The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-01-16
A JAYHAWR.


says II the new Governor of Kansas lie
correctly reported, the man Is dema-
gogue- and an ignorant demsgOgue
at that Here is one of his senten-
oes "a we find 1t in the report: eff
the poor have no right to the property
of the rich, let it also be declared that
the rich have no right to the prop
erty Of the poor" This is as il he had
said "If the poor may not steal the
property of the rich, the rich may
not steal from the poor" 1t is the
expression of an iguoramus, has no
meaning unless it be that marauding
is permissible when prosecuted by rich
and poor alike. The intention, how
ever, is to teach that the man who
saves and accumulates necessarily
takes from what the poor would have
had IL he had been thriftless and
shambling. Which is not true In one
instance in q thousand.
To prove that it is not true, and
that it never has been true, it 10 mere.
ly necessary to go into a pioneer settle
ment and watch the evolution Ofa
community. AS fact all do not
start even, but we must assume that
in such settlement, say of fifty heads
Of family, all start even. They have
taken up the land at the government
price and have paid for it. They club
together and put up fifty log houses
They plough and SOW, and reap and
NOW. They are good neighbOrs. The
soil is kind and the crops exactly
alike, except in cases where some
have trusted in Providence rather
than in the rake and hoe. Some
fields will abound in weeds, and their
owners cannot expect and do not get
as bountiful crops as the man who
kept the weeds down. Other Unequal
tiles begin to reveal themselves from
time to time. There may be ten or
there may be twenty of the fifty who
do not get along. AS the years pass
the greater number become fore
handed, that is, they have improved
their farm, procured machinery, built
themselves more comfortable houses,
and have some money in reserve.
What happens? Well, everybody
who has reached middle age end has
kept his eyes open knows exactly
what happens. The men who lag be-
hind begin to compare their condi-
tion with that Of their thriftier neigh
bOrs. The comparison is not wholly
pleasing, and a feeling of wrong suf-
fered begins and grows in the bosOms
Of the first generation. This feeling
becomes intensified in the second gen.
Grafton, and yet more intensified in
the third, And so on. Yet it is
quite possible that not one of the
thriftier has not anything that be-
longs to the shiftless, or anything that
the latter could not have had if they
had fsrmed well and been industrious.
Perhaps some of the thrifty lent
money to the others, taking security for
the loan. Then the war breaks out,
the mortgagOr being regarded as a man
who has been robbed and ill.treated
and the mOrtager rsvening wolf.
Now money-lending is like any
thing else, liable to abuse, and money
lenders are as other people, liable to
call for their own. But the man who
borrows is only different to the man
who lends in that he generally makes
the first mistake. For borrowing, ex-
cept in emergencies beyond human
control, is a mistake In vast major
ity of cases. Men who have money
do not take men by the throat and
force them to borrow. The majority
Of borrowers are such of their own
free will Do they intend to repay, or
do they not? If not, they are dis.
honest. If they intend to repay they
cannot complain when payday ar
TiVes. 1t is only when by misfortune
they cannot pay promptly, and the
lender refuses a new accommodation,
and presses hard and heartlessly, that
the borrower has a right to complain.
He was free to borrow or not to borrow
and choose to borrow. That is the
story Of large part of the debtor class,