The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-05-13

Deer Will OIu6T ROONl ltlAOWSg DuJ D6
will not work steadily, for fear he may
glory in his riches.
This fellow is common enough, and he
is a curse to his family, a curse to the
community, and curse to himself. He
goes to the poOr-hOuse while his children
are thrown on the charity of the world.
He denounces everybody and every
thing, but never rises to the plane of self
denying industry. The hardest of hard
hearted men is "good fellow" down on
his luck.
The orator was just as far wrong in his
analysis of wealth. Shrewdness is nee
essary; that is the power to measure men
and to forecast events. But shrewdness
must be joined to industry and to self
control, and men who are industrious
and not tseIf-indulgent rarely come to the
! poor-house.
Poverty is a great curse. Formerly it
was a twO-fold curse; the poverty of the
individual and the poverty of society.
We have only to read the history Of the
centuries before this to realize how poor
mankind really was. George the Third
did not have the comforts of life which
are to-day within the reach of half of the
| subjects of Victoria. The masses of the
people of England who will work are
better sheltered, better clothed, better
fed, than the privileged classes were
when America was discovered. Aside
from this they have as an inheritance
| better order, greater cleanliness and
health; they have pleasure-groundsa and
art-galleries, and thousand other things
| better than wealth could purchase 400
| years ago.
Organization, industry, law and or
| der, peace at times, invention and dis
covery have measurably mitigated the
| poverty of society.
But the poverty of the individual of
| "the submerged ten" remains. How is
| it to be relieved?
Certainly not by la wlessness, anarchy,
the destruction of property, war, or
any destructive or disturbing force, not
by idleness, not by indulgence, not by
sins against health or heredity.
we will not abolish poverty by de-
stroying wealth. We have not too
many rich men, but too few, for all
should be rich; not too much, but too
little of the good things of life.
| Poverty is sometimes due to accident
or ill fortune; sometimes to ill health or
| ignorance; often it is an Inheritance of
| the children because of the sins of the
fathers. Drink entails poverty, i'll
health, and a thousand other woes on
the descendants of drunkards. Per-
sonal poverty, poverty in its abject
| form, is more often due to personal
than to social shortcomings.
81, 70.
for here or hereafter. Greed, hardness
of heart, cruelty, thirst OF power; all
these bring their retribution as surely
as drink or other indulgence. Ill-iudged
philanthrophy, destroying the self-re-
Iiance and the self-respect of it's bene-
ficiaries, is a curse to society as GER
tainIy as slavery. Pride, greed, array
| forces against the rich W hich work for
| thei r destruction.
But industry and frugality and intel
ligence and justice are the influences
| which work together for the deliver
anoe of society and of every individual
| in society from the curse of poverty.
| Waste aud war postpone the coming of
| better times. Social disturbances and
| legal restrictions on international COM
merce, in so far as they destroy, delay
the coming of the better day. The
henest, upright, industrious day labor
| er; the Intelligent, far-slghted, ind us
trlOus philanthropist, each in his way,
and both together, are working for the
| amelioratIOn of the condition of man
and society. These two live again
''In minds made better by ther presence;
live
| In pulses stir ed to generosity"