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breakage of the bowl, and, consequently, only a man
of sensible judgment should be employed to do this
kind of work.
6. WHY BARTENDERS SHOULD HAVE
THEIR OWN UNION FOR PROTEC
TION AND ASSOCIATION.
In many long years of experience, I have tried sev
eral times to start an organization for the mutual ben
efit and protection of bartenders. The first attempt
was made about 1875, in New Orleans, in an effort to
procure for themjsufficient wages, to give them a good,
decent living, proper hours of labor, and for their gen
eral elevation as members of society. The effort at
that time resulted unfortunately for the reason, prin
cipally, that the old, skilled bartenders, who retained
the same situation for years, had passed away—men
who supported well themselves, their families, and
their clubs—and, in their stead, was a younger element
in this avocation who, not knowing their work thor
oughly, were careless and indifferent, and unable,
drifted about from one place to another. The conse
quence was that they never became members of the
club, and would not have been of benefit, had they
done so. Under such circumstances, it was impossible
to organize a beneficial society.
At the present time it is entirely different, for the
reason that our business is regulated by prescribed
rules; and bartenders should now have an association
of mutual support, as well as the people of any other
avocation. Nearly every man in the hotel and res
taurant business belongs to some club or protective so
ciety; the cooks have their unions; the pastry cooks
also a home and an association; the waiters have an