The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-22
HARD TIMES,
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Times are hard, there is no dlSputlng that,
but for that matter they have been hard ever
since the enactment Of that oppressive law
which requires bread to be earned by the
sweat Of the face. Certain it is that the Oldest
inhabitant does not remember when the cry
of hard times was not in the mouths Of the
people. Now, why all this cry of hard times,
and by whomq Sixty years ago the handful
of men who were entering lands along the
White river, and opening farms, living in
cabins and going fifty miles to mill, com
planned less of hard times than some do now,
albeit there were men even then that MUIR
INJURED, and not a few sold out their "open-
ings" for a mere song and went back to Vir-
ginia or Ohio to drone out a few years, sing
ing '|hard times" until death came to their
relief. They were simply unwilling to get
down to the hard work and hard living that
The Bacons, Johnsons, Finches, Hanways,
McLaughlins, and hundreds like them, kept
pegging away, shaking during ague season,
hunting and fishing when they had to, and
working when they could-these men never
complained Of hard times. They lived well,
raised their families we'll, cleared their farms
we'll, and acquired good homes. Of their con-
temporaries, many hunted, and fshed. and
drunk whisky, and loafed for a living, and
worked only spasmodically-these had hard
times.
And so it has been all along. Except as
they catch the contagion, and say 'hard
times" because it is fashionable, the industri-
GUS and frugal seldom complain of hard times.
Of course, they have to work hard and live
close, but this is inevitable under the law
above quoted. But they get along all the
better when they work cheerfully and accept
the situation as inevitable. If hard work
means hard times, they may claim their share,
but it is generally not your patient working
man who complains of hard times.
Analyze this thing called hard times and you
will find that in all cases it is known only
among those who seek to abrogate or evade
the inevitable law Of our being, except so far
as the misdeeds of others may in som in
stances affect the innocent. A thief or a
swindler may prey upon the savings of an
honest man and cause him to suffer; but, ex-
cept this, the sufferers are those who start out
to live without work, after a sort, in a field
already overworked, or for which they are not
qualified, or those who attempt to live beyond
their legitimate income, not to mention those
who waste their earnings, if they have any,
in various kinds of dissipation.
To illustrate: There are a dozen men in
this city who have fair medical or legal ac-
quirements. but they are living on the merest
pittance. Some Of these, after acquiring a
fair business and a good reputation in
their native towns, have come to
Indianapolis to practice in a metro
politan city. There is not business
enough for all such, and they say times are
hard. They are not ~loafers, nor mean men.
They are willing to work, if they can get the
kind of work they want. There is another
dozen, probably score of men, who, from ten
to thirty years ago. impelled by a laudable am
bition to become more than mere hewers of
wood or drawers of water, left their fathers
farm or shop for city life, and they aspired to
become lawyers or doctors. Some Of these
have no mean requirements, others are mere
pettifoggers or quacks, but while their broth
ers, who remained on the farm, or in the shop,
are good livers and own property, and never
feel hard times, many of these are on the
point of starvation. Law business and medi-
cine have a limit. There is not enough to
feed the hundreds who are really capable men.
These starvelings talk of hard times, but who
is to blames No one is under obligation to
make law business, or get sick just to make
business. They are not all Of them ~loafers;
some are ward politicians, and most of them
would do something easy, if they could get it
to do. 1t is simply a case of maladjustment
of labor.
At the other extreme of society is another
Illustration. There are in the city hundreds
Of able-bodied men. Some of these are
skilled mechanics, but they are out of profta-
BILE employment: some are unskilled, and out
of employment. Here, again, is a malad-
justment. No one can afford to build a house
merely to give employment to a mechanic, or
to create a job for the unskilled. 1t is simply
an oversupply of workmen in these lines. 1t
is not impossible to overstock the market
may be country produce; sometimes iron. or
wooden, or wooden goods. Goods must have