The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-05-28
TRY ANOTHER TACK.

That the working class is poor be-
cause IL drinks too much. smokes too
much, or wears too many silks. are old
yarns, now worn so threadbare that
they no longer even serve 10 conceal
the Ignorance Of those who put them
forth. The new variation upon this
theme, moro recently brought into IA
vor by the soaring price of edibles, is
that tho workers are poor. both In
health and purse, because they eat
too much.
To the support OF this idea have
come, unwitungly, but with all the
prestige that the namc Garden City
and the word "coterie" carry with
them, three young bellies of the afore-
mentioned place and position in life.
Reading that starvation was Il cure
all. they stopped eating for three days
What's good for a patrician must be
at least equally good for a plebian;
ergo. If the working class would be
healthy, wealthy and wise, 1t should
stop eating.
Sad to say. for tho success Of the
antI-eating spellbindor, whom the COM
Ing campaign may not improbably pro-
dUce, the facts seem all TO lie on the
opposite side OF the case. II staTya-
tion were cure-all. the working class
should be the healthiest class on earth.
In spite of which, il seems to have
been perversely growing poorer and
meagerer on the very regimen so loud
ly advocated as q cure for both pow
, erty and meagerneSS. In all advanced
capitalist countries-out own unpaTal-
leled United States among them
physical standards are declining. De
spite the decrease in the number of
children per family from S and 10 10
2 or 8, a decrease which they would
have us believe makes for better of
spring, the race IL falling off both in
size and vigor. Height. girth, chest
measure. weight. endurance, all arc
on the down grade. Even the theory
that bodily decline is compensated for
by increased mental robustness Is be-
lied by the records Insanity and
nervous disorders are increasing so
fast that Lombroso prophesied $40
per cent augmentation thereof In the
next two generations.
Two Causes
When one seeks for causes, two
stand out clearly. One is overworlI
and the anxiety due to the growing
uncertainty of prospect. But over
shadowing even this. and more vital,
is widespread national underfeeding.
AS fast as the price of food scared
upward, with the same staggering ra-
pidIty did the opportunity to secure
that price sag downward. While eX-
penses topped the clouds. jobs and
wages dropped out OF sight In 1912
Dickens, writing from Boston 10
friend In London. declared: There
Is not man in this town or in this
State. who has not a blazing fire and
meat every day for dinner; nor would
4 flaming sword in the air attract
more attention than beggar in the
street" What would he see now?
Those who would blame the work
er's poverty or i'll health or his too
heavily laden board would better try
another tack
Halley's comet. it seems. has not
yet lived down Its bad reputation. On
the night King George V ascended
the throne it was seen to flare red.
SO the yeracious capitalist press pro-
claims. for five consecutive min
uteS. portending wars and disasters
lestial wandercr is to blame for the
panic and the May Day strike wave,
as well.-W. p.
Why Women Should be Socialists.
The day was very warm and we
felt warmer, so VIC sat down by the
roadside. Womanlike, ] "rubbered
some" (the American for looking
around and ahout'D. and used my eyes
for all they wero worth Call those
places home" thought l. Heavens,
that word home" has many deflnl-
tionsl And yet those miners wives
lived in these places; here they bore
and raised their children: and here
tho miners slept, and from there car
ried away their meals TO their work.
They must be "homes",
And vet ] could not link that word
with those awful looking boxes com
posed OF kerosene tins, cut and flat
tened out, bits of galvanized iron u
few boards; some had actually been
painted-at one time The one re.
oeeming feature of the whole dole
ful picture WAS that the women and
children were as clean and tidy as
could be. and the women seemed
very fond Of their children / won
dcred II those women were Social.
lists! II not-then there was every
reason that they should he.
Through an open door of one of
these miners "palaccs" | observed
woman busily ironing what thought