St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-09-10
ADDITIONAL MINNEAPOLIS.
A GREAT SPEECH.
Prof Garland Addresses the Anti
Poverty Society on ssPOyerty."

Prof Garland Addresses the Anti
Poverty Society on Poverty"
AT the Anti-Poyerty meeting held last
evening In Window hall, Prof. Hamlin
Garland, of Boston, made an address.
He took as his subject "The Tears of
Poverty" and said that one of our poets
had said that the tears of poverty ebb
and flow like the tides, but according to-
his investigation there was a constant
flow and no ebb just al the present time.
Nov, in speaking of poverty" said
he, II am not speaking. of tramps,'
pauperS and inmates of asylums, but 1
am speaking of the Woodworking labor
ing man, who rises in the cold, gray
dawn and goes to his daily toll, only to
return home at nightfall worn out and
tired, only to tumble into hard bed and
to again arise at dawn and go again to
his toll; and so, day after day, he goes
on until he drops into his grave. These
are the people l refer to, and
what do they get for all this
toll and suffering? They get only
the bare necessities of life. But then
the wealthy aristOcracy say the labor
ing people are so extravaganza, that is
why they suffer, and then again they
will say: why, saw man taking his
family to the circus. when he should
have stayed at home and saved his
money! or 1 saw a laboring man buy
to the theater,' why, if they
there would be no poverty
Do these people who answer you so
know that these Woodworking people
are compelled to have some little relax
alton from their cares and troubles, or
else large part of them would become
insane? Do they know that the insane
asylums of this state and Dakota are
filled with Woodworking men who have
gone out on the prairie and taken up
land and struggled along, trying to i'm
prove it, depriving themselves of
every luxury and ecOnomizing in
every way, until they became
completely exhausted and their reason
gave way and they became insane? A
little relaxation taken by laboring
man is not extravaganza, but it is a ne
cessiuy, but the relaxation taken by the
wealthy class is extravaganza, because
they do not need it.
Strict economy will not improve mat
tiers, for if no money is spent no money
can be earned. If every one would re-
solve to go barefoot, why then the
shoemakers would be thrown out
of employment, and they would be COM
PEELED to seek other work, which would
bring them in direct competition with
the very men who threw them out of
work by not buying shoes. Work is too
scarce anyway, and too many men are
always idle on account of the scarcity of
work, so you see if this universal econ
omy was practiced it would be harder to
get a job than ever.
Again, these wealthy people will say
the people in this country are better off
than they are in England. Suppose
they are, and why should they not be?
This is a sparsely settled country, while
England is crowded and overflowing
with people, and has been in that con-
dition for the last half a dozen centu-
ries, and yet how much better
off are they in this country? Are
not they coming over here every month
by the thousands, from highly protected
Italy and Germany, as well as from En-
gland? How much better Off will the
laboring people of this country be in a
few years with all this immigration
pouring in upon us, and with only
enough work at the present time to en-
ploy the labOring people who are now
here about half of the time?
There is great deal of talk
about the tariff protecting labor, but it
only protects the manufacturers from
outside competition, so that when there
is too much competition at home they
can close down their mills and let the
workmen starve until the surplus of
manufactured goods is sold off; and if
any of you are from the manufacturing
centers of the East you know that the
mills are shut down about one-half Of
the time.