The sun., 1915-11-08
BECOME, IC0NOcLASTi
In All Art the Poor Must BE Merry,
the Rich Filled with Woe.

In All Art the Poor Must BE Merry,
the Rich Filled with Woe.
To rup EprroR OF THE SUN--Sir.
Your picture In THE Sun on Sunday
recently, Poverty and Riches" 80 Of
Tended me that I must now indulge in
few words Of protest.
Whence comes the strange supersti-
tion that wealth and happiness are in
compatible? Why must an intelligent
newspaper cram down the throats Of its
readers this most ridiculous and untruth-
full idea? You are not the only guilty
| ones. but you are SO progressive along
many lines and SO free in general from
what have dubbed the journalistic tra-
dtion that / had hoped for better things
throughout. and this foolishness comes
| as shock.
Why oh. why. must every rich man
be depicted as suffering in the possession
Of his gold? First no must be shown
as seated at a table loaded with rich
| viands Of which dyspepsia forbids him
| to partake, then he Is saddled with
All unkind and unloving wife. Children
| are denied him and the simple pleasures
Of life he may not know.
On the other hand, his poverty
stricken neighbor is always smiling. care
FREQ and gay. His neatly clad wife well
| comes his every approach with smile
and a kiss. while chubby cherubim OF
offspring crowd around his knees-he
lives In fact In a continual atmosphere
of gas and CATERS. All this according
to the newspapers.
Mind. I don't deny that Il OCCASION
ally may be the case but why. for
| mercy's sake. don't you once In a while.
Just for change. let us have tho other
side Of the story?
| Why not give us the rich man, say,
| Just having completed a good, satisfy
ing meal. seated before roaring fire
In his luxurious library, with his beau
lriful. well dressed. well groomed wife
| seated on tho arm of his chair, her
lovely arm around his neck. her white,
bejewelled hand. uncoarscned by labor.
affectionately caressing his check while
they happily contemplate the gambols
OF five or six wholesome. we'll nourished
children who will presently be led off
TO sweet reposc on down beds in sani-
tary and beautiful nurseries by the
smiling maids In the background.
Then you could draw in the contrast =
ing group, also true to nature: The
miserable tenement room with It's few
sticks of cheap. ugly furniture. The un-
washed dishes and unmade beds that
the poor wife has been unable 10 care
for. as she is just returning from her
days scrubbing or laundering In the
home OF some more fortunate-although
richer-woman. The husband might be
pictured sitting with hts despairing head
bowed ON his hard. toll worn hands.
tired and discouraged from a fruit
less all day endeavor TO sell the one
thing he really owns-his labor. AS for
the children. ;hey should be conspicu-
p,t IL fe hn nrff III
enough to Indicate In some way the
five little ones, brought into the world
with Infinite pain and trouble only to
leave IL again for want Of sufficient care
and proper nourishment. in their new
and happy home. You might. however.
have about three---thin. wan and in
sufficiently clad. and they should pre-
sent u suggestion OF their possibilities
as culture beds for the bacilli OF tuber-
culosiS.
Seriously. you know. there isn't any
reason why wealth should make man
unhappy or dyspeptic. And there is moth.
ing about the possession of money. even
In the greatcst abundance, that makes
IL physically impossible for a woman
to have children or for a man TO beget
them.
There is no ground. for instance, TO
suppose that Mr.. Rockefeller Is less
happy than his poorest worker in Colo
rado, and II In poin. OF fact he is the
faul, Is inherent in the man. not In
his possessions for you cannot deny.
nor can anybody, that there isn't "a
pleasure within the grasp OF the poor
that cannot be had to the fullest eN-
tent by the rich. from the simplest of
simple lives 10 teeming families of chill
dren. II they don't enjoy them. why,
sec above.
Suppose Vincent Astor wants TO wear
fustiln and eat pea soup and liver !,
Well. who hinders him? And II he
went without sufficient clo:hing long
enough on cold day and denied him
self food for thirty-six hours l make
free to say he would extract fully as
much abstraction out OF these alleged
pleasures of the poor man as does the
ono who enjoys" them every day per-
force.
And finally. any plutocrat who feels
that his millions are the source and
cause Of any unhappinoss from which
lie may be suffering will have no diiii
Guilty in finding thousands Of people
more than willing TO relieve him OF his
burden. taking chances right n,crrily
Oh the possible baleful results. So
FOR heavens sake give us less OF this
poor little rich girl stuff and can the
happy poor man for while. If the
rich man has feeling for any OF his
poor brothers bliss let him go TO it
nothing prevents him. and don't insult
the poor fellows poverty by doing your
best to make the public believe he likes
IT, L. p. DENsLow.
NEW YORK, November 6.