The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-02-17
POVERTY ANDLUXURY
Six Thousand in Need of Food and
Fuel in Chicago.
While Ball is to be Given in New York That
Will Cost Quarter of Million.
(Philade lphia American.)

1t is not cheerful tale that comes
to US in the wake OF the cold wave
that is sweeping over the country.
Under the most favorable conditions,
an intensifying of the rigors of winter
must ever bring discomfort to great
numbers of our people, though posi-
tive suffering may be confined to
those whose duty it is to perform out
door work. But when the rigOrS Of
hearthstone and empty cupboard,
existence becomes insufferable, and
the life spark flickers in the comfort
less body that, chilled by cold and
weakened by hunger, struggles feebly
and hopelessly to feed it. And it is
this story that is borne to us on the
wings of the cold wave. In how many
comfortless bodies and hopeless souls.
bodies made comfortless by starva-
tion aud cold. souls made hopeless by
weary and unrequitted search for
work,-the life-spark tlickers; in how
many it has been extinguished, we
will never know. But that cold
hearthstone and empty cupboard are
driving hundreds, aye thousands, to
an untimely end. is the story that
comes on every wind.
In Chicago alone, $1,000 people are
said to be in need OF provisions or
fuel, Of whom $4,000 are actually on
the verge of starvation. These are
the estimates, not of sensational
newS-mOngers,b but Of the city authori-
ties. They bear the official seal; they
are given as the basis Of an urgent ap-
peal of Mayor Swift for assistance.
However much one may have heard
or seen of the suffering among the un-
employed Of Chicago, one cannot help
but be startled, appalled,, at d proc
lamation setting forth the suffering
and the need or help, even though
such proclamation is Dut the putting
of the official stamp on what one has
known to be the fact Mayor Swift's
appeal will go straight to many
hearts. but alas. how many there are
who would willingly unite the purse
strings, but who have nothing in their
purses to give.
Those who would, if they could, be
willing givers and those in need have
suffered the same blight. There is
starvation in the cities, not because
the farmers crop have failed. Sutti-
cient food has been raised for all, but
there is some inSurmOuntable OBJ
stacle of manufacture which he badly
needs. and which the idle factory hand
would gladly be engaged i'll making
for him in return for the food the
farmer has to sell. Yet something
stands in the way Of exchange that
would be SO advantageous to both
Something stands in the way of get
ting buyers for farm products though
thousands. 5000 people in Chicago
alone, are on the verge of starvation
mething stands in the way Of the
farmer buying manufactured goods.
And that something is impoyerish-
ment, and that mpoverishment is di-
rectly attributable to low prices. AS
anomalous as it may seem, prices are
SO low that men cannot buy, They
cannot buy because the prices they
get for the products Of their own la
Dor are so low that, from the sale Of
their products, they can barely raise
enough money to pay their urgent
debts.
There is deep but simple reason
for the ever-acCumulating poverty
and constantly growing demand on
the charitable organizations in cur
great cities for help. That reason is
that the owners Of debts are getting
an ever-increasing share Of the pro-
ducts OF labor, which Of necessity
leaves a smaller share TO the pro-
ducers Of wealth. AS a consequence
there is an overwhelming breach
brewing between the owners Of debts
and property. The former are being
exalted and enriched, while the latter
are being ground down to poverty.
And when we keep in mind that
prices are steadily falling, and that
their debts by the sale of their prop
erty, the reason for this is clear
enough. The lower prices 60 the more
property must producers part with to
pay their de BITS, and the more prop
erty it takes to pay their debts, or
the interest on their debts, the less
property will they have for their own
maintenance.
The employer of labor, whether
farmer or manufacturer, must divide
that which is produced and he sells
into three parts. First, he must put
aside part for the money-lender and
landlord; second, he must put aside a
part for the payment of those he en-
plOycs, and third, he must keep a part
for himself as recOmpense for his ex-
penditure of labor and energy in or.
ganizing production. In other words,
the money he gets from the sale of
his goods, the joint product of his
energy and the labor Of those he en-
p!oys, falls naturally into three parts,
interest and rent. wages and profits.
Now, 1t is perfectly, clear, that if we
increase one OF these parts the other
two must be decreased. Therefore, if
we increase the share Of the money
lender we must decrease the share of
the wage-carner and employer, And
falling prices must increase the share
Of the money-lender, for his share is
paid in fixed number of dollar, and
the more produce the producer must
sell to Ouy the necessary number of
dollars to satisfy the claims of the
money lender, the more produce, in
reality, will the money-lender receive,
and the less produce will be left to the
producer to be divided as wages and
profits. Consequently, as prices fall,
wages and profits fall, and as wages
and profits fall, poverty grows unon