Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-12-21

DenSeS must be cut uOWn, anu lndl 10
one reason the bargain counters have
the struggling multitudes about them
The Bargain Counter Lesson.
But the bargain counter teaches us
another lesson. Though most people
are having a hard time financially,
there are q great number who fatten
themselves upon the misfOrtunes OF
others. These modern vandals or
ghouls Of the night are not producers
or developers. They are human beasts
Of prey whose business in life is to
find some victims In distress and then
TO pounce upon them and make profit
out of their misfortunes. They are
like the wreckers of old who used to
patrol the western coast of England.
When a merchant ship was approach
ing the coast they would, with false
lights, decoy 1t upon the rocks. Then
they would gather up the. wreckage
and. take the plunder TO their homes
am Sell II. So from tine iinmemorlai
men have increased their own for
tunes by living upon the wreckages
ard the shipwrecks Of other lives. The
tragedy Of our last national panic
proves that what say is true.
During the financial stringency in
October there were certain men In
New York city who had ready money
Some of these men began TO run up
their premiums 90 and 80 and 70 and
even 100 per cent. In other words, IN
order 90 borrow SO from you | would
have to give $50 in return. Because
these men had cornered the money
market they attempted to take from
their fellow men every dollar they
possessed These plunderers were fat
tening their purses upon the misfor-
fumes of their fellow men. And had
not the secretary Of the treasury and
men like ]. Z. Morgan and others or
that ilk brought millions upon millions
of dollars into Wall street this coun'
try would have seen the darkest days
in its financial history. Alas, wall
street is no different from every other
street, In every country there are
LOT of human vultures. Like haunting
specters, they are lowering around
ready to banquet upon the carcasses OF
the financially slain. AS soon as any
man gets into trouble they pounce up
on him and rip and tear him to little
pieces. Like the ghouls Of the night,
they live by desecratlng the grave
Yards Like the robbers of stranded
ships. their incomes are derived from
the wreckages Of their fellow men.
Be Just to Others.
Now, my brother, If you have goou
income and are not in abject want be
morally and spiritually honest. AS you
expect men to pay you a just price for
YOUR labor. you should be willing to
nav others a just price for their labor.
Because a poor seamstress Is unfortu-
nate and cannot get work do not give
her Is cents a day for her services when
YOU ought to pay her $3.50. Ify you have
an industrious boy in your employ who
Is doing the work of full grown man,
do not pay him simply the wages OF O
boy. Pay him the wages OF man.
Because you have a merchant IN a
financial "hole" do not squeeze the
life out of him. Be honest. Be fair
Paw a Just price for all labor-that Is
pay as you expect others to pay you.
The tragedy Of the bargain counter
teaches US another great lesson. Wher
an article has to be sold below cost
the unseen sufferers are those who are
hurt the worst by the financial sacri
flee. The clerk who sells you the goods
over the counter may not be the SUI
ferer. Neither Is the man who Is a
the head of the great dry goods EN-
porium the one who ought to be th(
most pitied. But the unseen sufferers
are the men and women whose names
YOU never know and whose faces yol
never saw. These are the people wht
should be commiSerated.
A Civil War Tragedy.
The tragedy Of the bargain counte
is like the tragedy of the late ciyl
war. | have been over many of th'
great battlefelds of our country. Per
haps you have also been to some o
them. Then, like me, you have stoo'
before the plain white tombstones Il
our national cemeteries and said
Poor fellowsl Poor fellows! Mos
Of these martyred soldiers were onl.
bows. Think of the long marches ant
the DAYS Of hunger and cold. Thinl
of those soldiers falling In the awfu
charges and the despair that must hay
overwhelmed them when they fel
Think of the horrors Of the operatin
table and their agony when dying.
But. though no man honors the dea
soldiers Of the late civil war NOR
than do, yet I would tell you tina
those who died for their country di
not make the greatest sacrifices.
living sorrow IS a far heavier burde
to bear than a dead triumph. Did 20
ever stop to think Of what became
the wives and the mothers and th
children Of those dead soldiers whe
the breadwinners were stricken down
Did you ever think Of the soldier
whose health and strength were d'
stroyed, discharged from service b.
cause they were unfit for further dut
and who came home with mangle
limbs. doomed to a lifetime of physics
decrepitude and pain? Ah, these wei
the greatest sufferers Of the nations
carnage, not the men who felt II
tingling Of the bullet and then with
cry Of "Oh. my God, I'm shot" fe
, dead. The greatest sufferers OF u
p, tion's wars are the unseen sufferers.
! Who, then, are the martyrs OF Z
bargain counter? l will tell you.
p all probability those goods when a
, sold belonged to some smaller deal
who was driven to the wall and W
had to sell his stock for anything
+ could get, or they are the goods