The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-01-03
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
THE GROWING Discomfort.

4 Craze for Wealth on the One Hand,
Grinding Poverty ON the Other.
It was the great Edmund Burke who
wrote so learnedly when giving his
Thoughts on the Present Discontents,"
and many before and since have noticed
restlessness among the people. At
present the disconnected can be found
in all countries American soldiers have
been so Disconnected that Congress and
leading army officers have cudgeled
their brains to find some way by which
the number of assertions can be lessen
ed. In England the famous and favor
ito of her majesty's troops have been
sent to India for characterization. And
emute has recently been reported in
Halifax, and tho troops in Dublin are
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-
ton of the common people has found
cent in an insane attack upon the Jews,
which has resulted in a second, and this
time an Involuntary, exodus, where no
As~0 cOo 10 OoAAOo oPOh w OPOAA pos
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
the laboring men were never more rest
less and uneasy.
Philosophers and economists have
been endeavoring to account for this in
vain. The 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
a few hundred years ago, and as far as
the comforts and luxuries of life are
concerned, the man in comfortable cir
cumstances enjoys moro 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 spread OF
democratic ideas which demand more
and more every year. What would have
satisfied a nobleman in the past will not
satisfy day laborer now. Men being
born free and equal can not submit
quietly to any system Of government or
of life that breeds and fosters
afterward. While one citi-
zen must live in garrett and feed on
crusts, he can not believe that his neigh
Dor who spends s70O, 900 on stable. has
not been partially dealt with to the dis
of the poor.
However much we may yearn for that
dreamed of by theorists, seen
in visions by philanthropists and pictur-
ed by the artists of the Bellamy school,
there is but little encouragement to
hope that change is to be enjoyed in
the near future that will bring about
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. Were we all satisfied, i'm
provement could not come. At present
the world. collectively and individually,
is engrossed in the task of accommodating
wealth. Not a very high pursuit, it
may be observed, because the acquisition
Of wealth is merely an animal instinct
which, fired by ambition. has been in
tensified into craze. 1t is well to obey
the biblical injunction, and provide for
ones household, but the spectacle of
sensible people making life a burden to
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
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
of what they have. and spend
less time in an insatiate yearning for
what they have not, If happiness is de-
sired. 1t is quite as necessary and as
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 The ORR
oltoA lnotuCn NhO it0AOS ulSRldy vi ucI
burdensome estate of rings, coins and
other trinkets. by wearing them around
ner mock, we esteem vulgar and foolish.
Yet she is inspired by the same motive
hat impels m an to load himself down
With strife and misery in the gathering
Ind display OF wealth which is worth
ess to him because he can never use it,
Ind which finds its root in the purely |
animal desire for the preservation of |
ife, or, as it is called, the law of self |
lefense Tariffs may be raised or low
red, the earth may give forth tenfold |
Increase and people will be better off,
,ut not less discontinued, until insane |
passes its perihelion and re-
edes into space, leaving virtue, purity |
md unselfishness the objects of pursuit. |
The diffusion of intelligence is hasten
ng the good day.
TWO WOMEN