New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-09


in spite OF dOmiDeering employers his empty
pocket or the point-blank refusaIs when met
him at every turn when he asked for Standing
room in the world. So, to put an end to II, ne
shot himself in the side, not the head, lesC lie
should disfgure his face" lie never
thought much Of living anyway" he says, ana
finds nothing to regret in the whole business
but the pain it will give to his mother.
The matter has been thoroughly exposed by
the reporters, or we would not take it as a text.
II is a typical case. There are thousands OF
Young men, clerks, book-keepers lawyers ana
doctors, in this and other cities, who go aoouC
shabbily clothed and chemically hungry. Ihey
sleep in unYentated closets in the attlcs Oh low
class lodging-houses.- They have no friends nor
society. They have refined tastes which they
cannot crafty. They are bitter to man ana
unbelieving to Cod, simply because they are
hungry and wretched. If, to their worse luck,
they are married, their hunger and misery are
by so much the mole heavy and intolerable'
II is no rare case for these men to make
o. an end of it" by ballet, like young Dollinger'
During the last two years the number Of suicides
has been frightfully on the increase in our large
cities, and they have been, with few exceptions,
lack of work, home and friends.
Now who is to blame2 Not the employers
who turn these men away without work; they
have none to give Nor are their shops and
Offices charitable institutions. Not even the
EMPLOYER who is hard and dOmlneering'
The chances are that the sensitive, refined lad,
who is craving for sympathy and meditatinS
suicide. is Il very inefficient workman, and nui-
ic lao fO
when he breaks down. The world owes him,
and every man who is willing to work, not only
enough to cat, but friendly encouragement
qualification of his natural tastes, and even
amusement. These things are his birthrght,
and as the wise old cynic said" he who can 90
without them is either brute or god" The
whole blame rests upon the man who, like
DOllingcr persists in seeking them III city,
where his weak body and mediocre intellect
stand no chance in the friction OF great masses
Of stronger men. 1t is Il mere matter OF cold,
mvelding fact. He Is not in the right place.
Il would require 4 miracle to divide the loayes
and fishes Of work among the vast struggling
multitude in this city. Men of DOllinger's
make cannot get 4 crumb. The multitude,
simply because 1t is struggling, is selfish. They
have no sympathy nor friendship to give him.
The city, too, is the place where refined tastes
are only to be gratifed by large outlay. A red
rose may cost a weeks salary. Dollinger, hungry
in body and soul, with no chance Of food for
either makes up his mind that the only place
for linn in the world is among the dead masses
Of flesh i'll POitels Field
Now, if New York were the world we should
agree with him, and feel pity for him and his
like But Newly is not the world. The
money spent in looking for work here would
have taken him 10 b)undless fields of the
richest soil in the world to pure air, to hearty
companonship and lifelong work. which would
pay him from the first day all to be had with
out money and without price. He would be his
own master. 40 more risk of dOmineering
nor dismissal. No walking from door to door
begging for work. The earth and sun and rain
Will be his employers Nature, beautiful and
free, his companion. There will be stimulus for
his highest emotions and tastes, and (what is
quite as essential to his souls health) there
will be good food and good air for his body to
wax strong upOn. Considering these facts, our
pity for the Dollingers Of New-YOrk IS not
deep. They are the modern Esaus, who
blindly sell their right to useful, strong, happy
but obscure life, for miserable chance of sue
cess in a heated city; mess Of DOttage, which
decays before it touches their lips.