The St. Joseph observer., 1921-11-26
FooING TIE PEOPLE ALL THE
TINE


The great Abraham Lincoln once
said that God must have loved the
common people for he made so many
OF them--and these self same COM
mon people will Of course be in full
sympathy and accord with the present
leadership which has come to suspect
ere eating too much bread and but
ter" wearing too much clothing,
burning too much fuel building too
many homes. enjoying altogether too
much of tho comfort and pleasure
that life affords. They are getting
more OF the good things OF life than
q good for them. or good for the rest
OF the country--for that fortunate
and favored segment OF the population
which 1t is the peculiar province of
the republican party to represent.
They must learn to do with less, to do
without. Since they will not learn OF
their own volition. why not use the
Al
1t is now our province to wonder IL
the defenders OF this procedure have
also noticed that Washington dispatch
telling that "statisticians for the gov
ernmeut have laborod hard to bring
the relative figures as to military eX-
pendtures and the amounts spent by
l.. -.
ments and minor luxuries out so
sharply that their significance can be
seen at a glance"
The purpose is obvious. II the peo-
pie would do without "amusements
and minor luXuries" which they really
do not need which is gross extrava-
gance, there would be so much more
money available for them to pay in
taxes to the government
The "statisticians for the govern
ment" tell us very severely, that while
we are complaining about "militar-
ism" we spent last year only AIS mill
lion dollars for the army, while at the
same time we, the prodigal and fool
fish and seif-indulgent people. spent
B34 millions for soda and corrections,
$50 millions for perfumery, Jew,lry,
silk stockings and other articles OF
personal adornment, S97 millions for
baseball, thcatcrs. concerts, etc, and
I,l51 millions for tobacco.
s.,c1-., ,.t-,g.f,,r
government" sick at heart why
should the common people be left to
regale themselves with lemon pop and
peppermints? Why should the wom-
en- adorn themselves? What right.
really. has a day laborer to the solace
OF My Lady Nicotine? why should
clerks and working girls be permitted,
unchallenged Of government, to spend
money for the magic and mystery and
romance OF thaaters and movies that
take them out oc their hard every day
lives? What good is perfumery, any
how and as for silk stockings isn't
wool ever 50 much warmer?
l-IuStlAlNr IflllallS' We small ne lOlu
brutslly that the province Of the COM
mon people is 10 work hard and pro-
ouco largely hut to consume only
enough TO keep them strong enough
T. 90 more work. The difference be-
tween large production and small
consumption they should save and
turn over to be used by those who
know ever so much better than they
how to get the most out OF money and
wcalth.
The prophets OF normalcy are in
the saddle. They are having the time
Of their lives. Their audacity is such
as to make Mark Hanna and Nelson
W. Aldrich turn over in their graves
But we wonder n they ever stop tc
think that there is another election
day coming, when some 10000. .0OC
voters. at least 39,OOOOOO OF them
common people will meet them ir
battle array.