The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-10-19
POVERTY A DISEASE.
| The Result of bad Living. Bad Think
| ing and Of Shining.

| The Result Of Bad Living. Bad Think.
ing and of SHINING.
A large part of the poverty Of the
world is a disease, the result of cen
turtles of bad living. bad thinking and
Of SHINING. We know that poverty is
an abnormal condition because it does
not fit any human beings constitution.
1t cOntradicts the promise and the
prophecy of the divine in man. There
are plenty of evidences that abun-
dance Of all that is good was mans
Inheritance, that II he claims it stout
ly and struggles persistently toward it
he will gain it.
The fact is that large part of the
poverty Of the world Is due to down
| right laziness, shiftlessness, an un-
willingness to make the effort, to fight
for competence. 1t does not matter
how much ability one may have. II he
does not have the inclination and the
energy to use 1t it will atrophy. Lazi-
ness will ruin the greatest genius. 1t
would kill the ambition of an Alexan-
der or Napoleon. No gift or talent is
great enough to withstand it. The
love of ease has wrecked more careers
than anything else except dissipation.
and laziness and vice usually go to-
gether. They are twins.
There are certain traits Of q strong
character which are incompatible with
preventable poverty. Self reliance and
a manly independence are foundation
stones in strong characters. We often
find them largely developed In the
man who is poor in spite Of all his ef-
forts to get away from his poverty,
who is the victim Of misfortune and
disasters which he could not control.
But the man who Is poor because he
has lost his courage, his faith in him
self, or because he is too lazy to pay
the price for competence lacks these
qualities and is SO much less a man.
He is weak character compared with
the man who has developed powerful
mental and moral muscle in his ener-
getic, persistent efforts to gain a COM
petence and to make the most of him
self.
When you make up your mind that
you are done with poverty forever, that
you will have nothing more to do with
it, that you are going to erase every
trace of it from your dress, your talk
your actions. your home, that you are
going to show the world your real
mettle, that you are no longer going to
pass for failure, that you have set
your face persistently toward better
things, a competence, an independence
and that nothing on earth can turn you
from your resolution, you will be
amazed to see what reinforcing
power will come to you from this in
creased confidence and self respect.
The most dangerous thing about pow
erty is that it's victims often become
reconciled to it and take it for granted
that it is their fate Because they
cannot keep up appearances and live IL
the same style as their more wealthy
neighbors, poor people often become
discouraged and do not try to make
the best Of what they have. They do
not put their best foot forward" and
endeavor with all their might to throw
off the evidences Of poverty. If there
is anything that paralyzes power it is
the effort to reconcile ourselves to our
unfortunate environment instead Of re-
garding it as abnormal and trying to
get away from it.-Success.