Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-12-20


out Of their misfortunes. They are
like the wreckers OF old who used to
patrol the western coast of England.
When merchant ship was approach
Ing the coast they would, with false
lights, decoy it upon the rocks. Then
they would gather up the wreckage
and take the plumber TO their homes
and sell 1t. So from time immemorial
men have increased their own for
tunes by living upon the wreckages
and the shipwrecks of other lives. The
tragedy Of our last national panic
proves that what i 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 I'D
their premiums 20 and 90 and rs and
even 100 per cent In other words, in
order to borrow $40 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-
tunes of their fellow men. And had
not the secretary OF the treasury and
men like ]. L. Morgan and others of
that Tx 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 70 GiGeTent 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 ghouIs of the night,
they live by Decorating the grave
yards. Like the robbers OF stranded
ships, their incomes are derived from
the wreckages OF their fellow men.
Be Just 60 Others.
Now, my brother, IL you have n good
income and are not in abject want be
morally and spiritually honest. AS you
expect men 20 pay You just price for
your labor, you should be willing to
pay Others just price for their labor.
Because poor seamstress is unfortu-
nate and cannot get work do not give
her 40 cents day for her serv ices when
you ought to pay her S1.50. If you have
an industrious boy i'm your employ who
is doing the work Of full grown man.
do not pay him simply the wages of
boy. Pay him the wages of Il man.
Because you have merchant In n
financial "hole'' do not squeeze the
life out of him. BE honest. Be fair.
Pay 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. When
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 Mt
the head OF the great dry goods en-
porium the one who ought TO he The
most pitied- But the unseen sufferers
are the men and women whose names
you never know and whose faces Won
never saw. These are the people who
should be commiserated.
a Civil War Tragedy.
The tragedy of the bargain counter
Is like the tragedy OF the late civil
war. have been over many Of the
great battcAclds OF our country. Fer.
haps yor have also been TO some of
them. Then. like me. YOU have stood
before the plain white tombstones I'm
our national cemeteries and saids
Poor fellowsi Poor fellows! Most
OF these martyred soldiers were only
boys. Think OF the long marches and
the days ~ hunger ana cold Think
or those soldiers falling In the awful
charges and the despair that must have
overwhelmed them when they fell.
Think of the horrors of the operating
table and their agony when dying"
But, though no man honors the dead
soldiers OF the late civil war more
than do. vet would tell you that
those who died for their country did
not make the greatest sacrifices. A
living sorrow Is far heavier burden
TO bear than dead triumph Did you
ever stop to think OF what became of
the wives and the mothers and the
children OF those dead soldiers when
the breadwinncrs were stricken down?
Did you ever think OF the soldiers
whose health and strength were de-
stroyed. discharged from service be.
cause they We're unfit for further duty
and who came home with mangled
limbs, doomed TO n lifetime OF physical
decrepitude and pain? All, these were
the greatest sufferers OF the national
carnage, not the men who felt the
tinglhg OF the lullct AMI then with
cry Of 'Oh, my God. I'm shotr fell
lead. The greatest sufferers of a ma
lions wars are the unseen sufferers.
Who, then. are the martyrs OF the
bargain counter? ! will tell you. In
all probability those goods which are
sold belonged to some smaller dealer
who was driven 10 the wall and who
had to sell his stock for anything he
could get. or they are the goods OF
some poor woman who had to work In
the Chicago or the New York sweat
shops, or they are the goods that have
been marked down below cost In order
TO run some rival out OF business. IT
Is easy enough for n druggist to take
In line OF stationery and sell It at
cost In order to destroy the trade of
the stationery store near him, but that
sale means blood money. No man ever
bought something for less than cost
unless some one had to suffer. God
pity the poor sewing girls whose Nee
dies made those cheap garments. God
pity the wrecked business out of which
those bargain counters have been lift
ed. God pity the mon and tho Vvor,an