New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-09-08
D." THE LOWEST STRATA.D

II is astonishing TO nOuce now Cehuer-
hearted some gentlemen become when they
chance TO stand in need Of the votes of those
who do not happen to be rich; and the fact
that these mourners have usually made excel
lent provision for any number of rainy days,
renders their anxious pity all the more mag
unanimous. As most men would like to be
rich. or mt least wel-Off," as the phrase is,
it is natural for them to like to be told that
the narrowness of their means is properly to
be attributed to the wrOng-dOing and the IN
Justice of their neighbOrs. There are few
passions which are more potent than envy, or
which are usually more unreasonable. When
4 man fails to acquire riches, he usually talks
either of his own bad luck or of the good
luck of the fortunate, and as he takes 1t for
granted that wealth never votes except
to make itself Weather at his expense,
it is easy to persuade him to vote IN
another and different way; although very often
il is for one who, like Mr.. Butler, is exceed
ingly comfortable, to say the least, in his cir
cumstances. 1t appears, from his speech at
Wakefield, Mass, that this person is the Poor
Mans Friend. So he proceeds to show his love
and friendship by saying: IF the laoonng
"classes were educated, 1ntemperance would
" be cured. There is no such fostering OF IN
Temperance as poverty. 1t is the poor man
"who drinks in order to solace himself
"for his poverty. Raise up the laboring
oman. He is dozen IN the tO,ceSt strata y
There is more shallow sophistry of this sort
in the speech, but we have quoted enough for
our purpose, and upon what we have ex-
tracted we have just word or two to say.
What strikes us in the first place in this
false demagogy. and in all in like sapona..
ceous strain, is the breadth and the bitterness
of the insult which it offers both to the I'M
derstanding and the circumstances OF the man
who is not rich. He is told that he is poor
because he is a sOt, gIzzler OF whisky, a
miserable inebriate, which in some cases may
be true enough; and then he is told that he
is a sot, guzzler Of whisky, a miserable in
ebriate because he is poor. He drinks himself
into discomfort, and then he drinks to get
himself out of it. He is classed with children
and lunatics, or with idiots, and it is taken
for granted that he has not brains enough to
comprehend that drink only makes bad worse,
and dminishes the chance for something bet
fer In order to avoid all evil temptations, III
order successfully to resist them should he
he led into them, the poor man, now
" down in the lowest STRATA must study his
bool, must acquire knowledge; and so, when
he has acquired it, he will become man OF
means. and will then, and not before. be able
TO leave off his whisky. This is the rather
cold comfort which the poor man down In
a." the lowest stratan is expected to extract
from his sympathizer's speech. The whole
recipe seems to us to be rather mournfully
mixed and homogeneous. The poor man can
not leave his whisky alone until he has ac-
ouired an education, while it will be impossi-
bile for him to acquire an education unless he
leaves off the whisky. If he will only stop
drinking, he will become as rich as some retired
Major Generals; but as he is too poor to stop
drinking, and rather too old, perhaps to 20
to school, how in the name of common sense
il he 10 get out of the lowest strata" into
which his platform friend has mercilessly tum-
bled himl What is there for HIM to do but
| to beg some more fortunate person to shovel