Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-10-25
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
THE GROWING plscoNTENT.

A OrHLC IOT nCHlbn on bnC OnB IaHnu,
Grinding Poverty on the other.
1t was the great Edmund Burke who
wrote SO learnedly when giving his
''Thoughts on the Present Discontents,"
and many before and since have noticed
"a restlessness among the people. AT
present the discontented can be found
in all countries. American soldiers have
been so discontented that Congress and
leading army officers have cudgeled
their brains to find some way by which
the number OF desertions can be lessen
ed. In England the famous and favor
ito of her majesty's troops have been
scnt to India for insubordination. And
emute has recently been reported in
Halifax, and the troops in Dublin arc
upon the verge of open revolt. Among
the civilian class this discomfort is also
manifest, and is seeking satisfaction in
various ways. In Russia the dissatisfac
tion of the common people has found
vent in an insane attack upon the Jews,
which has resulted in a second, and this
time,an involuntary, exodus, where no
Red Sea is called upon to open pas
sage way. The laboring classes in Eng
land are dissatisfied and thousands of
them meet at intervals in Trafalgar
square, and with more or less feeling
discuss the situation. Farmers in this
country are dissatisfied and are seeking
in various ways to secure relief while
tho laboring men were never more rest
less and uneasy.
Philosophers and economists have
been endeavoring to account for this in
vain. Tho world is wealthier and the
rate of wages higher than ever before.
Mechanics and their families live better
and dress better than did lords and mobiles
few hundred years ago, and as far as
the comforts and luXuries of life are
concerned, the man in comfortable cir
cumstances enjoys more of them than
did kings of old. Present discontents,
therefore, do not arise from the condi-
tion of the people, but rather from an
increase of intelligence and a spread of
democratic ideas which demand more
and more every year. What would have
satisfied nobleman in the past will not
satisfy n day laborer now Men being
born free and equal can not submit
quietly to any system of government or
conditions of life that breeds and fosters
disparities afterward. While one citi-
zen must live in garret and feed on
crusts, he can not believe that his neigh
Dor who spends $780, 900 on stable, has
not been partially dealt with to the dis
advantage of the poor.
However much we may yearn for that
millennium dreamed of by theorists, seen
in visions by philanthropists and pictur-
cd by the artists of the Bellamy school,
g., 1>,,+ 10
hope that n change is to be enjoyed in
the near future that will bring about
contentment and entire quiet. 1t is con-
trary to mans nature. The more intel
ligence is diffused the more dissatisfac-
tion will exist because mans desires
outstrip his ability to crafty them.
This unrest is the cause of mans ad-
vancement We're we all satisfied, inn
provement could not come. At present
the world, collectively and individually,
is engrossed in tho task of accommodating
wealth. Not very high pursuit, 1t
may be observed, because the acquisition
of wealth is merely an animal instinct
which, fired by ambition, has been in
tensified into a craze. 1t is we'll to obey
the biblical injunction, and provide for
ones household, but the spectacle OF
sensible people making life burden to
themselves in the race for wealth that
they can not possibly use is ridiculous.
The dedication of the dollar, the un-
equal distribution of wealth and an IRA
tional view of life may be said TO cause
discomfort at present. Until people can
look upon the world through different
glasses or until ambition finds new
parallax, little change can be expect
ed People should learn to enjoy the
possession OF what they have, and spend
less timo in an insatiate yearning for
what they have not, if happiness is de-
sired. Itis quite as necessary and rs
much duty to provide ones household
with sound bodies, healthy and un-
warped minds and correct ideas as it is
to furnish lands and estates. Tho Ori-
entail maiden who makes display of her
burdensome estate of rings, coins and
other trinlkets. by wearing them around
her neck, we esteem vulgar and foolish.
Yet she is inspired by the same motive
that impels m an to load himself down
with strife and misery in the gathering
and display of wealth which is worth
less to him because he can never use it,
and which finds its root in the purely
animal desire for the preservation OF
life, or, as it is called, the law of sell
defense. Tariffs may be raised or low.
cred, the earth may give forth a tenfold
increase and people will be better off,
but not less discontented, until insane
ambition passes it's perihelion and re,
cedes into space, leaving virtue, purity
and unseliishness the objects of pursuit
The diffusion of intelligence is hasten,
ing the good day.
TWO WOMEN