The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-02-20
Protection.
from the Round Table.

what makes coal so dear, when the
weather is so dreadful coldf God help
MS pOor!n comes from between the chat
tering teeth of toil-worn, care-worn,
shivering woman, rs she measures with
stingy eye a scanty fresh supply of fuel
TO her waning fire. No cry from her 10
government for protection. No protec-
tion to her from the greed of the strong,
the cunning, the avariciOus. Work
for yourself. Work or starve, Self
help. Every one for himself. If gov
ernment gave bread or clothes or fuel
to the poor, it would demoralize them.
Take better care of the pennies you
earn. Lay them mp in summer for a
wintry day. Such are the answers she
would get if she asked for protection
if she turned beggar. No chance for
her to put in n replication. The voices
of the coal-owners are mighty to drown
hers. If she could be heard, she would
say, Chow can i lay up my pennies
when the strong arm of government
takes them from me, day by day, as fast
as | can earn them, and hands them
over to my richer neighbors! On every
spool of thread buy government takes
from me penny or two to pay over to
the Woonsocket Factory Company, so
that they may make dear thread and
big dividends. On every garment l
wear, it takes pennies and shillings
from me wherewith so fill the purses of
the rich men who make cloth and stock
ings and shawls, and who cannot be
content with less than fifty or one hum
dred per cent. increase of their wealth
every year to pay them for making dear
clothes for the American labOrcr. When
| buy stove or pair of scissors, l
must pay some of my hard-earned PEN
nies to support the wealthy iron-maker
of Pennsylvania. i get no protection
to my labor and | ask none. Let us
both alone--me and the manufactures.
As you let me work my humble way
along as best can, leave him to do the
same. Give him no part of my earnings,
and am content with my little share
of this worlds goods" If it demoral-
izes society for government to give the
poor food and clothes and fuel, is it not
equally demoralizing for government to
give to the rich and the strong! And
when it gives to the rich by taking
from the comforts of the poor, is il not
demoralizing society at both ends'
Mother, do give ME another blanket,
| am so cOld," begs shivering child, of
winters night, on our northern from
tier. III have no more, child; blankets
are so dear and all sorts of clothes so
dear. John, what makes woolen things
so much dearer than they used to bel"
IL don't know; but they do say it's
all done to purtcct us poor folk. a
tonguey man told us the other hight
that the government must purtcct us
from the blanket-makers in England
and other foreign countries"
"Ycs, bnt John, over i'll Canada they
have nothing but English blankets, and
you can buy two blankets there for
what one costs here. The English
blanket makers don't Seem to be so
hard upon poor folk after all"
"Well, | can't tell the story exactly;
but the tongucy man made il ont all
clear. think he said, too, that wool
wouldn't grow on our sheep unless they
was purtectod."
"Why, John, you don't mean that
they kiver our American sheep with
blankets to make their wool grow, anu
that's the reason blankets are 80 scarce
and dear"
"Wcll, don't know about that; but
he made ont that the sheep must be-
purtccted to git the wool, and then the
men who made the wool into blankets
must be purtected; else we'd have to
use the cheap foreign blankets, and
then he said we'd he worse off,
John, don't you think the tonguey
man was pulling some wool over your
eyes' III could get two blankets in
stead of one tn keep the children warm,
the sheep could do well enough with
their natural kivering. 1t seems to me
that we poor folk, what don't have any
natural kiver of wool growing on our
backs, want purtection more than the
sheep"
"Wall, that's just what Deacon Well
off saws: he SAYS these high prices pur-
tect us as well as the sheep; and yOn
know the Deacon subscribes Il good deal
of money for the poor
That's all true, John; but then the
Deacon don't seem to get any poorer for
all he gives away: and the Deacon has
got a good many sheep of his own, and
whatever is good for his sheep must be
good for the Deacon's own pocket; and
they do say that he owns part of big
blanket factory down in Rhode Island;
and so, maybe, the Deacon wrongs IFS
poor folk out of ten dollars and then
gives us back one dollar of it in charity;
maybe, if the poor had cheap blankets
and cheap clothes, they wouldn't want
any charity. YOu can't make me be-
lieve we're any better off for having only
one blanket when, if they was cheaper,
we might have two"
The parable of Dives and Lazarus
might be useful reading for those who
are getting fat dividends from "Woon-
socket