The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-02-14
Advantages
at Hand That
Are Neglected
ny ELLA WHEELER wlLcox.

\
| OF better conditions?
DO you continually talk about the
| injustice of the rich to tho poor. tho
| cruelty OF monopoly. and the helpless
| ness of the wage-earncr to better his
! condition?
But are you trying to better your
| condition?
Are you using every Opportunity to
improve your mind?
The land Is full Of free libraries.
| You have at your command a hunnrcd-
fold better opportunities to educate
yourself than Benjamin Franklin OF;
Abraham Lincoln had.
You are no poorer, yet they obtained
education which enabled them TO rise
in the world to the high positions they
occupied. They worked as hard as you
work, and more hours day. But they
used every spare moment TO fit them
selves for better work
Are you doing that? Read something
which was said recently by Wallace
.. Wattles. It is full of good sense.
"The old saying that it is no dis
! grace to be poor is only half truth,
| in the true sense 1t is really dis
grace to be poor
The Poor Ones OF the World.
Nobody is poor or having hard
| struggle but (a) the ignorant, OBJ the
lazy, and (c) the incompetent.
This sounds harsh, and you are
ready to go up in the air about II,
| YOU want TO tel; me that the tene-
| uent dweilers and wage slaves have
no chance. and so on.
But wait a little. The wage slaves
really own the world; they have cre-
+; ated 1t allan d they could take posses
| sion Of 1t tomorrow II they would
! They can go in at any time. TO use the
/ factories to make things for them
| selves, instead of turning wealth out
for their masters.
But they do not do 1t, because they
are ca too ignorant to know that this
is their world; OBJ too Intellectually
lazy to think. and so discover that this
is their world. and (c) incompetent,
| because they do not think
I The masses are not in bondage to
! anything but ignorance and intellect
/ ual laziness: they can have what they
/ will If they will begin TO think.
The masses will be wage slaves as
/ long as the scent theatres are crowd
! ed and the public Libraries deserted"
| When the Change Would Conc.
1 When you stop 10 realize how many
T; more wage-earners there are. how
/ many more employees then employers.
I! II does seem absurd to talk about the
| army of workers being kept down by
/ the small number of employers. Should
the army of workers combine in
! great united. determined order, and de-
/ clare cooperative conditions were to
| take the place of the present system
of competition. the change would have
1 10 come.
4 Az i1l
/, consistently or with direct purpose on
! these topics.
1t is easier TO complain and to seek
| for sympathy than it is to use the
brain in constructive thinking TO i'm
! prove ones situation.
! Again let me quote Mr. Wattles:
| The way to mako people think is
| TO talk wealth.
THAT is the philosophy for the
masses.
"And the same applies to you as an
| individual.
| IT the mass is not ready or willing
| to rise. You do not have to stay down
| with it; You can rise above It.
"But you can never rise above 1t ii
!; you keep talking about yourself as be-
| ing down with It,
! .If you keep talking about yourself
| as one of those who have hard times
/ in getting along, you will continue to
/ be one of those who have hard times
| in getting along.
Don't talk poverty in any Way: don't
refer to it as existing.
Talk wealth."
Woman's Wonderful Influence.
And while you talk wealth, think
! and talk Of the new conditions which
! arc forming about Us every hour anc
! every day. Talk Of the wonderful In.
: fluence woman is having on the world
/, and the greater influence she will HAYS
every year. An influence for good; 70,
| justice. for temperance. for cleanliness
| for order.
/! Talk of the time when every city
| will be made a city beautiful-wher
there will be no pest holes: no evi
| Chinatowns; no foul-smelling tene.
| ments; no deserts; no impossible
| places; but when there vii! be goot
roads, and cultivated fields, and lovely
1 gardens. and spreading parks, ant
! homes and work for everybody
That time will come. 1t is on tbs
| way.
Read little every evening and every
Sunday In the public libraries Find
out what is going OH in the world Fit
/ yOurSelr 10 occupy q Dettef posltloI
in the better times coming.
America is going to show the whole
| world how order can he brought out
Of chaos; how the problem Of the un-
employed can be solved. And 1t needs
your thinking r,ind, and your ready
| hand and your willing heart to help 1t
to this great end.
DO not sit down with the growlers
and complainers and wait for an old-
are pension law to make you comfort
able.
Useoall of yourself, and all of you,
time. ana all of your opportunities.
Push ahead, There is room and
work waiting for YOU.
(Copyrght 1910, nv the New York
lJvening Journal Publishing Company.
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