The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-12-31
HARD TIMES THE EAST.

One consolation we have in these
hard times is that we are not the only
persons who suffer. "Misery loves
company" and we have plenty Of it.
The Boston Communicable says:
Under the strain of the present financial
pressure how many lie down at night with
the question on their lips. Which way
shall we turn? and the morning only brings
the hooking echo, Which way! 1t is i'm
possible TO tell now such crises are spanned.
Bridges are made by methods which no NOR
tai could devise. Food comes in natural
ana mysterious channels, and existence is
preserved spite OF untOward obstacles. The
masses are more or less affected, and to
greater or less extent there is a common
bond. Many occupy handsome abodes and
seem luxuriOusly situated, but their sources
of income, in many instances, are largely
dry; houses are unrented, sales impossible,
tinue are stocks which do not pay, and often
crashes from endorsed notes. This is the
strata from whom help is expected, and
when Conscientious the burden is doubly
severe. The employees are lessened; ma
irons and young girls are deprived OF places,
and struggling males are cut down in wages
or dismissed altogether
A farmer, living upon potatoes and
pork, on forty acre farm in Minneso-
ia, enjoys oftentimes more real happ-
ness than the tenant of brown stone
mansion in one of our eastern cities,
who. as the Commonwealth says, goes
to bed and rises in the morning, with
the one all-pcryading thought, (which
way shall turn -
Mental anxiety is worse than physi-
cal suffering, and worry shortens the
days of man more than work. A phil
osopher tried an experiment with two
rabbits. He put one in cage with a
rattlesnake, 'thc snake being so tied that
it could not harm the RABBIT. He took
another rabbit and broke its leg and
put it in another cage. Before both
rabbits he placed food. When he re.
turned in the morning he found the
food in front Of the first rabbit, I'M
touched bnt the food in the other cage
was devoured.
Mental terror has destroyed the ap-
petite Of the one, while physical pain
could not impair the appetite of the
other.
You can read in the faces Of the bust
ness men of the East the history Of
their mental anxieties. The married
women are generally plump and rosy;
they are sheltered from the great
storms Of life; but the faces of the men
are like maps wherein is written the
history Of the great battle of existence.
And they soon break down physically
and mentally. The hair grows prema-
tcrely gray, the face cadaverous; the
lungs, brain, or stomach give way:
many take TO drink, habit which is
more often the result Of physical COL
lapse than the cause Of il; and still
others end in the mad-house. The doc.
trine Of natural selection" is eAem-
pli6ed-the tittest only survive. For
one 4. I. Stewart who comes out with
a hundred millions, the wrecks of thou
sands strew the face Of society. like the
imperfect and discarded creatures
whose remains are found by Prof
Marsh in the rocks of the Tertiary
period.
Here, at least, we who have colonized
thus new country are subjected TO less
STRAIN and struggle. The vortex Of the
battle of life is far off. We are only
sSirmishing on the extreme wings.
But another generation will bring the
fall sweep Of the mighty contest upon
our children. Let US pepare the way
for them; and there is nothing We can
leave them equal to the land. The
most real. permanent and indestructible
thing in the whole world is the surface
of the. planet. For this in all ages men
have battled. This has been the foun.