Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1909-08-27
RACES FATE IS
With POOR MEN
WEALTH WILL CRUSH THE
MIDDLE CLASSES
MdnitOWOC Man Points Tendency
TOWerd Growth of Very Rich
and Poor Glasses and Appeals
to the Business Men.


thing from the exigencies of his
preCarious vocation. He resorts
to the petty, Improbable effort of
compiling the commercial ratings
of the past and prospective
customers. His thoughts seldom
or never are directed to seeking the
cause Of the financial unreliability
of the average worker.
He does not seem to realize that
his own commercial rating largely
depends on the ability of the work
er to supply his family generously,
and promptly pay for the same.
The dealers, in general, are in a
position to direct the solution of
the labor problem. They are labor
ers themselves and patiently take
the morsels Of profit dealt out to
them by the trusts.
They, of all men, should know
the disparity between the laborer S
wages and the trust prices he must
pay for the bare necessaries of life.
We should think the average bust
ness man could better employ his
time, for his own and the laborer' S
uplift, in Analysing the false funda-
mental principles at work in the
business world, and cease chasing
the phantom pennies of the average
workingman.
The middle class is the salvation
| of the country. 1t is fast ap-
preaching the financial straits of
the laboring class. The middle
class is bound to be crushed be-
tween the poverty, lying Just below
and the heavy load Of capitalism
Just above them.
If the middle class does not soon
teach the worker the necessary
science of just government, both
classes must some day in the near
future seek aims at the hands OF
their despoilers. Then, truly, can
Mammon be king of the earth. Then
will the natural and acquired de-
pravity of man blossom and bring
forth evil fruit. There will be no
more need of "credit lists" of the
members of the middle or of the
manual labor class.
Prosperity in our day-for the
laboring class-means few
months of low wages by which to
subsist and pay up the legal debts.
When the laborer has about paid
up his obligations another panic"
strikes the land and privation is
again staring labor in the face.
Repeated cycles of man-made pan
les gradually weed out the weaker
capitalists, To great extent later
day panics are due to the system
under which we do business.
The temporary depreciation in
value of property caused by panics
offers money accumulations an op-
portunity to speculate successfully.
The success of such speculation
depends on the extent of the elimi-
nation of the weaker competitors in
the speculative line. However
prosperous the deal looks there is
nothing added to the value of the
property dealt in. The figures of
our exports and the balance of
trade indicate progressive increase
in value of the country's wealth.
The high tide of prosperity in
1907 ushered in wholesale loss of
employment, forcing many people
into want and so-called dead beat
ism.
Circumstances of our present
system of doing things promote
duplicity in business, gambling
eXtortion, pauperism and theft.
The moneyed people are taught in
cidently to disregard the laws en-
acted to holster up the system.
The two less favored classes OF
the people are thereby taught to
harbor contempt for all human
laws.
The rich are law breakers by
privilege; the poor are law breakers
by intent. The general distrust is
a nucleus for more sordid and
dangerous things to come. This
unwelcome status of the public
mind may develope into one or
more dangerous civic conditions.
Civil strife is the worst of these
conditions. This should be warded