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upon by the proprietor who is only actively engaged in
wasting his own money.
Therefore, bartenders should do what is best to
protect themselves, and join together in an association
of mutual help and endeavor. The members should
ask only for wages that are reasonable, and never try
to annoy their employers by threats of a strike, but
have every difficulty, that may occur between the
boss and the help, settled in a sensible manner, so that
the business may not suffer by it. As soon as the men
begin to dictate to their employers regarding wages
and length-of hours, they will fail, because they are
not in the right, and they will not have the sympathy of
tiM public. Our hours are always necessarily longer
than those of the ordinary mechanic, but one should
not be kept working in a continuous stretch of many
hours. There are cases, naturally, where a man is
obliged to stay on his post a few minutes longer than
the allotted time, but no proprietor has a right tomake
a bartender work as long as he pleases, just because he
thinks his "dispenser of drinks" is a slave. I have
stood behirid the bar in twenty years' active service, in
various cities, and have been in business myself for
twenty more years, so I have had the experience, the
knowledge, and the feeling of parties to both sides of
the question of employer and employee. A man wiio
is fortunate enough to be aproprietor should be pleased
to help his bartenders to obtain an organization, in
which they may be financially and socially improved.
Furthermore, bartenders joining an association of this
nature, will find it ofgreat advantage, as they can help
each other in case of sickness, disability or death. I
have known hundreds of good bartenders who, meeting
with misfortune, became entirely destitute of friends
and means. A new association should not start off
under the impression that it can immediately begin
to lielp largely its members, who are in need, with