The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1881-02-02
For THE RECORD.
KEEPING THE poor.

and seeing that the writer who made such a
malicious attack upon our city is again in
print with bis offensiveness, feel obliged to
follow once more in 'swndy- cation" and
vindication of the truth. Being an admirer
of Mr.. Weller myself, am willing to have it
spelled with g WEI and if the writer in
question had only initiated his sturdy honesty
as well as his spelling, there would have been
no necessity of my appearing in print In
his reply, he states that bis article was writ
ten not so much for the purpose of finding
fault with the present system of letting the
poor as to show the abuses and hardships
that may grow out Of it,"
Hear that Nay grow out of it. Not has
grown out of it. Not existing. Only may
grew out of 1t, after all | But how was it be-
fore? A palmer acknowledgment Of a-an
system mag, might or could be abused, if
abuse were allowed. But that gives no man
the right to conjure up in his imagination all
the evils it is capable of and falsely charge
them upon his fellow citizens as already ex-
listing by their consent, when he knows they
false report; put not thine hand with the
wicked to be an unrighteous Witness" saith
Holy Writ.
Though he now calls 1t q sssale," instead
of an auction, well knowing that there has
been neither, and reiterates some of his form
er charges, / will not waste space in explain
ing over again what think was made clear
in my former article. 1t is perfectly easy to
make more false charges in small space than
can be fully explained in a column, and if one
undertakes to do the explanation over and
over again there is no end to it. Our own
abroad who read the ISLANDERS have had an OPP
portunity to read the truth. That is all
care about. Yet to show how the ruling
passion, the spirit of Ananias," prevails in
his bosom, / notice one more point which IL
Illustrates him exactly.
In both articles he asserts that the poor are
to be removed to lonesome place, and then,
that they are to be croioded and mired in With
a large number from another township. Aud
he gravely asks, Are these lies?" Yes;
there is certainly Am 'Ananias lin Ii
somewhere, that is evident. For if a man be
g crowded and mixed in with a large num-
ber," it is not possible for the place to be
lonesome and If the place be lonesome, there
can be no crowd there to be mixed in, or it
could no longer be lonesome at all. The two
objections are exactly contradictory and con-
trary to each other, and any man who COM
mits the absurdity of urging both, proves
that he means to be contradictory and con-
trary, too, and argument is rendered useless.
But, as from a bushe of chaff one picks a
grain of wheat, SO from the fearful bosh which
compose his articles pick the following SEN
tence, which indicates that for minute or
two, at least, he was actually almost /" struck
sensible -
"There is possibility of SO reducing the
price that the bidder for self.protection, will
be obliged to reduce the keep both in quality
and quantity"
This is worth noticing, and here is how it
stands, commencing at the beginning When
the poor were kept under the old system of
granting allowances and paying boar6, the
city was imposed upon, the cost became ex-
cessiye, and other abuses arose. To reform
these the present mode was instituted. When
the first contract was let, it was a dangerous
thing to take, because 1t was extremely I'M
certain how much would be thrown upon the
contractor, the only thing to estimate by be-
ing the previous high cost to the city. Mr..
Wilson took the risk at figure reasonable
enough under the circumstances, but which
would be high now, since experience has
shown how enormously the city had been i'm
posed upon. 1t turned out to be lucky hit
all around-for him, for the city, and for the
deserving poor. When a man has very
good thing. somebody else is sure to want
smack at it, too. So, since it proved profit
able, the price has come down to the present
one, which seems to me fair working point.
Nobody wants it to go below paying figure.
1t is job which anybody who is fit to have
1t would not take at all unless it did pay him
should not be entertained at any price. No
body has right to secure it at an inadequate
figure aud then z" for self protection " deprive
the poor of comfort. That's not elf-protec-
ton, but swiudling. 1t is the duty of the
Council to keep out all such men, aud the
power to do this is expressly reserved. Let
the people see to it that it is done. But bust
ness sense teaches that when moderate offer
is made by one who has already been tried
and found tras, it is safe to accept it. And
that is just why Mr.. Wilson got the contract
Opinions may honestly vary, and if any one
would have preferred another choice, l am
not trying to change his mind, but a reason
able man should be- able to prefer one without
doing injustice TO another, and no credit is
done to any choice in maintaining it by false
hood. And when any man argues that living
upon a farm is a hardship and a wrong in
dicted he takes leave of all the common sense |
BIO ever had-if he ever had any at all and |
when he maintains that what is good enough |
for independent American farmers, their
wives and their children, is not good enough |
for paupers, he simply makes an s'.Ananias "
Of himself.
In conclusion, God forbid that even by a |
single scratch of my pen should seek to add |
sught of hardship to the lot of the unfortu-