The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23

P~OOrhOuacS, No Fresh Ar Funn, NO
Charlty work. Because None 10 Needed
Universal Rule Thai Of Prosperity.
V.xsAs CITY. Mo-. Sept. 77.-'And the
poor commissioner. who IL he1'
A list Of county officials Of a Middle West
county was being made. and many had
sWe have none,' was the reply. Then
18th n smile, for several years no one
Nod on the county farm but the superin-
.ordent 40 we sold the farm and discharged
,be manager. Now this county has no poor
bouse.'
need, is there
.Don't have any. The folks all seem
~ no able TO take care OF themselves. They
rsver ask any help from the county. unless
,hev are sick. Then the neighbors care
Cor them or the authorities
This was out in the shortgrass country.
che high plains. once the American Desert.
In the county, with more than 500 square
miles Of area. live nearly 10000 people.
md not a mendicant. not a semblance OF
need, Is there.
II ia a fair example OF the empire where
poverty enters not. whore the well TO do
are possessors Of the soil. II Ia an example
~ the land with the highest average OF
Drosperity the world has ever known, an
average that has been immensely increased
IN the last eight years and has never before
reached so high a figure as to-day.
The dream Of the economist In q land
x;thout poyerty. The ambition OF the
statesman is a people without want. able
% obtain those necessaries the use Of which
will hermit them to maintain a state OF
rhvsical efficiency. The jewellers on the
great plains Of America approach near to
that ideal.
From the Missouri River TO the Rocky
Mountains. from Canada dow to the new
State Of Oklahoma is one vast grain field.
II Is the home .of s~griculturists and OF
people whose prosperity depends directly
on the products Of the farm. To be sure,
there are mines and oil and manufacturing;
but the staple resources Of the region 10
the ia rm.
When the crops fail the general income
lanRuishes, and this is the test OF a COM
munity's business basis. In all that terri
,ory are only three large cities, Omaha,
Kansas City and the Minneapolis-St. Paul
aettlement. st. Louis, though on b west
aide Of the river, does not belong in the
Prairie State catalogue. Denver is prtmar-
uy a mining centre.
Each of these cities IL remarkably pros
porous; each OF them has moro work for
Aborers than there are laborerS for
hire: each il building and extending its
limits az never before. The problem OF the
DOOR. the struggle Of the tenement house
and the efforts Of organized charity are
little known.
Poverty is unperceived because the OPP
portunity for wage earning Is, and has been.
present in these rapidly developing COM
muuities, advancing az they have from
villages to cities OF $50, 900 to 9OO, 900, In
practically uninterrupted progression. The
construction OF municipal improvements.
the erection OF stores, public buildings and
dwellings, the multitude Of other improve
mepts. added 10 the manufacturing In
duetries, gave all not physically incapaci-
tated a chance. Do
Have YOU a fresh air FUR or plan for
open air outings was asked Of some church
workers in oVe Of the Vests busting
cities.
walk Of a ew blocks takes any one to the
Acids and r4nning streams1 This Is only q
great big eountry town, after all
big ountry town-perhaps that best
,xpresse the present day condition OF the
Wsstery cities, those hat form the centres
of noplation for the inland empire. They
retairsome OF the freshness and the heart
intetst OF smaller municipalities and oi
the3pen lands.
Iore true is it Of the middle class cities
tpt are scattered, two or three in a State
ger the level leagues, gaining ~sustenAnce
rom local agricultural surroundings. They
are indeed big country towns.
On their boulevards one sees In summeI
evenings happy families slowed away In
comfortable surveys; coatless husbands
l~ounging on lawns they themselves have
moved; neighbors visiting on the porche.
along the best residence street as well as Ii
the farthest suburb.
Past the finest houses in the town rol
the automobiles aud along the sams street
Toll p~erambulators pu shed by workers II
the creamery or in the carriage factory
It is a democratic procession that make
up the moving picture and you wonde
where are the poor Of this ccmmunit!
Of N, 900 people.
you mean the colored popu lation1
suggests your host. Needn't worry abou
them. They are getting along all right
We Woulu De Bldu 10 pay Iho "oLnOn ION
or five dollars a week as servants, but the.
will not work for US. They say they do no
have to do that. They can work by the da,
half the time and make moro money. s.
We hire them by the day part OF the tim
and do our own work the remainder OF tn
week. Poverty Go into their homes
Some OF them ave pianos; organs ar
common-they on suffer-
But you give to charity7'
'Of course. Occasionally a family
found that needs help. The father G
mother is i'll, death or accident has lessene
the income. When that happens and
is known supplies are forthcoming 4
abundance and the needy ones are We
cared for. We do not have any sunerin
poor with us in any other sense"
So it is in other small cities, Dies Nome
Dubuque, Lincoln. wichita, Topeka, SiOu
Falls, Fargo, Pueblo, Guthrie, Muskoge'
Up and down the plains region, travel froI
one busy capital to another, from one bus
ness centre TO another, IL is all the sam
story.
Are all rich7 No. not even a considerab
portion rich IA the world goes. The Iii