Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/19

 THE SOCIAL VALUE OF THE SAL >< >.\ 5

papers and cards and lunch, and in many cases pool and billiards, | while in some few well-equipped gymnasiums can be found which are free to patrons. What more does the workingman ,y, f int for his club? He already has all that most clu^ ( s offer th niem-

FIG. 3.

bers papers and cards and food and drink and service and being modest in his wants their quality satisfies him. Hut his demand for even these things is not fundamental, they arc but means to his social expression. It is the society of his fellows that he seeks and must have.

To say that the saloon is the workingman's club does not answer a single objection which its opponents raise; one must first |>io\r the necessity of workingmen's clubs and of the kind that the saloon represents. The common laborer works ten hours per day. his pay is small. In many cases his family is large, at