The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-07-18
The Poor Unemployed and the Cause
OF Hard Times.

1t is useless to shun the ugly fact
that want and poverty like hungry
wolves are at the very doors of hun
dreds defenceless people-defenceless
because they are out of work, out of
money, out of credit, and out of bread.
1t will not help this condition of the
people to say, 'there is plenty in the
land and that Heaven has made the
most beautiful of hearvests to bend
to the sickle, and that cheap bread
must be the result" True, every
word true. But how can the hungry
out of work, out of money, out of
credit and out of bread supply them
selvesf They must perish, beg, steal,
or become the recipiants of private or
public charity. Going west will no
more help these people than going
east so far as present relief is sought
after.
The duty of the citizen to the gov
ernment is to obey its law, pay its tax
es, fight its battles, work It's highways;
educate, clothe and feed its infant de-
tenders. The duty of government is
to defend the life, liberty, person and
property of the citizen. When the
government fails in either one of these
functions it falls under condemnation
of unworthiness and guilt. Just as the
citizen who fails to do his duty suffers
the same penalty.
We may hang the citizen if he pre-
fers murder to starvation. We may
hang the power that rules us, not by
suspension at the end of astrong rope.
but by suspension at the end ofits off.
cial term. These are the duties and
remedies of each party to the govern.
mental compact.
The cause of hard times in land OF
plenty, of starvation in the sight Of
bursting granaries, of freezing in pres
ence of abundance of fuel, of ragged
ness, in view of cotton, fax and wool
en- factories, has puzzled the pretend
statesman, and before its mysterious
results the voter has stood appalled, as
in the presence of an unseen clectrici
ty which sunders the mountain, while
its awful and terrific effects alone com
mand his solemn curiosity and the
cause escapes observation.
But the cause of the hard times; o.
the army of tramps; of haggard wan
Of work and bread; of high prices fo
money and low prices for labor; of tn
shrinkage of values OF property ant
products; of the factory shutting Of
steam and turning its operators out o
employment; Of the fortunes made b,
bankers and stock jobbers and none,
lenders and note shavers and purcha
sers Of property under the hammer O
the Sheriff-the fortunes of the fey
and the misfortunes of the many-th
cause, we say, of these things, is no
past finding out, and like the cause o
lightning and thunder, it is within tn
grasp and the comprehension of an,
student who votes and reads ant
thinks.
"The people can not understand f
nancer-was the cry of all who wer
being benefited by hard times, or il
their service as newspaper men, or a
Office holders "It is useless to agitat
the money question. for it is too dee
and too intricate, and too mysteriou
for common sense and common voters.
sFranklin, Jefferson, Adams, an,
even Andrew jackson were fools to as
sert the capacity of the people to mar
age all government affairs. The pee
pie may be competent to govern then
selves in all other respects, but in f
nancial matters they do not under
stand the cause and the effects of lei