Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-03

getClng more clVll1ZeQ ana more CnrlSt1an.
Let us realize that, poverty is simply on,
of the signs OF social imperfection. These
poor people are the victims of our ignor-
ance Of political economy. They are pay
| ing the penalty Of our universal industrial
mistakes. The great industrial machine is
out Of gear. 1t is giving some people great
fortunes and wide acres and other people
starvation wages and the narrow corners oil
tenement houses. Evidently it is out Of
order. We make a great blunder if we
think that the poor are in general to blame
| for their poverty. We are all to blame
for it. 1t is the fault of the
century. Accordingly, the helping of the
deserving poor is deeper and more diff
cult matter than is sometimes thought. 1t
means, indeed, the dispensing Of orders for
| groceries and coal; it means that Christian
people ought to provide out of their abund-
ance for the immediate necessities of their
poorer neighbors,. and not wait to be asked,
but rather to be on the watch for ways of
giving to those who do not ask, and will not
ask. But it means more than this.
They Need Opportunity and Sympathy.
Not by doles of clothes and money will
the poor be permanently helped. Often
that sort of charity is but hindrance; it is
a menace to self respect, and endangers in
dependence. What the poor are really in
need of is opportunity and sympathy. They
want chance, and they want friend.
One way to help the poor is to get clean
streets in front of their houses The street
is the poor mans lawn. That is where his
children play. The happiness and the
health of the poor depend greatly upon the
condition of the pavement. The streets of
Pittsburg are an amazement to every visitor.
They ought to be kept clean everywhere,
but in the districts of poverty, first and fore
most. There would be fewer people in the
reform school, and the workhouse, and the
Jail, if there was less dirt in the streets.
Another way to help the poor is to secure
an enforcement of sanitary laws, especially
to see that the tenement houses are fit for
human beings to inhabit. "A man who owns
tenement has clear path to his duty to
the poor God knows how much of the
daily earnings of the poor he takes for the
privilege of living in his house. God knows
what kind of family life, or desecration of
family life, the landlord is responsible for
by the conditions of his building. And God
knows, if we do not, that the man who owns
an over-crowded or unclean tenement, and
out of the money which comes to him from
the misery and sin of his poor brothers and
sisters makes pious contribution to the
church, mocks God.
Land, Rent and Sanitation.
Some people seem to think that God is
blind, that He can see only in the dim light
of consecrated buildings, and that He knows
how people conduct themselves in
church. and does not know how
they conduct themselves anywhere
else. Some people seem to think that the
only houses that God looks at are the
houses that have steeples But God looks
closest at the houses Of the poor. And the
question of sanitation and the question of
rent and the question of land are questions
of immense interest to the Lord God Al
mighty.
The rich are debtors to the poor, because
the rich and poor are brothers, and every
brother owes his brother something There
is one debt, ST. Paul SAYS, that can never be
paid. 1t is perpetually outstanding. In
stallment after installment touches only the
interest, the principle remains. That is
the debt of fraternal love. The rich ought
to use some of their money in paying the
interest of this debt. They do use great
deal of money for that purpose, but, as it
appears to me, not always with ideal wis
dom. For the poor, the deserving poor of
They ask only for opportunity and fraternal
consideration. And to that they have
right.
Tenements Versus Libraries.
1t is, Of course, an easy matter to advise
people how to spend their money. The
chances are that the people who have the
money know their own business best. But
it does seem to me that if the rich desire to
really help the poor there are other ways of
getting that desire accomplished besides IL
braries and hospitals. For these splendid
charities let there, indeed, be proportionate
gratitude. But equal thanks and praise
belong, I think, to the equally beneicent
philanthropist who builds block of decent
tenements Men are responsible in the
sight of God for the investment of their
money. The man who puts his money into
a business that is of no advantage to his fell
low men, or who locks it up in stocks and
bonds, will have an account to give; has,
indeed, an account to give to-day for the
use of the opportunity that God has given
him.
It is not alone the rich man who owns a
tenement upon whom falls the responsibility
for the family lite of the poor, but the rich
man who ought to own tenement comes in
for share of it. That is one of the uses of
money which brings in good return for the
in vestment, both in the banks of Pittsburg
and in the bank of heaven.
Discouraging the Saloon.
Another way to help the poor is to dis
courage the saloon. The saloon stands in the
of poverty as fortress of the
devil 1t is drink that tenlpts men to make |
unclean animals of themselves, to add misery
to the poverty of their wretched homes and |
add heart-ache to the hunger of their wives |
and children. 1t would seem incredible that |
q sane man, with q starving family, should |
take bread out of the hands of his little |
children in order that he may eat and drink |