobacco ? You cannot deny that; and I ask you, if upon reflection, you can say that they are right in so doing ? Let me ask you in what way many of you live ? I know that some of you live in very poor rooms, and have scarcely a decent bed to lie upon at night. I know that the families of many of you are very ill-clothed and badly fed ; and that some of you say you cannot pay for the schooling of any of your children. And why ? Where does the money go ? No wonder you are not better housed, and that your wives and families are not better provided for, since so much of your earnings goes into the pockets of the. publican and the tobacconist. Allow me to ask how much you have got in the savings’-bank*? I fear, in many cases, nothing at all. How can a working-man save anything against sickness and old age, if he ivill indulge in the glass and the pipe ? Now think a moment. Do you wish to have nothing but the Union before you, if you are out of work, or have become infirm ? Surely you do not want to be paupers, and to end your days in a workhouse; then why do you let pub¬ licans and tobacconists become rich with your money, whilst you yourselves remain so poor ? And what do drinking and smoking do for you ? Will you, can you honestly say that they do you good ? You cannot. If you ihinJc that they benefit you, I assure you that you are greatly mis¬ taken. I am certain that they do you harm instead of good.— Believe me, the habit of drinking and smoking injures your health, and weakens rather than strengthens you ; so that you are spending so much money in what is positively injurious to you.