The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-10-13
THURSDAY, OCTOBER IS, 1921.
THE SUBMERGED NlnE.rgNrAs

2oiiie years ago the sympathy of |
the world was stirred by a book and
much discussion of the Submerged
Tenth 1t was the story of the
hardships supposed to be en-
dured by somewhere approximately
TENTH of the population and the
claim that they were ground down
and robbed and abused by the other
nine-tenths.
There may have been little truth
in the yarn 25 or 80 years ago but
there isn't much today 1t is the
nine-tenths that is submerged and
needful OF help.
Nlne-tenths of the people of the
United States work Regularly, obey
the laws, keep reasonably sober, sup.
port their families and behave them
selves generally. They never go to
prison or the poor-house and when
there is money to be raised or work
to be done they are the ones on whom
the job falls.
Some few of them save their money
and get prosperous or even ritl in
Their old age when they can't have
much fun anyway and the others man.
age to support themselves and their
families, send their children to school,
pay their taxes, support the schools
and the CHURCHES and leave the world
a little better than they found It,
The other tenth of the population
is the part that causes most OF our
troubles 1t is composed of two
groups, those at the bottom and few
who consider themselves at the top,
though all the claim the latter have
to top place is that they possess a
lot OF money which they do not know
how to use wisely.
The group at the bottom is made up
mostly of those who lack the energy
and ambition to try to, better their
own condition by industry and thrift.
Most OF them are too shiftless TO
work regularly or to stick to anything
long enough to make place for
themselves. They are always com
planning that they are abused and op
pressed by the rest of us aud are for
ever demanding something that they
have not earned and do not deserve
The ether group is equally worth
less. They have money which r1e.
did not earn and which they spent
only in trying to crafty their desires
to cater to grosser appetites or to lit
themselves into places for which the
are not fitted.
Not all the rich nor all the poor arr
Iby any means to be included IN thi
troublesome tenth. People wlo hay
gained wealth by business ability, b.
thrift and hard work are the ma
stay of civilization. They are tn
ones who have the capacity to bull
up business to furnish employment
flor others-a market for labor and
market for products. The create
;. part Of the poor are equally decen
and are trying by work and self dc
nal to make ends meet and to in
prove their station.
The dangerous tenth is tiat portio'
of the population who are poor, shift
less, idle and vicious or who are ricl
and debesed selfish, full of pride an'
hypocrisy and contemptuous of TIL
rights of others.
The greatest load the world has tt
carry is this troublesome tenth, Tle1
are always on our back in one way OIL
another. They are the ones which
keep the police force busy and fill thu
prisons, jails and alms-houses. They
are the ones for whom laws have t
be made and enforced. Half the ei
forts of civilized man are directed
toward efforts to aid and uplilt those
who will not even try to lelp them
selves, and the other hat toward try
ing to restrain those whose energy Is
aimed only toward evil, vice and ex
cess.
The submerged tenth is hum
hug. 1t is the nihe-tenths who are
submerged by the care and response
bility inflicted by the burden of the
one tenth. If tie time ever comes
when the nine'tenths who work and
endeavor can be relieved of the load
of carrying the one.tenth, and of SUI
fering from their misdoings, then old
earth viii hump along toward the
millennium at rate hitherto impos
siblc.
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