Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-09-13

hiust bolFe. Incbo 0re not uxurlc5
which tho poor arc demanding. but
necessities. And If tho poor do not
have these physical necessities, then
thoy will pay us back In our own coin.
For filth and darkness and vitiated nix
always breed crime and drunkenness
and l~lcentiouancss and brutality anG
sins of all sorts. As tho black plaques
Of Europe always started from the vile,
%stcnchful quarters Of tho congested
cities of the east, 80 the plaques Of de.
hatchery and ignorance and crime
thrive best In the filthy quarters of the
poor Of our large cities, where the sun
light cannot get into the homes and
where the little children have no parks
or Fairgrounds in which they may de.
velop BEAUTIFULLY, as all children should
develop.
Furthermore, l was struck with an.
other fact when reading about the phys.
ical necessities of the poor. The poor
are not pnupers, as we conceive pau
pers. The poor are willing and able 10
pay a just return for their necessities.
But the trouble Is when n mar becomes
poor then he becomes helpless. Then
the capitalist robs him of the little he
has. however small that all may he.
Let me Illustrate what I mean: Here Is
a man sinking In the middle of Il lake.
Help! Help he cries. Il am drown
ing! Give me help With that n man
rows up and says. "Wcll. my friend,
you are drowning. How much will
Won oivn mo If 7 ppy ,-o,,g' or. 1T
lars" ooh. no: that is not enough.
You must give me your all. You must
work for me through life, and when
you get through I will let you be buried
In just the rugs you have on your
back" That IS the way the capitalist
treats the poor of our large cities.
When he sells the poor man his coal,
he sells 1T by the shovelful, and he
sells 1t at a ruinous price. e charges
the poor man three times the price at
which he sells it by the ton to the rich
man. When he builds the poor man
his miserable bowel, the capitalist
usually gets 30, 40, co and even 100
per cent on his money invested. A dog
or a wild beast would not live in
Vile VI tHt lIltDS OtNS III winch
the poor Of New York used to be
housed. And yet for every one Of those
dark cellars and back rooms IN which
the sunlight never comes the capitalist
would charge the most astounding rent
and, like Il modern Shylock. demand
his pound of flesh nearest to his vic
tins heart because the poor man could
pAat hn1t, Ii,,aaIC " Cf. all
long ago, The destruction of the poor
IS their poverty" They are kept poor
by being poor.
Good Tenements Wanted.
Has not the state a right to step in
and demand that our capitalists shall
not build insanitary tenements for the
poor? "Oh, no." some man says; that
is not right. The capitalist Is not in
business for his health. He is not a
philanthropist. You cannot demand
that he will put up n building which
is to be a losing investment" No, my
friends; we do not demand that. but
we do demand that the tenement build
Ing that the capitalist erects shall be
one with such modern improvements
as the Alfred c. Clark tenements and
the Riverside tenements Of Brooklyn
and the Mills houses of New York.
There must be no more such rookeries
built as the Mulberry Binds" and the
Bone Alleys" and the Cat Alleys
and Seven Dials" and Five Points"
And, furthermore, you must remember
that when we Stamp out the bad tene-
ments we do not demand a charity in
its place. Jacob Riis in one of his
books declares that every tenement
house built on the Mills plan or the
Clark plan or the Riverside plan Of
Brooklyn has given a legitimate return
for the investment from the very start,
The city poor are not paupers. They
pay enough taxes for their public
parks, and they should have them.
They pay enough money for decent
sanitary homes, and they should have
them also. And it Is the business Of
the state to see that the extortioner's
hands should not be reaping an extor-
toner's return for the moneys invest
ed.
But W. must give our poor more
than clean cradles and decent homes
and sunlight. We must give the chill
dren of our poor neighbors an educa-
ton whereby they shall he able to
work intelligently with their hands, or
else Satan will come in and teach them
how to work In another way. In other
words, the poor must be taught how to
earn their WI living, or else they will
learn how TO live upon the moneys
some one else has earned.
But we must not stop here in u
work among the poor. We must give
them sunlight. We must open their
eyes to see and teach their hands to do.
Why a poor man wants to live In a
city Is uncomfortable to me. Where
there Is work for one man in a large
city there are five applicants for the
position. In 1883 there were 10000
deaths In the city Of London; 10. 10
took place in the public warehouses;,
7,1l3 In public hospitals and $50 In pub
lie asylums. This made in all 1862
paupers who died that year in Lon
don. In other words, at least one-fifth
OF all the people dying in London In
n year were dependent upon public
charity. The records of other cities are
only q little better. There We're over
nm 00n L., CAO "