The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-06-14

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man is arrayed against man and the
c~apitalistic battle in the form Of strikes
and lockouts is too often fought to an
unnatural end.
No wonder that poets like Lanier
cry out in very bitterness of soul: 1.-The
age needs heart; it's tired of head
The absence of social laws which
place employer and employee before
the bar as man and man and which
tend to secure justice and harmony
between the two is a rebuke to the
treeness, the virility and the boasted
achievements of our people. But in
many quarters hands are held up in
holy horror at the thought of limiting
the demands of an employer upon his
employees, while, in truth, il we weigh
well u present system we find that
our social as well as our industrial Dr.
~ganization is tso much directed to the
up building of those who already have
and too little considerate of those who
are striving to get even a living. Us
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ualist to amass his millions as though
shaking his superhux to charity made
atonement for the oftentimes iron
heartedness of his acquisition" He
with a psuedo generous hand endoWs
magnificent institutions, but the pow
erty and distress in the wake Of his
glorious career are forever shut out
from the philanthropy of his great.
heartedness.
WASTE A CAUSE OF POVERTY.
A second cause of poverty is waste.
This is a disease of both the upper
and lower strata. They who have an
abundance too often want to show it
by extravagant ostentation. Daily
they sacrifice upon the affairs of vanity
offerings which would give to many
lives Of want the simple comforts Of
life.
But a more serious form of waste is
this: for the true upbuilding of a
try all money that a man does not
need for personal comfort should be
spent, not upon mere extravagances
that while they feed laborers bring no
productive return, but this excess
should be spent in productive indus
tries; for then at the end of the year
not only has the money thus spent fed
as many laborers as though it had
gone for extravagant follies, but it has
made q product as well, which adds to
wealth OF the country. The overlook
ing Of this important economic truth
is one Of the most serious wastes of
our WastefuI country.
Then, too, our laborers are pitifu1ly
wasteful. Rarely q they be induced
even to try to save part OF their earn.
ings. II they could be taught to imi-
tate the scientific frugality of the
French wage earners, poverty would
be msrvelously decreased. Is it not
alD0st q proverb that n American
family wastes enough to feed a French
family better than the one that WastedG
Still another cause of poverty is
found in the fact that artificial indus
trial ad lstments have led to an IN
equal distribution Of the national
wealth. OF, the 50, zoo, 600, 600 coined
by our government it is q well known
fact that the Is, 600, 900 wage earners
have not their p~roportionate share.
The reasons for this unequal distribu-
ton are countless, but that it is wrong
and that it is a great cause of poverty
no one will doubt. That such an IN
balanced state of affairs as this exists
may be traced largely to the trusts
and syndicates, which tower over
American trade and industry and con-
troll everything of Importance relative
to the needs of man. They force the
smaller branches Of industry to the
wall, thus widening the gulf between
industrial independence and industrial
monarchism, and serve to enhance the
wealth Of the powerful and to make
poorer the poor.
CAPITAL Is ORGANIZED; LABOR Is SCAT
TERED !
The working classes r scattered
With no leaders, thousands grope
blindly for recognition ~ producers
while organized capital laughs their
individual efforts to scorn. Because
they are poor and ignorant, they are
weak and fail to organize; because
they are not organized they r poor
and ignorant. Thus the dilemma, the
key of which shall unlock many q
problem Of the laborer's servitude.
Is it not time that some modern
Piers Plowman should preach anew the
idea Of the equality Of all men before
God and the gospel of labor into every
home of our land9 It has often been