St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-18

no good reason why women should not
do any work for which they are physi-
cally and mentally qualified.
"You say women do the same work
for smaller wages than men. Well, they
would be willing to take higher wages,
if they could get it. But. as a matter
of fact, women can live much better and
dress much better than men on the
same amount of money. They do not
smoke. They do not bet or gamble,
and.as rule, they lead more healthful
lives.
Another great cause of poverty is
the imprudence of the people. In the
day of their prosperity they pay no
heed to tine morrow. They spend as
fast as they make. 1t matters not
whether it is $1,000 or $4,000 a year,
they are always behind hand, or they
live up to the last penny. Such
people are snfully selfish and
self-indulgent, for the habit and
the self-denial, essential to save, are in
themselves an excellent education.
This large. improvident class drinks its
wine or beer, and smokes its pipe or
cigars. but it has never a penny for the
savings bank or for life insurance. No
matter.who the man, he has some one de-
pendent on him, and If he is not laying
by his money in a savings bank he should
carry life insurance policy common
surate with his means. This should be
imperative with the man who has a
family. 1t is criminal, In the event of
his death, TO leave his wife and children
penniless paupers. Ii men could be
taught TO make such provision for
their families, there would be less pow
erty and its attendant vices in our midst
today.
"Then this growing gambling spirit
is responsible for much of the poverty
and suffering. The speculative i'm
pulse is in the air. Men want to get
something for nothing. They yearn 10
leap into wealth at bound, and
to accomplish their purpose they
are not Over-particular as to the
means employed. Cards, horse-rac-
ing, dice, policy and kindred
deviltrles count their victims by the
thousands. Once let a man get it into
his head that money is to be made by
betting ON cards, horses OR the rise and
fall of stocks, and he is forever untitled
for honorable productive work. To
secure money for his purpose the gro
Gerry clerk Iobs his employers till, the
teller robS his bank and the bookkeeper
falSities his accounts.
again, there is a class Of people
who seem destined to failure and pow
erty. Often these are bright. intelll-
gent men, full of plans that must ill.,
evitably lead TO fame and fortune, but
they never do. Meanwhile, some slow,
careful, trustworthy fellow, without a
CLEAN of imagination, or spark of
genius. and aided only by his own fixed
purpose. and it may be secondhand
| plan of the most primitive construction,
| achieves solid success. These people
are always in the wrong place at the
wrong time. If one of them buys goods for
| rise, it is a signal for the latter to fall
far under prices at once. If he sells in
despair, the article in which he is no
longer interested rises out of sight in
volume, These men are wanting in
| Judgment, and the courts should ap-
| point guardians to watch over them, as
it does i'll the case of orphaned minors.
They are always investing in FL Dora
dos, OH the representation of some one
keener and more INSCRIPTIONS than
themselves. and they are invariably
disappointed. Il
| IF they are not in the rosy clouds of
expectancy with mine, they are in the
seventh heaven of hope with all inven
ton that is going to reyolutionize the
world, and, incidentally, to make the
Rothschllds paupers in comparison with
| themselves. A blind and more than
child-like credulity is one of the most
| potent characteristics of these ever
increasing failures. They are honest
themselves, and SO imagine that rogues
are only to be found in fiction. They
live in world that is entirely imagin.
| airy, and when they die their families 20
to swell tine great army of the helpless
and impoverished.
ITO the classes I have enumerated
may be added the many who are ham
| pered by environment. or chained down
by sickness, or incapacitated for the
life battle by physical affiictlon. Pow
erty has been the problem Of the
ages, and 1t was never more sc
than now. But it is my firm
belief that in the past, now.
and in the future, no healthy. sober
man, who is willing to work, need suffer
or have his family suffer for the neces
sites of life. l do not speak profess
sionally when say religion pays sim.
ply as material investment, and the
Bible is worth all the other books or
political economy"
ALFRED R. CALHOUN.
|