Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-07-06
LIFE STILL WORTH LIVING.

IT is curious Times are certainly hard.
Few men are making money. Thousands
of would-be willing-workers are out OF
employment. Wages are low In every
city there are great numbers of unoccu-
pied dwelling-house many idle factories
much distress. But the excursion season
seems to have opened auspiciously. and
ON Yesterday and the day before millions
Of people had outings. Towns people
swarmed into the country. and country
people swarmed into the towns.
Moreover. the sales Of bicycles continue
wonderfully large and, judging by what
we see I'm Richmond. street-car lines never
were so literally patronzed as now. All
of these things cost money! great deal
of 1t, too. Where does it all come from?
Are the times really as hard as they are
said to be?
An answer TO this question is not easy
AT least. we-have not found it so. The
best solution of the problem we can sug-
gest is that the people have come to con-
slider occasional outings and regular
street-car rides as necessaries Of life.
Time was when man who lived at
the West End of Clay street. or on Oregon
HILL and worked at the Chesapeake and
Ohio railway shops. for instance, footed"
the whole distance morning and night
and never thought of murmuring II is
different now. Cheap street-railway fares
have enticed even the most rigid econo-
mists to abandon pedestrianism for
seat in the speedy and comfortable trolley
car. We suppose indulgence in this lux
ury-so people would have thought it not
so very many years ago-necessitates the
practice of economy i'm other directions.
II may be that what is saved in the low
prices of many articles of household re-
cessity is spent in this way.
Hard as the times are-and with many
we know they really are very, very hard
the people of this generation have com
forts and conveniences that preceding
md possibly more prosperous generations
did not know. To begin with, we have
more comfortable homes. Dwelling
houses are Constructed with more oonve-
niences. Think of the gas, water, baths,
ranges, &C., that were by no means COM
mon thirty or forty years ago.
Now. schooling is free. Then. here In
tho South. public schools were not numer-
ous. not very popular. When the Vir-
c,nia taxpayer feels inclined to kick
about the size of his tax bill, and COM
mares these times with the so-called hal
cvon DAYS of the republic let him consider
that then the average head of family
formerly not only paid his taxes. but paid
for ,he schooling of his children! Now
,ya have not only free common schools
and high schools. but colleges ana 'ni-
versities that are very nearly free for
Virginia students.
The State Of Virginia appropriates out
of the public Treasury every year Tor
co,,eeiate institutions about $4,000 in
c,uding the "excess OF interest upon
college bonds. The total amount OF tax
nayers' money expended in Virginia for
educational purposes by the State and
The counties. cities. and districts is about
100000 per annuml
This is a great sum of money TO raise
and pay out every year. but II Is
GOOD investment Yet the average tax
MAYER gives no thought TO It when he
bewails our high rate of taxation"
Doubtless much Lpbuc money is useless
ly or extravagantly expended, but when
one asks "Where does ii all goy' let
him be answered that. as for one item.
So 600 per annum goes to educate the
children OF this Commonwealth.
SO let us enumerate among the bless
fngs of this day more comfortable
homes. free education, and cheap con-
veniences for getting about. Further,
the people are better dressed than for
merly. There are not many folk who
would be willing now to wear the home
spun clothes and cow-skn boots that
were good enough for our fathers. And
in those days gentleman did not change
his silk hat--beg pardon. beayer--every
season or two; but when he had got one
ne wore IT proudly for Ave or ten years.
And then we have more rest and leisure
now than was formerly accorded TO
workingmen. Many men now living
served their apprenticeship at time
when a days work was from sur TO
sum-" ard holidays were few in number
OH veg times have jfnDr0veJ. huf