St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-16
CAUSES OF POVERTY.
Rev. S. w. Sample Details Some
of the Balcful Influences Of To-

Rev. S. w. Sample Details Some
of the Balcful Influences Of To-
Day.
Rev. S. W. Sample yesterday after
noon addressed the peoples meeting at
Century hall upon the causes of pow
erty. The audience was 4 large one,
and MIR. Samples sermon was both
strong and interesting. Ignorance,
which prevents many people from not
only earning livelihood, but keeps
them at the bottom of the ladder. una
BILE to protect themselves, or even 10
know what their rights are, lie considered
one of the prime causes. Intemperancc
is another. Bad government. which al
lows the oppression of the masses, is re-
sponsible for the condition which allows
the rich to become richer and the poor
poorer in this land of plenty. and has
much TO do with pOvery. War, with all
its attendant horrors. is another potent
evil which puts burdens upon the poor.
The resources for maintaining the
standing armies in the old world
come out of the poor. Wages are
mulcted, and the profits of commerce
and manufacturing go to furnish the
sinews of war. No parliament or king
should have the power to declare war.
IL should only be done by the entire
people. Indirect taxation is another
the lcgalZed gambling. the spectators
on the boards of trade in the products
OF mans labor, which puts
down prices when the farmer
wants to sell and up when the
miller wants to buy-this is another
baleful influence which renders markets
uncertain and unstable. The dice of
these gamblers are loaveS of bread, and
their chances are the chances on human
lives. Monopoly, the Capitalization of
riches, is the curse of the age. The
United States is the richest country on
the face of the globe. Its wealth eX-
ceeds that of Great Britain S2G7, zoo. 900,
and is sufficient to purchase the Rus
sian and Turkish empires, Norway and
Sweden, Denmark and Italy. with South
America thrown in. The wealth made
and accumulated in this country during
the past twenty years is more than the
entire earnings of the civilized world
from the birth of Christ up TO the nine
teenth century. And yet half of this
great wealth is in the hands of less than
10000 men. Where there is such mon
strous wealth in the hands of the few
| there must be also deep poverty. Money
cannot be in two places at once and
centralized wealth means also abject
poverty. Monopoly of natural re-
sources is back of all the causes.
Of poverty. Monopoly in land has scat
tered our people from sea to sea over
the vast territory. and has made us
nation of pioneers perpetually. Half
the land in New York city is withheld
from use, and yet certain portions of
that city are more densely packed with
humanity than any other place on the
globe, Texas alone could SunpOrt orr
entire population and still not be as
crowded as certain countries of the old
world. Think of monopoly preventing
any more than certain amount of coal
to be mined each year, and of controlling
the supply of the necessities of life. A
new morality must be taught. which
will make men see that the strife to &C
cumulate mere wealth is too low and
vulgar to be life'S aim.