The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-08-07
ONE CAUSE OF POVERTY.
A Potent Factor in tho Production of
Paupersm and Vice.

IlSncd Il Drlet table which Is OF cOnSld-
cradle interest to every student of the
liquor question. The population of
Chicago is in round numbers 1900, OOO
A recent report of the city board of
health gives the number of firms and
persons engaged in various occupations
From that report the Tribune takes the
figures in the following table, which
shows the number of inhabitants to
each saloon, meat market, etc:
Saloon ............ g! Grocery ...... 317
Meat market. ........77 no Drug store ........2OOO
Lawyer ........ 3OIDoctor. ........ !OO
Cigar ShOp.......... SOD OihcehOlder. 100
The officeholders are at the head of
the procession, and the saloons come
next. Notice the great jump there is
from the saloon to the grocery and
meat market, both of which cater to
the prime necessity of mankind-food.
The Tribune remarks that there is
one municipal and government employee
for every one hundred and twenty Chi
cagOanS, men, women and children;
that is a good record, and it shows
where the taxes go"
That paper might well also remark
that there is one saloon for every PIT
Chicago, and that this shows where the
money goes. 1t shows why there is SO
much poverty in the slums of Chicago;
it shows why vice is so rampant there;
it shows why it is the breeding place of
anarchy and the hot bed of socialism.
Probably every one remembers how in
his childhood, the familiar adage was
dinncd into his ears: you can't have
your cake, and eat it, too" This adage
has its application to Chicago, and in
fact to every other city in the land.
Poor men desire to become wealthy,
but they desire also to satisfy their
appetites and passions at the same
time.
If an intelligent man, of sound body
and mind, and with a good trade at his
command, desires to accumulate prop
erty, there is no country in the world
in which he can so easily do so as in
the United States. The rate of wages
is higher here than in any other coun-
try in the world, and higher, too. in
proportion to the cost of living. 1t is
not difficult for a young man, unmar-
ried, and with no one dependent upon
him, to save half of his wages. All he
has to do is to open an account with a
savings bank, figure out how much is
absolutely necessary for his living cx-
penses and when he draws his weekly
pay to Immediately deposit every
penny above this sum and leave it de-
posted.
Right there comes the test 1t is not
difficult to make this first accumulation
the nest-egg of the future fortunc-if
man once makes up his mind to do so,
but it is the indiSposition of the aver
age worllingman or employee to do this,
which is the great cause of poverty.
Men desire to have their cake and to
eat it at the same time. They wish to
get all the possible enjoyment which
their money will procure at once, UNI
mindful of the fact that the cXtrava-
giant habits which they are acquiring
will hang like milestone around their
necls and utterly prevent any
saving when the care of wife and
family are added. After few years
man finds that it is a constant struggle
to make both ends meet and he sees no
hope of any bettermcnt of the future.
If he gets an increase in wages or sal
airy Se finds that by some strange proc
ess his needs or desires increase sud
denly in the same ratio and month
after month goes around and finds him
either with empty pockets or strug
Cling with debt. Some men cease
struggling, give themselves up to sell
fish indulgence and go swiftly down
the declivity which lands them in a
drunkard's grave. Others become
soured and cmbittered at the world,
look upon all men who have made saw
ings as their natural enemies and fall
into the communistic idea that "all
wealth is robbery" 1t is popularity
of hTman nature that mau very rare
ly places the fault where it should be-
long-on his own shoulders. He does
not blame himself for being eXtrava-
CANT and reckless with his money. but
blames other men because they are not
so. and therefore because they save.
1t may be laid down as a maxim that
man who has nothing to depend upon
but his own eXertions is certain to die
poor man if he becomes habituated
to drinking. man cannot be
drinker-"one of the boys''-and save
money. Aside from the wastefulness
which the habit entails in paving for
the liquor which the man himself con-
sumes and that with which he treats
others, it also causes considerable
waste of time each year. A man will
drink too much, and be obliged to take
day or two off in order to sober up:
or he drinks when his bCSly functions
are deranged becomes. i'll and loses
time until he RECEIVERS. The ways are
very numerous in which the drinking
habit, directly or indirectly, keeps a
man down in the groove of poverty
There is no more potent factor in the
production of poverty and pauperism
than this habit; and those economists
who are veXing their souls in the en-
deavor to find the cause and cure of
poverty, if they desire to quit theoriz-
ing and adopt practical work, cannot
do better than to join in the effort to
pulverize the rum power. Toledo
Blade.