Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-08-21
THE OUTCRY AGAINST THE
RICH

1t is getting to be a rather popular
custom to denounce the rich simply be-
cause they are rich. Writers of books
and editors of newspapers have long been
engaged in stirring up envy, malice and
uncharitableness against persons who
possess wealth. The fact that a rich
man uses his capital in such way as to
give employment by which hundreds or
thousands Of his fellOw-citizens gain a
comfortable support for their families
and many of them buy homes or put
money in banks, counts as nothing. To
be wealthy is to have a clear title to ha-
tired and abuse. Many of the rich peo-
pie in New York have been held up to
public contempt in newspaper of that
city because they did not respond to the
calls of house-to-hOuse beggars, although
nearly all the families thus arraigned are
known to be liberal subscribers to legiti-
mate agencies for the relief of the poor.
There is no doubt that the violence
and malice that have characterized the
labor disturbances of the last few
months, resulting in numerous murders,
cruel beatings, and wauton destruction
of property, were nursed, stimulated and
intensified by newspaper articles deliber-
ately calculated to make the ignorant
and cgedulous aliens and the lowest
grades of natives hate the owners of
property. The power behind the Debses,
the power that makes the Debes danger
Gus, is this sentiment of hate, of unceas-
ing, promiScuOus hate, kindled, fOstered,
vivified and directed BY that element of
the press which finds q road to riches
through denunciation of the rich.
If the dupes of these malicious leaders
are not too blind and prejuGiced to learn
anything but evil they may get prOtita-
BILE lesson by reading of the daily life of
the widow Of the late w. H. Vanderbilt.
This good woman lives in a modest way
in New York and appropriates nine
tenths of her large income to the relief of
the poor, and, according to reliable ac
counts, "a worthy applicant is always
generously assisted" by her. Last win
ter" the same authority adds, "a thou
sand persons owed the shelter of their
roofs to Mrs. Vanderbilt"
Many wealthy persons are less gener-
GUS than Mrs. Vanderbilt, but there are
few great estates in this country that are
managed in ways that do not help the
poor. In no other country are there so
many generous rich men as in the United
States. All tho countries of Europe
combined do not show so great number
of wealthy philanthrspists as this Coun-
try possesses. Men and women who are
abused every day for being rich are
making thousands of homes happy by
their thoughtful generosity. And it is
not unlikely that there would be an in
creased outflow of benevolence if there
were less abuse, for a ceaseless torrent
of denunciation is discouraging.
SO long as the world endures, unless
society disappears in the abyss of COM
munism, there will be rich and poor. 1t
will always be possible for demagogues
to subsist by nursing the envy of the lat
ter against the former until advancing
education clears away such prejudice as
rests on ignorance. But it ought to be
possible for all the men and women
in the land to draw comparison be-
tween Mrs. Vanderbilt and Mr.. Debs and
determine which Of the two is the more
helpful friend of the poor.-Washington
Post.