The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-01-07

of the Senate.)
wealth can only flow from private
prosperity. 1t is wicked for private in
dividuals to waste their substance. 1t is
criminal for stateto eXpend more than
its income or promote wastefulness in
official life. The manner of the living
of public men receives more careful
scrutiny by the plain people than they
imagine. There flows forth therefore
from the reck.essness of the livings of
some public men not only the jeal-
ousies which engender crime, but hab-
ats of wastefulness among the people
themselves"
The subject of conversation was the
fact that SO many rich men are seeking
places in high official life, not for the
purpose of earning their lyings there
by. but for the purpose of having ex-
allied social station. Such men do not
serve the people We'll, but use the Of
fees for their own selfish ends. The
conclusion reached was that the peo-
pie should take more individual inter-
est in political affairs than they do, and
should see to it that rich men are not
sent into high public Places merely be-
cause they are rich; nor should rich
men be debarred from public service if
the people understand that they have
patriotic purposes. But the accumu-
lation of rich men in body at the ma
tional capital promotes an atmosphere
of aristocracy which is inconsistent
with the spirit of our government.
The problem of receipts and ex-
penditures, which Secretary Gage says
children should be taught to solve, has
occupied the minds of many mature
men and women, including Wilkins
Micawber and all of his class. Few can
easily learn that wealth consists of the
savings rather than the earnings. The
miracle of the loaves and fishes was
completed only when obedience was
given to the command: Gather up the
fragments that remain, that nothing
may be lost" The miracle taught not
only lesson of the divine power of
the Theanthropos, but also incu.cated
lesson of political economy. Nature
knows no waste. She utilities the small
est atoms. Man alone is wasteful
Even the beasts of the field are eco
nomical. The squirrels save and the
bees busily store away food for the
winter. Man a.one does not seem dis
posed to look ahead ''for rainy day.
Grover Cleveland once said: ut is
our neighbors who keep us poor, be-
cause we try to live as they i've, instead
of living as we ought to live, on our
incomes" A similar lesson was in
culcated by Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer,
who said: so apportion your wants
that your means may exceed them.
Every man who earns ten shillings a
week can do this if he please, whatever
he may say to the contrary; for, if he
can live upon ten shillings a week, he
can live upon nine and eleven pence.
Poverty is relative and therefore not
ignob.e. Neediness is a positive degra-
dation. If l have only 91OO a year,
am rich as compared with the ma jor-
ity OF my countrymen. If have S.
600 year, l may be poor as compared
with the majority of my associates,
and very poor as compared with my
ne:stdoor neighbor. With $4,000 a
year l may dread ring at my door
bell; l may have my tyrannica.
masters in servants whose wages l
cannot pay; for the flesh that lies near
est my heart some Shy.ock may be
busting his scales and whetting his
knife. Every man is needy who spends
more than he has; no man is needy who
spends less than he has"
"How to live on $1,000 year, as a
member of congress, was a problem
which kept me awake many night, !"
says Senator Dolliver, of Iowa. Three
years ago l moved into small fiat
away out in the northwest part of the
city, and clear outside of the social
swirl, and since that move was made |
have always had a little money in my
pocket for ear fare at least. Previous
to that time it was hard times all the
time. In my home town, or in any
other town in Iowa, $1,000 a year woul 4
he splendid income, because the cost
of living on par with the neighbors is
SO much less"
81 learned that lesson from Senator
Dolliyer last spring." says Senator