Waterbury Democrat., 1902-10-14
SOCIETY'S WORST DISEASE
The Fear of Poverty Among the Edu cated Classes.

The Fear of Poverty Among the Edu- cated Classes.
 Professor William James has re- gently expressed the rather startling opinion that s'the fear of poverty
 among the educated classes is the
 worst moral disease from which our | civilization suffers" Without as- Senting to the literal exactness of
 this statement, we do not believe that
 one can associate intimately with the people ill general and fail to realize that the fear of poverty rests like a
 dark cloud over most of their lives.
 During the last five or ten years
 this fear has been intensified with the decline in the rates of interest Three and a half per cent. is the ut
 most return from investments that can be anticipated with unquestioned guarantees That means that it is practically impossible for the average man to acquire principal that will support him in comfort. Even an ir- come of a thousand dollars a year represents a capital of nearly thirty thousand dollars. The menace of poverty, after working days are over, seems to rest over most men. And there must be added to this the fact that working days are gradually be- ing diminished by the prevailing GUS toms. Much is said about a dead line of fifty in the ministry. But there is dead line at about that age in business. Let the average man of fifty be seeking q position in mercan- tile life and see if he will not discov- CT that there is E'dead line" He will find that gray hairs are at dis count in the counting room as we'll
 as in the pulpit.
 But this dark picture is mitigated by various considerations. A man who has children may rightly look forward to comfortable old age. The Insurance policy, whether life or
 endowment, may be regarded as a seryiceable life-boat, and though the income from savings may be meager, yet the savings themselves can be used prudently with expectation that they will last as long as we do. And this brings us to our main point. A man is regarded as comfortably off 1 if he has a principal that enables him l to live forever on it's income. But he is surely not going to live forever | Why should he not say, There is no probability that I shall live beyond
 ninety. I will use my property on that basis? That is not so comfort able as to be able to feel that YOU
 have money enough to care for you l if you lived one thousand years, but l it is not reasonable? We believe that it will be found that the modern method of living on the income of principal has profoundly changed the attitude of men toward the fear of lpoyerty. 1t has made them feel that 1 they were not safe until they had enough to live on forever at the low | est rates of interest. A most inter- testing psychological study would be l as to the change that has been
 wrought in the attitude of men to- ward the fear of poverty by the in- yention of interest-bearing shares in property or business values.
 But the sovereign release from this
 over-shadowing fear is to be found l in trust in God. Perhaps the fear
 has become so great because we. have lost that trust. And yet we have
 only to reflect how readily riches take
 to themselves wings to realize that
 they are no certain guarantee against
 poverty. We are all of us in tue
 hands of God, and he who notes the fall of sparrows does not forget his
 children. 'sYour Father knoweth that ye have need of all these l things. .'-Boston Watchman.