St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-02-21
WHAT MOCK ERY.
People who Are Entirely ObIiviOus
TO the Sufferings of the Masses.

People who Are Entirely ObIiyious
TO the SuFferings of the Masses.
TO the Editor of the Globe:
The following is from the New York
Ledger of last week:
WHAT you CAN GET FOR TWENTY-FIVE CENTS.
How uihing a thing seems quarter of a
dollar to one Of our eXtravagant New York
ers. who losses the handy little coin 10 a
waiter or anybody that pretends 10 do him
the smallest servicel At one Of our penny
groceries," where they sell things by the
cents worth, quarter OF a dollar will buy
nineteen articles, the whole being food. fuel
and light for a family Of four persons for one
dayi The purchase includes tea, coffee, rice.
potatoes, sugar, bread, kerosene, coal. salt,
kndling. wood. mo!asses, and even two
pickles; all for % cents.
The Ledger is not labor paper. 1t aims
merely to please and amuse. IL, therefore.
probably tells the truth in the above extract
without partisan eXaggeratiOn. But what
can be said about the sad condition of trade
and society more discouraging than this
cent traffic presents To thoughtful minds?
Yesterday. in grocery store. heard the
proprietor say. go on to the next grocery,
my little girl. cannot wait on you now"
L said. You must have an extra quantity
Of business on hand to send customers away
in that fashion" ''Oh. she is a one-cenU
and two-cent customer. and as | am busy
making up my packages this morning, /
cannot take time to weigh and fix Up half
a dozen articles, and all for one dime" So
the cent system has reached this rich
Western country also. There are people
here so poor as to be compelled to buy by
the small" in the superlative degTee-in
the smallest quantities that our currency
win tolerate.
If the masses come down to the cent. the
nickel or even the dime system of buying.
how many extra grocerS would it take To
a ccommodate them?
How much extra do these poor wretches
have to pay for being so heggarly poor?
These and other questions present and
press themselves upon my attention. / am
waiting TO hear some wise old parrot cry
out, LET them economize-let them save
something and get ahead so that they can
buy TO better advantage
THE destruction of the poor is their pow
erty," says Solomon. but oh, how many
wiser men than Solomon have we about
here. Let them 20 somewhere else-go
to the country" says another.
This puts one in mind Of the sermon of
Rev. DR.. Webb of Boston before the Home
Missionary society at its anniversary meet
ing. in which he said: ''Is there socialism
in this country where a farm can be had
Tor the asking?" DIR. Webb is said TO be a
man of wealth. and has probably never
known what poverty is or he could not
have talked in this crazy way. Is he any
wiser than the French princess who. when
told that the people were in need of bread,
proposed that they should live on cakes?
Is is not enough to make socialists rage
when they hear such questions from such
men? will send this article to DR.. Webb,
with the serious request that he will show
me and Others out WeSt-nOt to speak of
the poverty-stricken wretches of his own
city-hOw to get on a farm? If he can do
so he viii help millions of us out of the ten
ements of the city to the free air and life of
the country? a SOCIALIST.
Minneapolis, Feb. 20.