Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-10-29
Food and Raiment.

Aue pIOIuee0eSS, variety and delica
cy OF the summer fruits an d vegetables
in this country are denied to all other
civilized lands. The day -laborer in
this latitude may sit down to dinner,
which is not only unknown to the same
persons in Europe, but which is en-
joyed only by the wealthy there. "A
few cents will give him q quantity and
variety OF vegetable food beans, corn,
peas, lettuce. cabbages, peaches,
plums, melons, grapes, and pears,
such as in Northern Europe. at least.
are grown under glass aud obtainable
chiefly by the wealthy or the extrava-
giant. The streets OF our cities as we'll
as the landscape of field and orchard,
are decorated with their color; the
markets blush with their ruddiness and
bloom with their purple, their emerald
and their gold. And the cheap pre-
serving processes are carried on so
largely and economically that even in
winter many of these natural bouaties
are within the means of scant purses
in measure that would positively as
found even the thrifty and we'll TODD
people in Europe.
It is in this respect that this is an
essentially favored land and makes the
problem Of living Comparatively easy
one. Even if the tax-burdens OF the
European nations were by the abolition
OF fleets, Notifications and standing
armies, lifted from the shoulders of the
populace, the generosity of the Ameri-
can soil and air would still offer that
hospitality in excess of others which
makes it poor mans paradise. There
is usually large, benevolent reckless
ness about its profusion that engenders
carelessness and even some waste in
the domestic economy OF the people.
1t often provides, as if it were we'll to
cultivate the habit of lavishness such
an excess above the actual wants that
no inconsiderable part of its perisha
ble crops are wasted in the air or on
the ground. However, this is q so
much better characteristic than the op-
posite one, that no one ever finds fault
With it.
The provision for the stomach and
the clothing of the body, chiefly con-
Germs men, and for these the mass OF
them labor. The easier they can pro-
cure these two essentials, the smaller is
their discomfort. Indeed, when these
are procured with little difficulty, dis.
content is largely q sentimental griev-
ance, and hard to arouse. What little
envy und jealousy the poor feel toward
the rich Is chiefly concerned with the
problem of food and clothing. It is
not so much that the poor man wants
the income of five, ten, twenty or fifty
thousand dollars which the exception.
ally rich man may have, as it is bis
feeling that its possession sets quite at
rest the anxiety lie feels daily about his
prospects for food, clothing and shel-
ter. For the man with an income OF
$500 or $1,000 is obliged to spend
nearly all of it in providing for tue
simplest wants of nature; whereas these
pressing wants do not increase in pro.
portion to the income. A man with
$4,000 income spends much smaller
fraction of it for the necessities of life
than does his poor ueighbor; while the
deaand for the necessaries of life upon
the income of $4,000 is hardly per.
ceptible. The anxiety about food on
the part Of those with small incomes il
out of all proportion to that felt by the
enormous wealthy, because in the one
case it requires nearly all the income
to satisfy the daily wants of the body;
in the other it requires only minute
fraction of it. Hence whatever element
in nation diminishes this anxiety great.
ly aids in closing up the gulf between
the rich and the poor. In that case,
although the contrast between the poor
man and the rich man may be annoy
ing. it is not painful, aud the feeling is
simply .discomforting instead of des-
perate; and when it is desperate it is
dangerous.-Detroit Free Press.
General Grant on Foreign Lands.