St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-13
JUSTICE. NOT CHARITY

rom cFci SNHtIe cOip statements Oh
the numbers of the unemployed The
mayor OF Chicago says that there are
100000 in his city. and, with the true in
stlnct of the state socialist, this pater-
nallstic Democrat declares that unless
the government does something to give
these idle men work there will be riots
and plumber and bloodshed.
Everywhere this condition prevails to
agreater or less extent. Thousands of
men, willing to work. anxious to do so,
are idle because they have no capital
but their hands and no man will give
them work. The coming winter, with
ltSdemandS for fuel and warmer cloth
ing and its closing of many avenues of
industry. fills these people with appre-
hension, and those more fortunately
placed with sympathy and pity.
Already the suggestion appears that
the nation, the state and the munich
paiities should begin extensive public
works in order TO give to these people
the work that private enterprise re-
fuses. This thought comes naturally to
the paternalist, who turns to his govern
ment for all relief as naturally as
child runs to its mothers arms 1t is
the thought that the government should
support the people. not the people the
government.
The proposition is taking one. 1t
has the appearance of preserving the
independence of the helped without
putting on them the humiliation of a
charity. Andyet constructing unneed-
ed public works in order to provide en-
ployment is but an enforced charity.
and the effect on the recipients is just
as energating as If they went to the
public soup house for their food.
1t is not charity these people should
have. but justice. The unemployed
today in this country are the helpless
victims of too much governing; too
much of that notion that the govern
inent should take care of everybody.
Inevitably. this results in the govern
ment taking care only of those who are
sharp and shrewd and INSCRIPTIONS
enough to insure that the care-taking of
the government goes no farther than
themselves. The unemployed are so
because this federal government of ours
has been minding the business of its
people for thirty years more than it has
its own: because it has been doing for
that time, in way, just what it is pro-
posed now it shall do as remedy for
the evil it has caused.
The silent shops and mills. with the
enforced and unwilling idleness of their
employees, are the result Of Republican
policies of government. We are reap
ing what it has soWn. 1t undertook TO
take care of those of the people engaged
In some lines of manufacture. 1t
fenced out competition to make them
more profitable. 1t succeeded in so
developing" these industries that their
capacity for production outran the
capacity of the people for consumption
This resulted IN combinations to restrict
output, decreasing the numbers en-
ployed. On the other hand, it pro-
claimed It's purpose to maintain higher
level of wages in this country. 1t adj
vertised the fact to the world that this
was the wage earners paradise, where
the government made high wages.
This lure to the laborers of foreign
countries was supplemented by state
Immigration bureaus, and the result was
tide OF immigration which for twenty
five years has poured half a million
working people on our shores annually.
| On the other hand, it pursued Its
vicious policy by endeaYoring to take
care of another class of people who
were producing metal which the world
had used for money. Under the effect
OF causes in part natural, in part arti-
fclal. this metal fell in value. This pa
teInal government undertook to main
tain its value. 1t only resulted in i'm
pairing the confidence of men in the
permanency of the values of its money.
Joining with this was the expansion of
credit and consequent extravaganza in
| duced by this paternalism of the gov
eminent, reaching its limits and burst
! ing like any other bubble.
The chaos, inevitable when men set
| themselves up as wiser than their Gre.
ator, is come, and one result is this army
OF the unemployed. The remedy is not
a longer stride in the same direction,
but long step in the opposite course :;
| away from paternalism; not a deeper
plunge into it. Give these people and
all of us justice. Take off the hand that
fosters only to curse and blight. Give
every man free and equal chance with
| every other man for his livelihood. Stop
helping and stop hindering. Teach men
again that they must depend on them
selves. Give them unhampered freedom
with its responsibility. AS stout old
JOHN WESLEY said a hundred years
ago: Clear away. and then let things
! alone.