The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-11-21

Cannot a man live comfortably and enjoy some
luxuries on the compensation? 1 maintain
that he can and therefore has no cause to COM
plain. One reason that the labOring man is
discontinued is this: He sees the rich man
dressed in the height of fashion. and living in a
mansion, hears of him going abroad TO spend
his vacation, and so wishes to do likewise; in
fact, wants to sit In the same game clean
through. and when he finds that the ante is too
high for him to come in he will get angry, go and
get drunk on five cent whiskey thus spending the
little he has, then while waiting for payday
finds lot of satisfaction in berating his en-
ployer and capital in general, simply because he
has not sufficient common sense to know that
he cannot play the same game as they do.
Foolish mani why cannot he find pleasure in a
humble cottage comfortably furnished without
the rich mans glitter and tinsel. He can be
just as happy if he only tries to make the most
of his lot. He should bear in mind that all
great fortunes had small beginning and that
the pOssessOrs of the same labOred life time
for them. If you or I have not a fortune it is
probably because we are not smart enough to
make one. and if chance should place one in our
hands, of what benefit would it be, if incapable
of competing with mOneyed men would we be
able to retain it? In nine cases out of ten
the man who claims to be ground down by
capital is simply turning his own grindstone.
Mackay went West to try his luck mining; he
was a poor man. but instead of finding fault
with the conditions confronting him, accepted
them and kept his eyes open and thus saw
opportunities that others had failed to notice.
Now he is a millionaire. Thomas Edison, while
working for that great octopus (sO-called) the
railroad. did not spend his time growing but
kept looking for something and found it too.
Are you not convinced of your folly when you
could not see a thing as bright as the one he
found? He is another millionaire. Jim Hill
can be cited as another example, and now. my
friend and fellow labOrer. go to work. keep
steadily at it, and thank God for the little you
have; your condition is far bet er than you would
have us believe. You have decidedly better
| opportunities than your father had, do not
grumble because you cannot begin where he
left off, but must commence at the bottom; the
ascent is much easier now than then. There
have been and always will be men upon whom
| fortune seems to SMILE This TRADE against
capital will never put cent in your pocket.
There is only one class of people who profit by
this enmity between capital and labor-the
politicians-and their profit is your loss. All
| the talk about high tariff or low tariff cannot
affect you unless you have something beside
talk to protect. Lots of money in the country
and free silver sounds nice. but free silver does
not mean pile from which you can help
yourself No. you must have a commodity to
sell in order to obtain money; there is already
sufficient to pay for all you have and those who
| have it are anxious to purchase. The fact that
you are poor should convince you that you must
expect privatiOns and hardships; therefore let
us go at it with firm determination to conquer
and unless misfortune overtakes us success is
| inevitable.