The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-02-02

THE WORKER AND i
WEALTHsPR0DUCER
In the Gazett of Sunday, Jan. 20,
appeared an Editorial entitled Sue
cor to the Needy" in which the
writer very ,aptly, pictured some Of
the awful sufferings, and deplorable
conditions of the poor of our city
yet. the half nay the tenths was not
told. The Associated Charities con-
fess they are unable to- cope with
the situation. The little -temprory
relief they can give is only a drop
in the bucket and makes the suffer
ing of the poor unfortunates that
much more acute when they must
fall back in the trough of suffering
and dispair.
'.The help rendered these people
by the Associated Charities is but
an outward ,application<to a deep
rooted -desease. We can see the
conditions, we can see, the. poor,
we can see the suffering but it
seems that some are incline not to
see the causes of these conditions
There is no effect without a cause,
hence these damable, deplorable
conditions as pictured by the writer
and by the effects of cause. In
one place the writer says "We go on
our hard path of life and we never
think Of the widows and orphants
who are near us except in sort OF
unpersonal way that brings vague
pity for those whom we vaguly
allude to as the poor. We do not
see their sufferings in the concute" /"
the concrete, because you don't
want to see them nor do you want
to see the causes of the suffering OF
the poor and common people, the
sons and daughters of honest toll.
You the Rich who lives in comfort
and luxury feel yourself better and
above the poor people. You can
only think of them in sort of a vague
way, the humblest and most wretch
ed of these poor victims of rotten
social system are your sisters and
brothers and are better than you
or you are the cause of their proven
ty and misery. You are the cause
of their sins and sufferings You
have kept them in ignorance and
deprived them of every opportunity
to cultivate their minds and bodies
Yoy have bound them in the chain,
of wage slavery. These poor people
don't want your pity or your
charities, they want justice and
the day is not far in the future when
they will rise up in the majesty of
their manhood and demand it.
In another place the writer says
"Look up the scenes of trouble that
exist here in this city. Then if in
your heart you feel the throb of
pity put your hand into your pocket
and give something to drive away
the evil thing that makes life hell
for deserving people" "
Should deserving people be object
of charity, and pity? Is there not
something wrong when deserving
people are compelled by necessity
to live under such conditions that
they became objects of pity? II
these people deserve a, living, they
deserve the right to earn it. These
deserving people have been, wealth
producers and possessed AN earning
power, what become of the, wealth
they produced in days gone by
when they were able and fit to be Of
service to sociaty? 1t was con-
fscated by you who lives in luxuary
and the resources wrung from the
sweat and toll cf these unfortunate
people you now allude to IS "the
deserving people are being wasted
by the idle rich class in riotrous
living and lives of diba uchery.
"These human beings were dying
slowly dying in the midst of torture
that might find place in an inferno
| but which have no place in a modern
community where christian people
go to church on Sunday and speal
of the deeds of love that made the
life of the master beautiful" The
trouble with these so called christ
Sian people is they only wrap them
selves in tho c1ool- Of chricto init,