The Democratic advocate., 1909-07-02

4 son, Albert Shaw, Francis Lynd
Stetson, Spencer Trask, e. R. A.Selig
man, George T. Powell, Booker 7
Washington, Mrs. Frederick Nathal
and Mrs. Samuel Untermyer
Back to the land" is the platform
of the league, which believes that
When the people realize that witt
25O days work in a year two acre
will support an ordinary-sized famil.
/ and produce enough. readily market
able surplus to provide money fo,
4 clothing and to keep the roof owe
their heads in good repair.
When they find that two acres o
suitable land can be purchased yer.
near to civilization" for from $50 tt
5000;
When they find that a house cal
be built on these two acres more
healthful to live in, far more com
Portable, with pleasant surrounding:
and fewer nuisances than in the large
cities, and that all this can be done
| for a few hundred dollars, or far less
than they now pay for rent in com
paratiyely few years
Then there will be fewer men anG
women walking the streets with the
| burrows of anxiety worn into theil
faces, fewer in the ranks of the un'
employed; the hospitals, orphans
homes, penitentiaries, jails, reform
atories and lunatic asylums will be
| less numerous; we shall be able tt
cope with oVercrowding in the trades
and professions, and life will be bet
ter, more satisfactory and more
happy for us all.
In speaking of the conditions in
New York, Mr.. Hall said recently:
There are within easy distance OF
New York thousands of acres of good
land lying absolutely idle, enough to
support as many thousands of COM
Portable homes, while here in the city
are thousands of ab1e-bodied men and
women constantly on the verge OF
starvation.
There are probably $4,000 families
today in this city alone who are en-
gagged in keeping boarding-houses.
candy stores-even beer saloons and
dives-who are not making ends
meet. There is, perhaps, another so,
900 who have saved up little for a
rainy day-and the rain is pouring on
them now-and they use up their lit
tie savings and other resources ex-
pecting better times.
ing better times.
These people ought to go to the
land. 1t doesn't need any tricks of the
trade, but simply to apply methods
that have made others successful
Even in dollars and cents the effect
of these movements, should they prove
as successful as is hoped, could
scarcely be calculated. The elimina-
ton of waste in the national economy
would, of itself, be sufficient to create
business boom.
For these unemployed unfortunates
are taxes upon the entire purchasing
population. They owe the butcher,
the baker, the candlestick maker.
They must get food and clothing the
best they can. So they buy on credit
and exc out that eVer-lessening credit
with what small sums they are able
to earn by picking up odd jobs from
day to day. The burden becomes ever
heavier, and finally gets too great for
them to carry.
Thus accumulate those uncollect-
ible accounts that are the bane of the
butcher, the baker and the candle
stick maker. Small merchants can
not afford to lose big accounts. So
these small merchants are forced to
charge higher prices to their paying
patrons to protect themselves from
loss.
Often these small merchants be-
come so deeply involved that they are
slow in meeting their own obligations.
Then the big firms find collections
dull. They go slow; they order few
er materials; they cut down their
own working forces and add to the
unemployed. Business stagnates.
On the other hand, when labor is
in demand its price goes up. Every
one has money to spend. Collections
are good and manufacturers and job
bers get more orders than they can
fill Business booms.
Yet there is always that proportion
of debt that is never paid. The la
borer who has lived from hand to
mouth for a year or more finds him
self facing debts that to him are tre-
mendous. He can pay for what he
gets, and does so. But the margin
that he can't pay goes on down the
line as profit and loss. That is what
the great body of the nation pays for
allowing such conditions to exist.
Behind the new National Labor Ex-
change, as before stated, are men who
appreciate these conditions. Capital
lists, bankers, brokers, practical men
of affairs, they see the vast advant-
ages of turning liabilities into assets,
borrowers into spenders. Should
they succeed not they alone will
profit. Every wage-earner in the
land, however humble, will be benefit
ed. And, whatever the motives OF
these men, few will deny that they
are tackling the biggest problem OF
the day.