Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-01-06
CURE FOR POVERTY.

A contributor to the Century, dis
GUESSING the cuuses of poverty. points
out that the chief of these is estab-
lished by nature, which makes dread
so dear and flesh and blood so cheap
that Is, which makes the stistenance of
life generally speaking dependent on
one continual struggle. Nature and
not society. he thinks. is responsible
for the misery of human beings. An
other cause IL the vast improvements
In the methods of production. The
world has not yet learnt to avoid the
alternative of highly stimulated and
deeply depressed industry. Periods of
activity and stagnation alternate and
the producers who are limited to trade
and place suffer. Another cause is
found in the bad habits Of the working
men. 1t has been calculated that not
less than a hundred million pounds are
annually wasted, or worse than wasted.
by the laboring classes of Great
Britain. The author concludes that
the proper remedy is practical edu-
cation and that time alone can remedy
the evil complained OF. And in the
meantime philanthropy must continue
It's noble work of alleviating the suffer-
ings for which there is no immediate
cure and bind together the rich and
poor in sympathy and mutual regard.
The problem Of poverty, whatever are
the causes of It, is as old as human
society. No practical remedy against
1t has ever been found. In the Mosaic
state perhaps the wisest legislation ever
enacted for the benefit of the depend
ent classes IL on record. No induce
ment was given for the rich to en-
courage the poor to enslave themselves
by contracting burdensome debts. and
at the same time most rigid measures
were taken to secure the payment of ii
debt due. Every fiftieth year n read
juatment of property, whether land,
houses and slaves, occurred. Sufficient
provisions were made for widows and
orphans and u certain part of the pro-
duce of the land and the increase of
the flock dedicated for the support of
those who through sickness or
adverse circumstances became needy.
Yet poverty was not abolished.
"The poor you have always
with you" was the observation
made after the Mosaic law had been
in operation for centuries. The differ
ence In the intellectual constitution of
men and women Is such that differ
ence in temporal conditions seems in
evitable.
Schools where manual training is
taught and where the arts of the house
wife are given a proper place are much
needed; an education that makes boys
and girls regard such employment as
honorable and the mastery of them as
an accomplishment just as desirable
az the pursuit OF the so-called profess
sions is one of the requirements Of our
time. People need an understanding
of the fact that labor is n blessing. and
not wholly curse; that 1t can be made
ennobling and that 1t is necessary
factor in the preparation for eternal
eXaltation. What would remain of real
noverty after the world has thoroughly
mastered this truth and carried it out
IN practice, Wouiu not ne inuCn OF
problem. There would be just enough
COR the exercise of that divine quality
In which Denevolence has Its true in
centive. There would still be enough
to enable those endowed with riches
to make for themselves friends with
it, prepared to meet them in the eternal
Indications. To so beyond that may
never be possible, II may safe.y be
assumed that the idea OF gate where
everybody is rich and none poor be-
longs to the domain Of dreams ana not
to reality.