Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1896-12-26

tunitles--a land which would invite
no immigration, offer hospitality to no
capital, promote no enterprise, and,
as a matter of course, enjoy no develop
ment and reap no harvests from seed
unsown.
In such community all would be
poor.
And yet, a land wherein all were
rich would be but little, if at all, better
off.
For, after all, it Is eqality that de.
stroys equality of condition, however,
and not of opportunity, of privilege,
nor of right, but equality of circum-
stances. Ifeach farmer owned so many
acres of equally fertile and improved
land, there could be no arlstocracy
among farmers based upon possession.
But if one, by superior tact and in
dustry, raises twice as much wheat,
corn. ETC., as another, "blood" will
begin to 'telP' next year and the
insignia CT inequality show in the ones
correspondingly superior personnel OF
family and betterment of estate.
A condition of equal wealth IS, there
fore, impossible, no matter what the
dreamers dream or the sco;nsayers
say W. !f ali were independent,
there would be none to work for any
body. Each would have to get his
own fuel, build his own fire and do his
own cooking. Instead of being all
rich, therefore, humanity would be
back ready for new start in life at
Eden's gate.
In all earnestncss the fashion of
abusing the rich is a stereotyped
wrong. For the most part the rich
are what their opportunities and
talents have made them. If these en-
dowments, however, are theirs unfair
ly, unreasonably, undeservedly, then
our complaint should lie at the feet of
the Almighty.
1t is true that rich people have mis-
used their power. But who, here and
there, has not ? And who does not
now charge for labor and merchandise
all they will bring without reference
to the occasions for charity that beset
in more or less degree all transactions
The miner gets all he can for digging
coal with no thought of the tax he is
levying upon the comfort of the SILVER
ing poor of the cities the merchant
prices his goods in the main without
reference to the purchasing abilities
of his poorer customers, and even the
preacher gets all the salary he can,
most often without saying to anyone
lyon have contributed more than you
are able to spare"
The JOURNAL. therefore, believes it
is the duty of the christian poor to
thank God for the rich, especially the
christian rich.
For the rich can be christians with
out literally obeying the INJUNCTION
"sell oUthou hast" etc. without meet
ing the test of 'perfection."
But whether christian or not, the
rich arc the class whose enterprises
Providence turns into benefactions to
labor, and makes wages the most well
come and enrolling of all the dis
tributions of His bounty.
The injunction is worth repeating
the deserving poor ought to thank
God for the stewardship He has pro-
vided in the rich-the men who give
them most to do and are infallbly
good pay. Many of these have been
and are themselves hard workers, and
though since the reign of the walking
delegate and the incendary paper mas
set III, they seem to get little credit for
sympathy with toilers, it is because
too many men are not strong nor brave
enough to render justice to Caesar.
1t is full time this Christmas day
that christian labor should search its
conscience and see whether it ought
not to probe more deeply and Judge
more nationally the motives, objects
and necessities of those for whom thew
work and through whom comes their
living. If this is done, it will be found
that the business purpose which ami
mates and energies operator and
miner, for instance, is exactly the
same, and that if difficulty besets
one with greater stress than the other,
the miner is most often the more
fortunate of the two.
If, then, Il searching glance Is cast
around it may be seen that while some
men have been born to the purple of
leadership, others, though lodged on Il
bed of roses, will, perforce of both iu-
stinct and habit. kick even in their
sleep. The truth is, such people do not
like to work, and they see in the wage
payer by refraction an image of the
tyrant of necessity. Hence, they are
constitutionally quarrelsome, and it is
Il significant fact in natural history
that auarrelsome people are nearly al
ways lean and poor.
But, christian labor, to you this
Christmas day and forever, "gOdI. ess