Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1916-12-14


Problem May be Solved In so
Or 500 Years Says DIR. Neaaing
Over 2,400 people-as many as could
be packed into all the seats of the Acad-
emy of Music, Baltimore, from pit to gal
lery asked DR.. Scott Nearing for bread
Sunday afternoon, and he gave them a
choice collection of highly polished. scin-
tillating verbal pebbles He had to; by
his own admission there is no immediate
remedy in sight for the high cost of liv-
ing, which was the subject of his Open
Forum address that the 2400 had appar-
emily expected would light up the whole
mystery. The best immediate remedy
he could think of he gave to man who
o;e in the audience and said he
agreed with DR.. Nearing's theories about
industrial democracy, but what was he
going to do about the poor man who need
ed a square meal right at that very min
ute?
''My advice to that poor man, said
DR.. Nearing, 'is that he go out in the
street and borrow quarter from some
body and get bowl of SOUP
Eager for some terse, cogent opinion
from this economist that would settle in
their minds definitely the most vexing
question of the day, the audience hurled
questions at DR.. Nearing from front seats
and gallery, asking him about food boy
colts. Government ownership and every
thing else under the sun. He answered
them all up to o'clock, and then had to
admit himself victim of the system that
he had previously declared is rapidly driv-
ing the nation to financial imperialism. y
He had to catch train, thereby contrib
uting his bit to the 5000, 1000, 900 that he
said the "unintelligent, uncivilized, un-
Christian people of the country were
paying every year to the stock and bond
holders in the railroads, making "cinch
jobs" possible and driving further be-
yond the pale of realization that "indus-
trial democracy" which he had said was
the only possible remedy for the high
cost of living.
Isn't it time for campaign for high
er wages?" asked one man.
"The only effect of that will be to
raise prices higher" answered DR..
Nearing.
"Is food boycott undemocratic' ask
ed another.
"Not so undemocratic as it is stupid, y
answered DR.. Nearing, because you've
got to eat again some time.
"Are embargoes or the seizure of stor-
age warehouses feasible remedies?" queri-
ed third
DR.. Nearing thought that neither of
those ideas was worth while. "What
you do today" he said, must relate to
what you want eventually in the way of
a permanent reform.
"Why can't the legislative department
of the government settle the problem?''
was another question. DR.. Nearing bris-
tied up and got his whole battery into
action.
Because tn 2 people who sent Cong ress-
men to Washington don't want it settl-
ed," he snapped. 1.-The congressman
will do just what they were elected to
do, and that is to see toit that the farm
ers and manufacturers get theirs and a
little bit more. haven't any patience
with people who profess disappointment
that Congress doesn't appear to be look
ing out for the interest of common folks.
If you hadn't brains enough to know
when you voted for them just how little
you could expect along that line you have
no kick coming
DR.. Nearing's theory of the reason for
the high cost Of living and the remedy
for it was none the less clear because it
was unsatisfactory to his worried audi
encs. 1t began with the people themsel-
yes, he said. They had surrounded them
selves with wrong theories of living. The
Young men want "cinch jobs" and the
young women wanted to marry men who
would save them from the necessity of
housework. People had come to the
point where they bought clothes or fur
niture not because they needed them, but
because their neighbors had them. Life
in the United States was more of "war
against neighbors, than anything else.
"If the 15-inch guns that people are
hoping will guard our coasts could be
turned in toward Wall street" said DR..
Nearing, There might be some hope.'
Still further "hope," he declared, lay
in an awakening of the national intelli-
gence to the necessity of. distribution
among the people of the land, the busi-
ness interests and the profits of the ma
ton, making producers out of the hold
ers of "cinch jobs" and real help meets
out of the women who married to escape
washing and ironing.
But-and there was the rub-that would
take SO years (Dr. Nearing smiled when
he said iD, perhaps 500 years, at which
time living problems will have been fully
solved, at least for yesterdays audience.
Sun.