The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-17
Quotes Bible in Asserting That
Able Bodied Men Who Won't
Work Should Starve.

OF discomfort and trouble. and they
We're engaged in rninding eyerybody's
ton called forth the apostles stern.
necessary, but Chart able, rule. work
or starve.' That rule. uttered orally
when among them and emphasized IN
the first letter, he now repeats.
No Disgrace to Work.
Occupation is honorable. 1t was
divinely appointed before sin entered
the world. The first man was charged
to cultivate the ground and to guard
to 'till' and keep the garden, and
those are the two principal tasks OF
the husbandman to-day. Jesus, the
carpenter, dignified toll, and Paul
iness was a disgrace. Some suppose
that work was one Of the penalties
Of the fall: Not so. The curse IN
the third chapt er Of Genesis DID not
the. ground urIruitful and productive
of useless and .hurtful plants. AS the
poet bathed for US the outer world
in the hues Of human feeling. SO We
should battle the worlt,pan's surround
ings with a sense of theSduty and dig
nifty of labor, IT is much more dis
grace to live in idleness than 1t Is to
die rich. as Mr.. Carnegie declares.
"The student Of sociology is inter,
csted in the struggle for existence, and
brief survey OF that field may pre-
pare us~-for an appreciation of the
proposed remedy for present condt-
lions. Man Fundamental economic
desire is the demand for food: He
must live; he cannot live without
food: therefore. the struggle for food
becomes mans most important activ-
ity. Briefly. we may say that men
were at first nomads and lived upon
animals. They We're carniverous. Then.
as population increased faster than
the lands furnished subsistence for
herds and nocks. men became aGri-
culturists. They gradually and re-
luctantly changed from a meat to a
vegetable diet. and became herbivor-
Gus instead of carnivorous. They re-
garded manual labor as intolcrable
drudgery. Therefore. instead of eating
or killing or torturing their captured
enemies. they put them under the lash
and made them slaves. Slavery was
substitute for cannibalism or torture,
and, in the beginning, was a benevo-
lent institution. II time permitted
| could prove that slavery in the South
was a blessing to the negro as COM
pared with his state in savaEery. But
the growth of slavery increased the
leisure class and created class dis
| tinctions.
Everybody Poor mt First.
I'm primitive society there were no
problems of poverty for all wers poor
and poverty was honorable. Az civil
ization developed poverty arose. and
also pauperism. Professor Dealey. au-
thor Of The State Constitutions. names
| three causes for poverty: Oh
Private property in foods and lands.
i(2) The civil law guaranteeing prop
erty rights. (3) The rise of a leisure.
exploiting class. 1t is strange that
presence in society Of an indolent and
incompetent class. Such a class cor
| tainly exists and II social conditions
We're leyeled today by the force OF
would occupy q lower position to-mor-
row.
my question is. how shall we deal
with those who are upon the chart
who are aged or incapacitated, food.
clothing and all necessities should >be
supplied by a generous public: for 9TH
crs. preventive and remedial measures
| adopted. 1t is easy to give a heggar
q dollar. but it is better to teach him
how to earn dollar Providing steady
work for laborers is preferable to feed
Ing them when unemployed. Prevent
Ing. sickness by teaching the laws
! Of health is wiser than sending medi-
cine to the sick. Checking vice by
improving environment is saner than
inal. Importing knowledge. needfui In
home life and daily occupation IS wiser
/ than giving bread and fuel. This is
What intelgent charity
his ability. in helping the worthy and
| needy. but do insist that 1t is better
to dig around the roots and produce
3 heaIthful tree than to lop off q. q few
cay at the heart.
No Work, No Food.
"rhe question narrows and becomes
more searching. What shall be done
are physically able to work and will
not. and thereby become objects of
charity answer: Let them starve
Sentimentalists might weep. and sem
t,tc {e~1,f In fp1n or
4 lines: "A man starved to death in the
!. city OF RIchmondn But there is Scrip
ture for my position:@If he will not
|work. neither let him eat No one
ed without corresponding exertion. A
I man might starve to the advancement
:. Of human progress and to the glory
4 of God!
.. "stlll my question narrows:. What
, Is the duty of the city and State In
regard to inmates of jails. and to hus-
!, bands who fall to support their fam-
A lies? In the cities this question is
vital.
THE country iails hold few pris J.
/ oners. and perhaps all husbands pro-
vide, more or less for their families.
But In Richmond, the conditions arc
our Jail. and with. no regular employ
ment About sixty-fve men are
brought before the Hastings Court
annually for neglectlng their families.
\ IneseH men break thelr marriage con-
tract demoralize charity. and curse
their families. often thrustlng illit-
crate children upon tho community.
Yea, of the $4,000 children in the
United States between the ages of ten
and fourteen who can neither read nor
write 10000 are In the South. am
ashamed of the fact. We love the
South and are proud OF her history. but
. 1--WE wept. we toiled, we suffered!
4! I'VE never blushed before,
Should Provide WorhhouSe.
These distressing conditions can
be improved In two ways: L. This city
should provide workhouse. The
4 second paragraph In the vested DOW
ers of the city charter begins, To
erect or provide in or near the city