The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-07-10

m1IuOnS mourn" In the midst Of all
the splendid achievements of philos-
ophy and science and art, under the
caves of temples reared to the glory of
him who taught us to love all men as
we love ourselves, surrounded by all
the visibilities of a civilization that we
call Christian, there are wrongs wicked
and cruel.
We are confronted to day with what
is called 1.-The Army of the Unem
ployed." More than a half million of
men and women, dependent upon their
daily labor for food, clothing and shell
ter, are without work. Something less
than hundred thousand of these are
tramping over the country in every
direction
LOOKING FOR EMPLOYMENT,
and begging bread. Without paueing
to consider who is responsible for the
condition of these unfortunate beings,
let us look at the treatment which they
receive from American society, as rep
resented by the State. In the face of
all the facts, as they have appeared in
the public press, am prepared to say
that the conduct of society towards
these thousands of homeless, penniless,
wretched people, is not only un Chris
tlan and un brotherly, but inhuman.
1t will not be denied that at least nine
tenths of this vast army of the unem
ployed are accustomed to work, and to
provide for themselves and those de
pendent upon them, and that there is
nothing they covet so much as honest
and remunerative employment. Many
of them have as much self respect and
virtuous pride as any of us. Their
idleness is unsought, and they deplore
it with bitterness of soul that no hu
man speech can express. Their beg
ging is a dire necessity. Without it
would come all the pangs and horrors
of starvation.
Such people deserve our respect.
They have right to our profoundest
sympathy. The requirements Of Chris
tianity, and the common instincts of
humanity, demand that we commiser-
ate their condition, and help them ac-
cording to the measure of our ability.
To despise them or ignore them-tc
brand them as tramps and vagabonds
or to let them pass unhelp ped and un-
pitied, is to prove ourselves thousand
times more degraded than they, and to
invite the scorn and reprobation of
every virtuous being in Gods universe.
The doctrine of American society is
that every idle man without visible
means of subsistence is a pariah, a
loafer, a liar, a reprobate, and there
fore unworthy of human respect or sym
pathy. Even if it were true that every
idler and beggar is reprobate, while
I believe in the fatherhood of God and
THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN,
1 dare not divorce him from my SYM
pathy and respect. If Jesus Christ
pitied and blessed publicans and har-
lots, what are you and that we should
despise a penniless and sore footed
tramp begging for bread9 We cannot
despise him without despising the spirit
and teaching of the Gospel, and defy
ing the authority power and wrath of
that Divine Being, who so identified
himself with humanity that to wrong
any human being is to wrong him.
We should have no sympathy with
voluntary idleness. 1t is despisable in
the last degree. To encourage it is a
crime. But let us distinguish between
the idler and his idleness. Let the
degradation into which he has fallen
excite our sympathy, and move us to
adopt some method of treatment that
will quicken his dormant faculties,
bring back self respect and place him
in a condition to recover his lost man
hood. Nothing less than this will meet
the requirements of religion and
humanity.
The distinguished journalist, Viii
liam T. Stead, in a recent book entitled
"If Christ Came to Chicago" presents
an array Of facts which shows the in
justice and cruelty of the verdict OF
American society against "the army
of the unemployed" He tells us that
during last winter, it was not uncom
mon to find after night-fal at least two
thousand of these helpless people
crowded into the corridors and on the
stairways of the City Hall building in
Chicago. 1.-The air was nipping keen,
and when the sleeping room was filed,
men preferred to stand in the warm,
close, fetid atmosphere of the crowded
building rather than shiver in the frost