Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-06-24
THE SOCIAL MALADY.
Ingalls, on tho Unequal Distribution
Of Wealth.
Tho Poverty of the Poor Not Due to the
Wealth of the Rich. Nor Ii the
Laborer Robbed by the En-
pioyment of Capital.
From the 81. Louis Globe. Democrat

IFrOm the 81. LOUIS NrlOUc'
There is no form of power so tangible,
so substantial and palpablc, so positive
and SO readily apprehcnded ms that
which accompanies and results from
the possession of money. The desire
for money is the most constant and
universal passion among men; not al
ways-seldom. perhaps-for its own
sake, but for its consequences, its Ell
fects, what it commands and what 1t
brings. Millions care nothing for liter
airy fame, for the rewards of ambition,
for military glory, but everybody wants
money. Manhood disregards the joys
of youth and age sinks into apathy that
is Indifferent alike to the pleasures OF
love and the Civilizations of success, but
the need of money survives the decay
of the faculties and ends only with life.
Money intelligently employed means
cultivated leisure, books, travel, music
congenial companionship. art, agree
able occupation. the delight OF the
senses, the best food and apparel, the
comfort and happiness OF those beloved.
the felicity of bcnevolence and charity,
the relief of suffering. the power of do
ing good. skilled nurture in illness, con-
ISOLATION in bereavement and superiority
to the minor accidents of existence.
''Old age and poverty" says Shaks-
peare. ''are an ill-matched pair. and
at any stage nothing is so melancholy.
SO wretched and depressing. rs hope
less and helpless poverty. The man
whose daily bread for himself and his
family depends upon wages that an
employer may give or withhold mt
pleasure, is not free. The alternative
between starvation and submission to
schedule is slavery. Liberty is some
thing more than name. He who de-
ponds upon the will of another for
shelter. clothing and food cannot be Il
free man in the broad, full meaning OF
that word. Freedom does not consist
in definitions. The declaration that
life. liberty and the pursuit OF happi-
ness are the inalienable rights Of every
human being makes no man independ-
ent. The right to liberty is an empty
mockerv and delusion, unless the power
to be free exists also. Freedom is not
merely the removal of legal re-
straints. the permission to come
or 90. Added to these must be
the capacity ana the opportunity
which only exemption from the
necessity OF incessant daily labor can
bring. To paraphrase Shakespeare.
poverty and liberty are an ill-matched
pair Freedom and dependence are in
compatible. The abolition of poverty
has been the dream of Missionaries and
the hope of philanthropists from the
dawn of time. The inequality of for
tunes and the obvious injustice OF the
UNEQUAL distribution of wealth among
men have been the perplexity of philos'
onbers. It is the unsolved enigma OF
political economy. Civilization has nc
paradox so mysterious as the existence
.,of hunger when there is an excess OF
food-of want in the midst of superflu'
ity. That one man should have posses
,sions beyond the capacity of eXtrav-
arance to squander and another, able
and willing to work, should perish fol-
want of embers, rags and u crust. rem
.ders society unintelligiblc. 1t makes
the charter of human rights logo
priph. So long as such conditions con-
tinue, the key to the cipher in which
.destiny.is written is not revealed-the
brotherhood of man is phrase, justice
Is n formula and the divine code il
illcgible.
The evaporation of the poor Mt the
insolent ostentation of the rich has
.overthrown empires. The relief of the
needy has been the object of statutes
human and divine. The complaints o!
the wretched are the burden of history
lob was a millionaire. Whether thai
uncomfortable production bearing hi'
name is parable or biography, it il
of profound interest, because it shows
that the patriarch was occupied will
the same questions that disturb III
now. He describes, like populist
those who take the ass of the orphan
and the OK of the widow, remove thu
landmarks, reap the fields and gathel
the vintage of the poor, whom they de
priye of their garments and leave naked
to the showers of the mountain ant
tbe shelter of the rocks. The He
brew prophets reserved some of theil
choicest maledictions for the extortion'
and luxury of the rich, and Moses pre-
.scribed regulations for the remission O
debts. the redistribution of lands ant
the restriction of private fortunes. In
Rome. for centuries, the ownership o
real estate was limited to about SOI
sacres to each citizen, and the number
,of cattle and slaves restricted to the
area cultivated. But the laws given by
the Almighty, through Moses, to the
Jews were as imperative IS the code:
of Lycurgus and Licinius against the
indomitable energies of man and the
-..in nnrditions of his being Al