The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-03-13
GILBERG ON H. C. OF L.
He Tells Central Church Congregation
How to Reduce 1t.

! The doctrine of municipal stor-
age plant as panacea for the hlgh
/ cost of living was presented to the
Brotherhood of the Central Congre-
gational church Monday night by Ike
! Gilberg. Following Gilbargs speech
| a discussion of the effects of the
| H. c. of L. and the proposed remedy,
lasting two hours and participated in
by nearly all members present, oc-
Cured. Following the Introduction
by DIR. Sheldon, Miss Rose GilberG
sang~several songs
Gilberg' s pronouncement that
things which concern the life ana
death in society, should be controlled
directly by society not by individuals
received applause.
| Gilberg said in part:
II am certainly glad to take ad-
vantage of an opportunity to speak
before your brotherhood. l am too
democratic to be honored: but | feel
gratified that l can plead Tor those
who cannot plead Tor themselves. we
are now undergoing cycle in hui
man development, the most critical
in all the history of man. The stand
ard of living is so demorallZing and
debauching in society that perhaps it
will take several generations to over
come it. Because of the high cost of
living the struggle for existence is
becoming keener and keener, no one
can be trusted with friendship and
truth. Men, women and children are
starving in our cities.
| I'm the city of Topeka, all of the
workers receiving a wage of from Is
to 25 cents an hour, are positively
denied the right to furnish food sup
plies such as potatoes, butter and
meat to their wives and children in
a country where milk and honey
flows freely. Men are discouraged,
desert their families and positions. 1t
is the first time in American history
for men who labor in their full time
capacity to be unable to supply for
themselves and their families their
necessary wants. Stretch your inn
agination, if you please, to the home
where a man is earning $500 per
day, with six children in the family,
for there is no race suicide there
See the luxurious food, potatoes
at the price of So a bushel, Csc to
35c for bacon, 15c a pound for beans
and the same for rice, not speaking
of clothing, not speaking of shoes and
other necessary things that have ad-
vanced more than zoo per cent in a
country of plenty. 1 wish to be re-
sponsible for making the statement
that unless living conditions will come
down within the reach of the common
mans wages, you will witness murder,
crime, debauch and all the good work
which the church has done in the
last fifty years will disappear like the
snow ball on a July day.
the manipulators of foodstuff and
other commodities of life have it with
in their power to say how much we
shall drink, eat, and wear by their
power to set the price on the COM
modities necessary for use. There is
no agency employed in society that is
so destructive to social organism and
its moral aspect than the lash of des-
titution. When any one says that
nothing can be done to relieve this
economic depression, he is either ig-
norant of economic laws, or plays the
minion into the hands of the manipu-
la. orS who are Sapping the life blood
of society itself and fills its Golfers
with money wrung from an economic
disarrangement.
Il claim that the city can and must
come to the relief by playing the
manipulators' game. The cities must
buy food stuff and sell it to the people
of Topeka like other cities are doing
| claim we can do without electric
lights as We have done before they
came into existence. 1 claim we can
get along without gas and use tallow
candies II necessary, but l do claim
that We can not get along without
potatoes and other foodstuffs neces-
sary Tor the sustenance of life When
ever the cities refuse to play a part in
helping to solve the high cost of liv-
ing, L assure you that revolt is inevi-
table. 1t was the cry for bread that
gave birth to the song of the Mar
SellaiSe.
. When the cities build municipal
storage plants, buying potatoes at the
original price SO cents a bushel SELL
ing to the grocer for 20 cents and set
ting the retail price at 80 cents the
nightmare of SO potatoes will disap-
, pear from the markets. When the
cities buy coal from the mines at
$3.50 a ton, $3.50 and 81 prices will
disappear from the market.
In conclusion, permit me to plead
with you not to condemn men because
conditions gave them an opportunity
to be bad, but let destroy conditions
that makes possible for these men to
be bc-I Let us not put men in jails
for their wicked deeds, but let us de-
story the conditions that make jails
for evil men. 1t is not on any personal
impulse that 1 am pleading to you. II
is the cry of the neglected woman
and child thot speaks thru me, plead
ing with you to play your part to help
; make the lot of the unfortunate fbetter
/ morrow than it is today