The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1907-01-23
DIR. DAY ON POVERTY.

. defense of the swollen fortunes
rich, and wealth, however gained
To one newspaper that criticised hin
and his utterances he wrote al
abusive letter. decrying editoria
censure on any subject, and declar
ing it to be an outworn method Of
senility.
Not editorial criticism or censure
belongs to an aged past, but rather
DR.. Day. This Is country of free
speech and free press. A man mas
say what he pleases, and with like
liberty he may be criticised for whai
he says. DR.. Day is logical object
Of criticism. He either cannot oil
will not see that rich men of GER
tain stripe can no longer be held UP
to the nations youth as highly sue
cessful or as models for imitation
Few men save rabid political fanat-
les now hold or ever have contended
that wealth in itself Is an evil. On
the contrary, wealth is a good In its
power for good. Construed as a
stewardship in the hands of strong,
right-thinking man, its value to a
given community can scarcely be
measured The scrutiny now is not
~ b,,f If RI
gain it. DR.. Day refuses to see that
phase.
If he is an object of legitimate
criticism for his views of wealth, he
is much more an object of censure
for his opinions of the poor. On
them rests the blame for their con-
dition, not on the corporations, he
cries. They receive all that they
earn and many of them more. They
support the saloons, and they have
learned shiftlessness because of the
vastness of the charity Of which they
are pitiable objects. The doctor
knows. because he has studied the
poor"
One thinks that his championship
of the rich need not have gone so
far. He assumes too much. The
statement that "all men are born
free and equal is glittering gen.
crafty, If there ever was one. 1t
is true in no sense-political, re-
ligious or social. New souls are
filed at birth with world-old Ills,
and men drag through life heavy
chains forged by the viciousness of
some forgotten ancestor. Equality
is a dream, even in this country,
where 1t is more nearly approaches
than in any other. But DR.. Dag
premises freedom and equality when
he blames poverty for it's poverty
and PIRATES of teaching the poor their
duty. What glorious chance OF
wealth or intellect or high position
has the child of the New York slums
born to degradation and filth and
crime? What duty to the society
that tramples on him can you sue
cessfully teach surn a boy? What
duty to society can you instill into
the children of the southern cottol
mills? The bodies of the poor-lit.
tie bodies, some of them-form the
steps by which some of the men DR.
Day extols mount to the yellow tenn
pie of wealth. And these poor are
paid more than they earn."
The problem of the poor is as OLE
as the race. With more complies
civilization, it becomes more com
plicated. To say, as DR.. Day says
that the poor are responsible for be
ing poor, explains nothing. 1t Tea
sons in a circle. 1t is illogical ant
not wholly true. Poverty, In tn
first instance, resulted from a ma
tural inequality. Will DR.. Day blam
the poor for that? Such poverty
remidiless. These poor owe no du
~ to society, but rather society t
them But poverty results ofte
from an unwarranted and immors
use Of strength by the strong. VIII
will DR.. Day blame for the weakling
Poverty results from injustice b
the powerful Will DR.. Day blam
the poor for submission to unjui
extortion. Why not place the blam
on the strong, or on the unjust?
The poor support saloons. An
the poor support the fashionab
clubs, though they are not to
found in club halls. The poor al
shiftless. Yes, because they stal
through the weary years for ligl
of hope-stare and see nothing
free them from the burdens impose
on them. Hewers. of wood ar
drawers of water most Of them we
born, and in endless, unremittir