BEER, AND TEE TEMPERANCE PROBLEM. 



263 



ter air, and better water will, no doubt, aid much 

 in improving the health of the poorer classes, 

 and even aid in making them more temperate ; 

 yet the good such improvements will effect in 

 regard to excessive drinking will be slight unless 

 the necessity be recognized of placing within the 

 reach of the working-man good and wholesome 

 drink, and a place of social meeting other than a 

 modern gin-palace, with its too often badly-fer- 

 mented alcoholic beer, and its still worse rank 

 and poisonous spirits. 



I venture, then, to propose that the Legisla- 

 ture should empower local bodies to open one or 

 more of these cafis or places of public enter- 

 tainment, where the working-man should have all 

 the advantages enjoyed by the rich man at his 

 club, the same freedom to order what he wishes, 

 and the same right to remain there without order- 

 ing anything. It may, and doubtless will, be 

 objected that such places would never pay, be- 

 cause the profit derived from the small consump- 

 tion would be insufficient to pay a moderate inter- 

 est on the capital and the expenses of manage- 

 ment. Those who entertain such fears I think 

 might dismiss them were they to remember that 

 the profit on drink is very great, and to realize 

 the great difficulty there would be for some time 

 to impress upon the working-classes that they 

 could remain there for even two or three hours 

 without being repeatedly incited by the habits 

 formed by their experience of public-houses to 

 order more and more drink. But even were the 

 total abstainers' millennium to arise suddenly, and 

 the working-classes generally to abjure alcohol in 

 all its forms, there would still be ample profit on 

 non-alcoholic substitutes. Others may fear that 

 many would avail themselves of the accommoda- 

 tion of well- ventilated and well-lit rooms, and of 

 the advantages of reading newspapers and peri- 

 odicals, without payment in one shape or another ; 

 but this dread may readily be dismissed since 

 admission might be given by the purchase of a 

 twopenny ticket, which should include not only 

 the use of the establishment, but also two-penny- 

 worth of the food and drink sold there. It may 

 be objected, and doubtless will be by many not 

 interested in the liquor-traffic, that such a scheme 

 would be a gross and unjustifiable interference 

 with established interests and with freedom of 

 trade. It does not concern me here to discuss 

 this argument, further than to suggest, in reply, 

 that society has often, and will yet often, inter- 

 fere in such matters. Nor am I concerned to 

 discuss fully another charge which will doubtless 

 be made, that I am proposing to convert local 



bodies into dealers in food and drink. I frankly 

 admit, however, that were all such places of 

 public entertainment in the hands of municipal 

 and other local authorities, grave inconveniences 

 and even more serious consequences would, 

 doubtless, arise socially and politically. 



I only suggest the establishment of one or 

 more, according to the population, in order to 

 show working-men the advantage of this system 

 over the existing one. Public enterprise would 

 gradually convert the present public-houses and 

 gin-palaces into working-men's cafes or clubs, the 

 publicans themselves aiding in the change if the 

 success of the system justified it. 



In small towns the association of a few phi- 

 lanthropists would suffice to establish one such 

 place of entertainment ; in larger towns two or 

 three such might be established, and they would 

 be the more readily assisted by the licensing 

 magistrates if a spirit-license were not required. 

 This mode of action would certainly cause no in- 

 jury to the political morality of local authorities ; 

 and had I enough confidence in the sufficiency 

 of philanthropic enterprise, I would be content 

 to trust the scheme altogether to such action. 

 Mere philanthropic effort is, however, too slow 

 to fight rapidly and effectually with the wide- 

 spread evil, to combat which the scheme is sug- 

 gested ; the Peabody and other similar efforts to 

 secure to the working - classes better lodging, 

 though valuable as experiments, are yet vastly 

 inferior in efficiency and rapidity to the beneficial 

 powers given to corporations under Mr. Cross's 

 act. The powers conferred by it are tentative 

 and limited as to time ; so might it, with great 

 advantage, be the case in the proposed effort to 

 stem the evil influences of the gin-palace. 



Regarding the profits derived from the sale 

 of food and drink, they will necessarily be small 

 compared with those of public-houses ; but it 

 must not be forgotten that these latter are now, 

 owing to the increasing monopoly, at exorbitant 

 prices compared with houses of similar size. We 

 must remember that there would be no good-will 

 to pay for, and hence the capital required would 

 be comparatively small. Well conducted, they 

 would probably pay at least five per cent, on the 

 capital invested, after the management expenses 

 had been paid, and this even were the articles of 

 food and drink sold as cheaply as in France or 

 Germany. It would not, however, be advisable 

 to sell under the usual trade-price, so as to avoid 

 the antagonistic feelings which would arise among 

 those already engaged in the trade. Greater ex- 

 cellence in the articles sold, and vastly superior 



