The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-26

ne has lost the way loo, let him send his gifts tosfhose who would dispense them for him and do it well. There Is always the charity organization society that can tell him exactly what is needed, and where. There is one in every town, and he needn't be afraid of them, They will send their visi- tors who know the people, and he will get some warmth out of the thought that his money is doing missionary work that way. When he has writ ten out hts check and mailed"it while the impulse is yet upon him--never wait till 1t has a, chance to cool--let him invite the man outside into the hall, get him to tell his story. The chances are he will be more comfort able there. I will leave the rest to him, for his conscience will be quite awake by that time, 1t being Christi mas Eve.
 When his guest is gone, he will feel like making a resolution--a very ex- cellent thing to do on that, of all nights. Let 1t be, then. to begin being a brother at home. Perhaps he has men in his employ, or women, of whose life he knows no more than the mah in the moon. They are his next to kin. socially. industrially speaking. Let him get at their stories. Let him find out why John Is pale and some times listless over his work. He knows in a general way. that John married girl in the factory a year ago, but he does not know about the sick little baby in the tenement, by whose crib Johns wife. and John, too, are watching at night. Who knows what a little help right there might do while yet 1t is time! The kindly word. the hand on Johns shoulder that bring the tears to his eyes, will send the blood to his own heart with a rush that is good for 1t.
 Let him resolve to begin at home, and right now. The neighbor lives next door, not in the next. street.
 Years ago I went out one evening to speak in a small Jersey town, and when that night I sat at my hosts table---he was secretary of some for eign mission society in the city--he dren, boys and girls, and said: "If. you could find me' a widow. now, with children. say, like mine, whom we could go alongside of and help--Iny wife. they. I-that would be ideal charity. and we would get as much out of 1t as they"
 T searched high and low and found one, at last that answered all the re- Quirements. She was the widow of a Hungarian tailor and had just as many children as my friend. And such a fight as they had waged together to keep the wolf from the doori She was a scrubwoftlan in an ofiice building, she told me. I hastened back to the office to tell my friend, on the telephone. On the way 1t struck me that I ought to know where she scrubbed, and turned back, obeying sudden impulse. Where do you suppose she did scrub? In ehe mission building, on his floor. There was the thickness of an. oaken door between them; in very truth they were neighbors, yet as far apart as the poles. ,~. Nothing Is easier, Just move up close And begin at home, right where you ars.'
 Edwin SgarkhanG
 The problem of, the hungry man is not the problem of one people, nor of one era; 1t Is the problem of all people and of all eras. And, after thousands of years. he Is stili peering hungrily through the windows of civ illEation Let us go out Into the windy night and look him over. Let us in- speet lis hands, to see # he has been an idler. $ No; not an. idler-for those hands are knotted with iabor; and those sl1 oulders are sunken and crook ed with the bearing of many burdens. from the battle; they show that he teied in some way to meet life Ike a, man.
 '.What shall do? Send him to the charities? No, that remedy has been tried all these long, sorrowful centu- ries. On all the streets and roads of the world we have been throwing him an occa sional cfumb, and stIil he Is with. us lean and hungry as ever. The fact that charity has been tried all these ages without lessening the disease proves that charity Is piti- ful failure. But there is yet another indictment against charity; 1t tends to destroy what is left of poor mans manhood. Charity demeans and de- grades; the crumbs of charity stick in the throat Charity widens the gulf between man and man; 1t beuttles the man who receives and 1t inhates the man who gives,
 Nothing Is worth while unless 1t unites men. and nothing unites them but justice, hffectionate justice But justice requires that every man should nave the opportunity to earn living by labor. Therefore, the thing to do for this man Is to find him work. work at living wages. If there Is no work for hiIp under our system of private enterprise-if the crush and rush of competition has crowded this man out of his right to live by labor, then it Is the duty of society to provide him
 
 labor, for society has forbidden him to beg, forbidden him to steal. Our rulers have no right to feast while a single man goes hungry for the lack of a chance to use his powers. There was enough tn the beginning for all; so If some go empty 1t is because tn cir God-given right has been, snatched from them by greedy or thoughtless hands. So 1t comes about that one one side we have host of men who have less than they need. and on the other hand host of men who have moro than they need.
 "As a beginning remedy I would urge, that we give city, State and Fed eral help. Work must be found for the workless In this crush of things men must be helped to help them- selves. Let the city or State make ln- quiry as to the number of her idle shoe makers, iron holders. road d-makers, and so on, and then set to work to es- tablish industries to absorb this army of the unemployed. Shoes could be made for the shoeless, bread baked | for the hungry, forests renewed for the future, deserts reclaimed for the | homeless,
 "This would be my first step in th | effort to solve the worlds great prob |