Company did not
take place by the reasons assigned by you in that letter. You
say, 'We have come to the conclusion that the paramount reason
for Mr. Smith's dismissal is his activity as a temperance man.'
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, this language is framed
so as to convey the meaning that the Company objected to the
principles (namely, temperance principles) which were advocated
by Mr. Smith. Nothing could be further from the truth. If Mr.
Smith had been as much occupied in abusing temperance principles
as he was in advocating them, the objection would have been not
only as great, but greater. It must be manifest to every business
man in the community that every railway company, and, indeed,
every other business organization employing large numbers of
workmen, is most emphatically in favor of temperance; so much so
that in the case of our Company I feel convinced that its
influence in favor of temperance and the prevention of the
improper use of intoxicating liquors is ten thousand times more
than that of Mr. Smith or any other individual, in fact, it is
probably one of the most powerful factors in that direction in
Canada.

"Our Company has for many years past done what is not often done
by property owners. We have declined to sell our lands at
different stations along our line, except under conditions which
prevents the sale of intoxicating liquors on the premises, and
which have the effect of depriving the buyer of his title to the
property in case that stipulation is broken. In addition, we have
had for many years past, amongst the rules and regulations
governing all our employees, the following rule:

"_'Use of Liquor._--The continued or excessive periodical use of
malt or alcoholic liquors should be abstained from by every one
engaged in operating the road, not only on account of the great
risks to life and property incurred by entrusting them to the
oversight of those whose intellects may be dulled at times when
most care is needed, but also, and especially, because habitual
drinking has a very bad effect upon the constitution, which is a
serious matter to men so liable to injury as railway employees
always are. It so lessens the recuperative powers of the body
that simple wounds are followed by the most serious an