Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-11-12

SoIHe tlHe age, WHeu speaking OF
sermon, noticed in the REGISTER, by
the Rev. Mr.. Penniman, spoke of a
lecture promised me by friend who
had charge of one of our colleges here.
1 have since received, and read, that
lecture and was so pleased with it that
took it to one of our churches and
read and commented upon it there.
will endeavor to give the REGISTER a
synopsis of it, but must W arm the read
er that it is impossible to satisfactorily
crowd so much interesting matter into
so little room as a newspaper article
requires.
The lecturer defines poverty as a So
cial rather than an individual crime.
Murder, he says, is crime; but it is
not crime to be murdered. So pow.
erty is crime for which society rather
than the victim is reponsible. Carlye
said that poverty was the English
mans hell; it is the hell of all men in
civilized countries; yet 1t is wholly un
necessary. Poverty exists only be
cause. through social maladjustments
we abuse the gifts of the Creator. Goo
sends US none of the things that con
stitute wealth; but of the raw materia
there is more than enough for all. II
is not because God has been niggardly
to man, but because man is unjust tC
his fellowman that we suffer poverty
and the crimes that grow out of it..
We know that the cause of poverty
is common one the world over; fol
we see it in republics as well as in the
monarchies; in countries where they
have free trade as well as where they
have protection; where they have pa.
per money as we'll as where they have
coin only for circulating medium. In.
vestigate where you will, as long as
you may. you will eventually find thai
this principal, with all its attendant
evils, flow from private property In
land, from our allowing one man to
own the means by which another man
must live. Do what you may, reform
all you can, but this matter cannot be
remedied in any degree 80 long as pri
vate property in land is allowed to ex.
ist. So long as Gods laws are what
they are it is impossible that even HI
should relieve poverty. Were He te
increase the productive properties O
the soil, to increase the fruitfulness O
trees, and plants, and to make animals
produce more abundantly after theil
kind, eventually all the benefit must
go to landowners alone. Had the
wilderness been parcelled out among
the Israelites as the land of all civiliz
ed countries is owned by individuals
and what would have been the conse.
quences? The landowners would have
employed others to gather mama, and
would then have sold it to their hun.
cry brethren; and this purchase and
sale of mama would have gone on un-
til the poor and landless had nothing
to buy with; then the manna would
have been rotting in heaps while peo-
pie were hungry, and the landowners
would have been complaining of the
|oyer-production of mama. This is just
the phenomenon we see to-day. Gran
aries are bursting while hundreds GO
ungry. We produce SO much woolen
and cotton goods that thousands o1
people have to go in rags. Where
wealth most abounds there poverty il
deepest. While few wallow in lux
ury and are taxed how to amuse them.
selves, the majority are condemned to
life drudgery and have to work
themselves into premature grave in
order that they may be permitted to
merely exist. The thing that most
surprised Sioux savages who came
amongst US was not our wonderful
machinery but the fact that little chill.
dren were compelled to toll. 1t IL
among people who call themselves civ.
ilized you find crimes committed that
find no parallel in savage life; and
when you enquire into those crimes
you find their first cause in poverty
in want, or the fear of want. HEAVIER
has bestowed on man enough, and
more than enough for all, and it is mo-
production that is at fault. but distri
button. The private ownership of lane
lifts comparative few above their fel
lows aud drives the many into necessi
ties upon which the unscrupulous spet
ulate. Among absurdities there i
nothing SO absurd as private propert,