The Washington times., 1911-05-22

"a TOW, as far as proving to US the
truth of my theory that an in
teIIigent, able-bodied American
ought to succeed where millions
of ignorant. half-starved em'grants do
right along, this first year HAD already
done it 1t had also proved, to our own
satisfaction, at least. that such success
does not mean a return 10 a lower
standard of living. but only return to
a simpler standard of living.
poverty that breeds filth. but ignorance
and laziness. When an able-bodied man
can earn at the very bottom Of the lad
der a dollar and half day. and boy
week and still go to school. II isn't a
lack of money that makes the bread
line: it's a lack of horse sense.
a higher standard of living down
here than we were able TO main
tain in our old life; We could live
more sanely. breathe in higher ideals.
and find time to accept more opportuni-
ties.
The sheer, naked conditions were bet
ter for higher life here than they were
in the suburbs.
I'm speaking always of the able-bodi ed
man. A sick man is a sick man whether
he's worth a million or hasn't cent.
He's to be piued. With the public hos
say that the sick millionaire has any
great advantage over the sick pauper.
Money makes a bigger difference OF
course to the sick mans family but at
that you'll find for every widow O'Toolc
q widow bennington, and for every
widow bennington you'll find the heart
broken widow of some millionaire who
doesn't consider her dollars any great
consolation in such a crisis.
Then, too, q man in hard luck is a
man in hard luck whether he has a
bank account or whether he hasn't. l
pity them both. II a rich mans money
hn TnaocctfU 0f airing
grief in public, 1t doesn't help him much
when he's alone in his castle.
1t seems to me that each class has its
own peculiar misfortunes ana mat
money breeds about as much trouble
as II kills.
To my mind once a man earns enough
10 buy himself a little food, put any
sort Of a roof over his head, and keep
himself warm, he has everything for
which money is absolutely essential
This much he can always get at the
bottom. And this much is all the am
munition a man needs for as good !
fight as it's in him to put up. 1t gives
him a chance for an extra million over
his 50 week if he wants It.
But the point 1 learned down here is
that the million is extra-it isn't eS.
sential. Its possession doesn't make a
Paradise free from sickness and worry
and hard luck, and the lack of 1T doesu' I
make a Hell's Kitchen where there Is
nothing but sickness and trouble and
where happiness cannot enter.
AS say, 1 consider this first year the
big year because it taught me these
things. In a sense the value of my
Once 1 was able to understand that
] had everything and more that the
early pioneers had, and that all 1 need
and fight as they did, had all the in
SEPARATION a man needs in order to live
and in order to feel that he's living.
In looking hack on the suburban life
A. Ia, H. -.
It seemed, to me that the thing
which made it so CHASTITY was
comes with the blessed privilege of
game and no help for it.
i was a shadow living in the land Ct
shadows with nothing to hit out at,
nothing to feel the sting of my fist
me and below me and we in the middle
only heard the din Of 1t. 1t was as
though we had climbed half way up
rope leading from a pit to the surface.
and unless they hauled from above we
had to stay there. If We let go-poor
devils, we thought there was nothing
but birthstone below us. So we couldn't
do much but hold on and kick-at moth
ing.
But down here if II man had any kick
In him, he had something to kick
against. When he struck out with his
IS6l licy met "1cH he SIlOl
a blow from the shoulder he felt an
impact
II he didn't like one trade he could
learn another. 1t took no capital. II
he didn't like his house, he could move;
he wasn't tearing up anything by the
roots. II he didn't like his foreman,
he could work under another. 1t didn't
mean the sacrifice of any past.
II he found a chance to black boots
or sell papers, he could use 1t. His
neighbors wouldn't exile him. He was
as free as the winds, and what he didn't
like he could change.
/ don't suppose there is any human
being on earth so independent as an
able-bodied working man.
The record of the next three years
only traces a slow, steady Strengthening
of my position. Not one of us had p
setback through sickness because l
considered our health as so much cap
ital and guarded it as Carefully as
banker does his money.
I was afraid at first of thezcity water,
but found it was as pure as spring