The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-06-02

! 1T is the working man and woman who
| have known all the bitter meaning Of
unendiIg toll without due remuneration
and recrea ton, but have left the strength
to reason Justly, who can see the truth
as it is. The man or woman to whom
life goes easily can rarely get q clear
outlook through the mists OF prejudice
which ease is always wearing.
Living wages! From whose pockets,
then, are these to come: They cannot be
drawn from the one source which is de-
! liberately making work scarcer ard
scarcer, and which could ply them with
! out missing the sum except as it checked
diseased ambition. They cannot be
drawn from this source. because there is
but one power which coUl6l ccItrcl this
greatest enc, and that is public opinion,
which is yet to be awakened.
But neither can these higher wages
come from the pockets of the rest of the
world, because it also is so cramped with
the conditions this overgrown power
has created that it groans over the mere
thought of limiting its ideals still fur
ther. And yet this limitation need eonly
temporary and could become its own
cure, as will be seen if one only considers
carefully from what source money, i'll the
! legitimate sense Of the term, is derived.
What Money Is.
Broadly speaking, money is made Is
the interchange CT all the productions
needed to supply every possible ideal of
living.
What, then, is the first necessity in
such an interchange: Naturally, consum-
ers, and plenty Of them. But what is
consumer, if it IS not human being
with plenty of wants and ideals which
have become so necessary to him chat
he would rather work for them than do
without them? There is no lack Of hu-
man beings upon this earth, as we we'll
know. Bnt they are drug in the mar
ket instead of benefit, just because so
many Of them are content, or must ap-
pear to be content, with the mere leav
ings of life.
Naturally, the lower the scale Of liv-
ing the fewer the productions which
will be required and the more slnggish
this interchange, for it is the multitude
Of human needs and Of hands to crafty
them which makes true wealth, and
whatever interferes with this healthful
interchange Of these two factors is the
fundamental cause Of poverty.
Bad Effects of Poor Wages.
Two resrlts follow. then, this habit
of paying wages so snail that it be-
comes impossible TO crafty legitimate
human needs and tastes. The first is
that this poorly paid class fails to keep
up the healthy reaction between supply
and demand, as it easily could if we'll
paid. The second is that wages which
merely keep sou! and body together
eventually kill ones courage. and With
it the desire to supply even one's SIM
plest needs.
In this way we are constantly produc-
ing tramps and parasites, which must
be supported by money paid out in char
tiles instead of paid living wages. But
the careless thinker does not see this, be-
cause he always stops with the state
menS that the poor are poor because
they are shiftless, ignorant, idle.
This statement is often q cruel SIAN
der But even were it. true in every case,
the truth does not end there. The truth
will never be reached until we cease
telling why people are poor and ask in
sistently why they are shiftless, igno-
rant and idle.
Doubtless the money spent in charities
exceeds what would be necessary in
wages to enable this class to take care
of itself, bus the wasteful outlay does
not stop even here From this parasitic
mass at the bottom arises not only a
physical bus moral contaglon, from
which it is impossible to protect the
most carefully guarded homes. Add,
then, the expenses of charities and pc
nal institutions, the sums spent III pro-
tecting our homes from this contagion,
and to this the agony when death or
disgrace proves it to- have been spent IN
vain Does it not seem that it might pay
to have spent this money in the begin
ming in living wages, even though, III
his turn, the laborer spent it foolishly:
One had better be amusing himself with
spending foolishly wages which he had
earned than to become parasite who
refuses to earn at AZ, and in whom all
ambition, and t:ecercy even, has been
killed.
Potent Public Opinion.
Butfo two reasons ii is better to look
upon this as {. struggle for more work
rather than for higher wages. First, it
would lessen iEMen.oly the opposition
cf unthinking public opinion, since nc
one finds fault with wish TO set work.
The only difficulty would then be to
convince that work WAS really scarce.
Second. If a strong public opinion is
created against all methods which de
prive human beings of work, that CT
;+volf U.o,,l1 Set iii train conditions Ton