Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/18

 4 THE. MERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

became that. tV.c demand, of determining the social value.

What doe-* th :i ..t'tVr that renders it so generally useful, in

the c ns< to the -rcat mass of those who patronize it ?

For it i. n-, t al isc. that it stands for. It does not personify "the vih of modern civilization." It does not "trade

in and batten uj M, ntemperance." It supplies legitimate needs and stands alone in >upplving them. It transforms the individ- ual into a socius where there is no other transforming power. It unites the many ones into a common whole which we call society, and it stands for this union amid conditions which would otherwise render it impossible, and intemperance is but its acci- dent. The evils it produces have been portrayed in glowing terms : " Men and women glorying in drunkenness and shame ;" "The sotted beasts who nightly gather at the bar." The more uncommon particular has been declared the universal. The excep- tion has been made the rule. If the evils of liquor drinking were in fact what they have been in imagination the human species would have become extinct in Europe within any three centuries since the rise of the Roman Empire. The man who speaks of drunkenness and intemperance only, when treating of drink in general, does not exhaust his subject. Indeed it may be ques- tioned whether he reaches it. That intemperance is an excep- tion can be proved only by careful observation. It is believed that the personal use of this method will support these statements. That great waste is incident to every movement of our social machinery cannot be doubted ; that the waste is even greater here than elsewhere need not be denied. The machinery is still useful, though many refuse to look beyond its waste, and it will be employed until a better machine is invented.

Primarily the saloon is a social center. Few will deny this. It is the workingman's club. Many of his leisure hours are spent here. In it he finds more of the things which approximate to luxury than he finds at home, almost more than he finds in any other public place in the ward. In winter the saloon is warm, in summer it is cool, at night it is brightly lighted, and it is always clean. More than that there are chairs and tables and