Brits--ancient sots or recent reprobates?

[SFJoe]

Enquiring minds want to know.

 

[Unknown]

there is nothing in here about assaulting your friends with birch twigs in a sauna

 

[Hank Beckmeyer]

Yes. and Yes.

 

[Tom Blach]

Both. The only thing which unites all social classes is the desire to be drunk during all leisure moments, and often at work too. It can be rather fun, though demanding.

 

[Thor]

I like this part:

the Beer Act of 1830 designed to break the monopolising power of big brewers while tackling an upsurge in spirits consumption

That worked really well.

I need a translation from English to American on this line, however:

As long as beer remains one of the main planks on the platform of the masses, wrote one pamphleteer in 1903, so long will they be governed by the monopolist and the sweater.

What does "sweater" mean here? Bosses of the workers mentioned in the previous sentence?

 

[nigel groundwater]

originally posted by Thor:
I like this part:

the Beer Act of 1830 designed to break the monopolising power of big brewers while tackling an upsurge in spirits consumption

That worked really well.

I need a translation from English to American on this line, however:

As long as beer remains one of the main planks on the platform of the masses, wrote one pamphleteer in 1903, so long will they be governed by the monopolist and the sweater.

What does "sweater" mean here? Bosses of the workers mentioned in the previous sentence?

I assume it means the owner of a sweatshop i.e. a place of work for low-paid and generally exploited labour.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by nigel groundwater:

originally posted by Thor:
I like this part:

I need a translation from English to American on this line, however:

As long as beer remains one of the main planks on the platform of the masses, wrote one pamphleteer in 1903, so long will they be governed by the monopolist and the sweater.

What does "sweater" mean here? Bosses of the workers mentioned in the previous sentence?

I assume it means the owner of a sweatshop i.e. a place of work for low-paid and generally exploited labour.

But what a great sociology thesis paper if he meant the garment.

 

[Thor]

I assume it means the owner of a sweatshop i.e. a place of work for low-paid and generally exploited labour.

That was my guess, but I was hoping (per CMM) for something a little more culturally definitive. Oh, well.