The log cabin Democrat., 1916-01-10
MAKE NO SACRIFICE
Moderately Wealthy Are Selfish
in Giving, According to
One of Them.

A letter to the moderately rich"
appeared few weeks ago in the Ma
ton. The writer included within that
class men like himself with an income
of $4,000 to $4,000 a year With
millions suffering for food and care
in Belgium, Serbia and Poland" he
writes, Il doubt if there is a single
one OF US in the whole United States
who has taken the situation suffi-
GENTLY to heart to make any appre.
ciable sacrifice to help relieve it By
an appreciate sacrifice he means amy
curtailment of our pleasure at all com
parable to that involved in the giving
OF half dollar by laboring man
or woman" After declaring that, like
himself, the great majority have
been acting like hogs" he writes:
Il had given, up to June. about 5000
to the different funds, and my friends
seemed to think that that was doing
quite well; but when found that the
exigencies of my family demanded
$1,000 trip and a new $4,000 car, l felt
so cheap that l sopped my conscience
by sending $4,000 to the Serbians. Not
that this removes the mark of the hog.
l ought to give another $4,000 without
enough. What will do, though, is
to give another $4,000 to the Belgian
Red Cross fund. If one or more other
readers Of the Nation will give an
equal amount to any Of the relief
funds; and l will send check to your
care whenever you say that I should
do So"
Whether the epithet which, in his
contrition, the writer applies to him
self and his fellows is too harsh or
not, comments the New York Evening
Post, is question on which opinions
will differ, but
There is no room for question as
to the fundamental fact-the fact that
considerable as has been the amount
sent by our well-to-do classes for the
relief of the appalling suffering in Eu-
rope, the number of cases in which
the contribution has been so large as
to impose upon the giver any real
sacrifice is so small as to be negligible.
1t is pleasant to record that at least
two persons have been so struck with
the appeal as to send to the Nation
their subscriptions of $4,000 each, in
accordance with the writer's condi.
tons; and it is to be hoped that his
list of ten will be completed.
"Wa ara pOpyipood horro,,o, xl,o4
II nothing but 'hoggishness' stood in
the way, there would flow into the
Golfers of the various admirable relief
agencies a sum many times as great
las that which America has thus far
given. Inertia and want of magma
ton are the great obstacles. In some
sense. 1t is true, these may themselves
be interpreted as indications of hog
gishness'; if one were less in the hab.
1t of thinking of himself and his near
est concerns, and more in the habit
of wildly realizing the needs of 9th.
ers, he would have less inertia and
more imagination. He would see that
there would be infinitely more salts
faction in the consciousness that a
hundred homeless families were sue
cored from misery and despair than
there could possibly be in the acqui-
sition of the latest type of automobile
But that is not the way in which we
are in the habit of thinking of the
matter Most of us simply feel that
the little we should do If we did our
best would make so slight an impress
sion upon the total mass of wretched-
ness and restitution that it is hardly
worth while to do anything The rea-
soning is natural, but it is false"