The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-29

keeusr to have the wife and child indicted
as accessories before and after the ia I,
so as to keep the family ogather.
This case seems almost incredible biI
after all il is not beyond the bounds q
pnssibiiiry. In most restaurants the wage
of the waiter are phenomena!ly sma ]. ana
his hours extremely long. Sons times TN
plea of the proprietor is that ms men re
,eiye tips which exc out their wages, so
that h. need mol pay them enough to sup
pIy their actual wants This is about IS
logical as most of the other developments
Of the servant question. No dry goods
merchant would think of expecting his Gus
toners TO pay hall the wages oil his c erk5
IN foes nor would he think il good bust
ness 10 conduct his establishment on tn
uriuctp!, lii the customer WHO doe not
nav the clerk Il good round sum is not to
%. served promptly Yet that is Fracti-
eagy what the restaurant fee sy=tem
means. II the waiter knows that unless
ar receives a certain sum in fees he VIII
be- unable TO pay his room rent or buy
himself necessary clothing. he is not 60
ing to waste time on those who give him
nothing. lie cannot afford ii.
In addition TO this, many restaurants do
not give their employees enough TO eai
This is true of a few of the richest hotels
in the country. The waiter or waitress s
expected to secure food by stealth. TIE
manager declares that the walters always
do steal food, and always will; that one
may as well bear that fact i'll mind, and
provide accordingly. The result of this is
wholesale decentralization. If public opinion
does not condemn theft of food-unless
one happens TO be caught at it, when fine
is exacted-if it is impossible to secure
honestly enough to keep body and soul to-
gether, the average person will yield TO
the force of circumstances. 1t looks as if
this unfortunate man in Chicago had beer
placed in some such predicament. Conse-
quently, he stole. He took, probably,
about three cents worth of food. For this
he is put in jail Meanwhile, man with
education position, and more or less
wealth, wrecks a bank, reducing hundreds
of poor people to misery, and Is released
from punishment on some plea or other
pitied on account of his family. One feels
moved to wonder whether the suffering of
the rich mans family is really of any more
account than that of the wife and child OF
this waiter, when they heard that he had
been sent TO Jail for trying TO add a little
pleasure to their bare and comfortless ex-
istence. That is the kind of thing which
makes Anarchists.
There used to be a great deal Of talk
about the blessings of honest poverty.
There are some blessings in that condition.
when poverty means living wages in
place where health is possible and nature
is the children's playmate. There is a
great deal of comfort In some little homes
where the income is almost invisible from
millionaire's point of view. The children
of such homes grow up sturdy and full of
life, resourceful and philosophical. That
kind of poverty harms nobody. But the
grinding bitter misery of life of starva-
ton, disease, and evil associations is
another matter. There is no blessing on
that kind of poverty, either for the poor
who toll day and night for less than bare
living, or for the rich who make their ten
per cent a year out of tenement-house
rookeries. That sort OF poyerty-the pow
erty in which a man must steal If he would
secure the ordinary comforts of life for his
dear ones-is disgrace 10 the nation, and
it is time We realized that fact, and set
about the cure of this horrible cancer on
~, H..