The Greeley tribune., 1907-02-14
the county, as this is much cheaper
than feeding them.

the county, as this is much cheaper
than feeding them.
There really seems to be no ade-
quate remedy for the 'poor habit. :"
According to Mr.. Tisdel three f1fths
of the itinerant poor come from the
southern part of Missouri, from
among the ''poor white trash"
They are absolutely improvident,
and are glad Of 1t. II they have q
single biscuit in the house. they
never worry about the next meal.
If they haven't they will go and beg
it, but they won't work for it.
Preaching, talking, helping will not
better the condition of these people.
They are habitually skim milk poor
from generation to generation and
probably will be until the race dies
out, if that ever happens. Most of
them are ignorant and dirty, with
very few of them able to read But
invariably they are more contented
with their lot than the people who
may try to help them. The kindest
thing then seems to be to feed them
a little occasionally and for the rest
to leave them alone in their filth
and ignorance. They enjoy this bet-
ter than any other state.
AS to the other class, much higher
in the human scale, though almost
as poor: the class that does try to
help itself, its members find it much
harder to get along. Their wants
are somewhat greater and they do
not take public aid as matter of
course. Misfortune of some kind, or
inability to do anything even pas
sably we'll are the main causes of
their poverty. They can get but
little to do, because the people who
can afford to hire work done will not
put up with the product of these
people. For instance, who will let
their fine linenware go into filthy
and dirty tent to be washed, coming
back, probably, with filth ground
into the fabric ten times worse than
the soil by clean food for which the
the people for whom such work
might be thought good enough, can
not afford to have it done and pay
for it. So there we are. Once
family, through misfortune. has
dropped into deep poverty 1t Is ex-
ceedingly hard to do better, because
poverty breeds poverty, as prosperity
breeds prosperity.
Some day the sociologists will
strike the right method of treatment
for this class of people and there
will be sort OF school to develop
their mental faculties and to teach
them to work and, to work right
They will probably have to be wards
Of state or county while undergo
ing this training, much on the same
plan as the reform and industrial
schools for boys and girls. Millions
are being spent each year by the
government in experimenting with
making weeds into useful plants and
other similar experiments, all tend
ing to improve the vegetable king
dom. Millions are likewise being
spent in the public school systems
for training the human plants that
give promise Of becoming useful, but
there seems TO be one school that is
not keeping up with other lines of
education. 1t Is the school that can
develop people out Of poverty.
This action will surely come some
day. IL Burbank can make COM
mon wild cactus grow useful and
luscious fruits why can't the human
weed be trained into something good
and useful? II the old weeds can
not be made useful, it is a shame
that the children should be left as
weeds. There is u remedy for it II
the same time and attention be given
to this subject that is given to bet
tering the qualities of grains and
vegetables and to improving the
strains of livestock. In the enuire
scheme of progress and education the
one that needs attention the most,
the human hybrid or mongrel, is
the most neglected.