Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1903-06-24
LIVlNo oN lo


Miss Marian Talbert, Of Chicago Il
the latest addition to the list Of celebri.
ties who seemingly advocate cheap liv.
ing by their efforts to demonstrates how
cheaply a person may live Miss Tai.
bert boldly asserts that d healthy per.
son al be supported Ia good health b.
an outlay Of ten esnts a day. Sh'
doesn't take much stock in so-calleC
breakfast foods, for she reasons tina
the stomach should be exercised lik'
the bicips to develop it. A man wouldn'
lie all day on a sofa to develop his mus.
cular strength, but would do so by ex.
ercising the muscles ; so also the stom.
ach is made strong by exercising IL
functions, and weakened by dosing /
with predigested foods. This is q nat.
ural, sensible view to take and in thi'
Miss Talbert is undoubtedly correct
She is also correct in her assertion tina
a healthy person can sustain life anC
good health at a cost for food of tel
cents a day.
There are no healthier persons in the
world than the agricultural laborers o.
the South, whose regulation rations are
one peck of meal and three pounds o.
bacon per week. The cost of this al
retail is less than so cents, leaving II
cents per week, out Of an allowance Of
go cents, for molasses, coffee and other
Injuries. There are thousands OF
physically strong and robust persons in
Georgia whose actual cost Of living
(eating) does not exceed 10 cents per
day. So it doesn't require argument ID
sustain that contention.
But why should such a contention be
madef Why should anybody feel
called to solve the problem or prove
how cheaply life may be sustained
The agriculture. labOrer who sustains
life at a cos Of 10 cents per day, whose
diet consists Of a peck Of meal and
three pounds Of meat per week comes
sadly near being a brother to the OK
Low living implies corresponding ex-
penses for other necessities; the per-
son who lives on a hoe cake Of corn
bread and q slice of fried bacon is not
the one to spend much, If anything, for
books, Low living implies a low order
Of intelligence, and while high living
does not necessarily imply high intel
igence-for some of the highest livers
r mental dwarfs and moral brutes-
still good living is indispensable to in-
tellectual and moral Development.
The man who gubsists on q piece of
hoecake and 9 slice OF bacon is but one
degree removed from the OK. he may
be patient and tractable, this is a vir
tue for which the OK is noted. He may
have only virtues, but he cannot pos
sess manly virtues to any degree. he
cannot be q good man, nor an intelli-
Esnt man, The very fact that be eats
bis hoe cake and slice Of bacon proves
this, for the same cost With 3 little i'm
telligence would provide nor palata-
BILE food. But whether the 10 cents
daily be spent for corn bread or soup,
the fact remains that cheap living leads
60 a low order of intelligence and
moral.
Why then should anybody undertake
to prove how cheap life may be sustain.
cd Mr.. Edward Atkinson might fee
called to such a task, for If it profit any
one, Or please any one, it must be heart
less capitalists who are intent only Of
squeezing all they can out of the pro
ducers. Better it is to show how high
er living is a necessary condition TO
greater intelligence, better morals anC
higher life. 1t should be the task o
those laboring for the good, that Is tn
upbuilding of humanity, not to show
on how little life can be sustained, bu
on how much is required to live prop
erly, and how necessary it is to allow
producers, the mass of the people,
greater share of what they produce.