The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-02-28
eaosPERITY, PANIes, rRAMPsl

DcCOO6ul IEOm WITHOUT Dg lnnuIn-
enable petitions for help and hard
PRESSED from within by the condition
resulting from a nearly exhausted
szPply Of funds, the Associated Chair
ties finds itself graphing with a situa-
6Oo that is almost beyond its powers.
An empty-handed throng comes daily
- the doors of the mission, often
Arnging with them empty baskets
EAat speak more eloquently than
words of the want in the home from
Which they come. Proud men are
handled by unpaid rents and hungry
M0uths."
And so the story runs, not only in
Richmond, but in nearly every com
nunity throughout the United States.
We saw a sight in Ocala the other
cay that was shocking 70 our moral
SenSbiities We saw a gang Of men
Rle by us-enough almost to I'LL a car
IN handouts. Thirteen Of this gang
were strong, stalwart white men.
what was their crime? We repeat il
IN sOrrov. II was the misfortune Of
being poor!
m the language of the statutes of
this state, made and provided for in
such cases. these men had no visible
means Of support"
We are told, and it is a fact, that
ne wheels OF factories in our larger
commercial centers no longer revolve.
Iumber mills in our own midst are
closed down. Turpentine farms have
been largely curtailed. Railroads, ow-
nag 70 a lack Of business, have dis
charged many Of their employees.
thousands and thousands Of men, sud
6enly and without notice, have been
thrown out OF employment, and yet
with strong arms and stalwart frames
and a willingness to work, as was
shovn before the panic, they are now
arrested as criminals and sent to the
chain gangs and turpentine farms to
labor as slaves
Isn't our very civilization a hollow
mockery? Isn't our treatment Of the
unforunate-thosev who are victims of
untovard conditions-a travesty on
5ustice7 Isn't our statute dealing
With these unfortunate people a very
nightmare Of ignorance and cupidity?
Every four years a lot OF machine
politicians visit us and tell US of their
love Of the common people" Of their
devotion and love for the poor man."
and after being clothed with the in
sigma Of high office hasten away to
the seat of government and enact
laws that make poverty a crime!
We do not profess TO be a saint We
feel unworthy and unfit to pretend to
follow in the footsteps Of the Man of
Gallilee." but we confess that sights
Ike those We so frequently see chill
us TO our very marrow bones, and it
seems TO us are enough to make the
heart of less sympathetic persons
weep blood.
IL seems to us that these things
should arouse the laundering maledic-
tons Of the churches against them.
They ought not TO be tolerated in a
Christian land. and yet when we enter
fhese sacred edifices and hear the am
bassadors- OF the Man Of Sorrows"
preach on the little sins and frivolities
a society, the great crime Of bridge
whist and giving prizes at the limo
cent functions Of our society women.
NE feel almost humiliated.
The last issue of the Tallahassee
Sun gave an account of two printers,
young men, members of the interna-
oonal typographical union, thrown
suddenly out of employment, were
seeking work and in doing so boarded
n railroad train and tried to beat their
way 10 the next town. They were put
on the train by the conductor. which
Sught TO have been punishment
enough, but in addition to this they
were tried before one Of our magis-
trates. were declared malefactors and
were sent to a turpentine camp near
Lake City to serve out a sentence of
thirty days. In a sworn statement
these young men avow that during the
entire time of their confinement their
food for each meal was a piece of
cOnbread, half cooked, and a piece Of
salt pork. These. they swear, were
their regular rations for every meal
for a period of thirty-two days, which
according to the men who run the con-
Vict camps are required to make a |
month.
They say they could obtain no clean
clothing nor could they battle during
the period of their confinement The
sleeping quarters were equipped with
hlthy mattresses and blankets. Twen-
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