The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-03-10
Howe About:
Your Servants
Handling Lawsuits
MeanneSS
By ED HOWE

| presents, although certainly half OF
them were intended for the husband
| | object to a LOT Of things. and re
ceive little encouragement; but when
like a man. and have present for
him. | give ii to him.
| | was once making journey on an
| ocean steamship. and an idle fellow
estimated there were seven servants
TO wait on every passenger.
| have often wondered how many
servants are necessary TO supply the
wants of the ordinary citizen.
To attend him when ne Is born and
when be is buried: to teach him his
| letters. and later details of education;
to bring him iuxuries and necessities
from near and distant place: to preach
to him; to doctor him; to regulate his
conduct at street crossings and at
other dangerous places; TO supply his
clothing, food. fuel. and entertainment
in love. literature. art, and beverages:
to pump water for his bath: to build
his house and keep ii in repair. ETC.
Probably the average man has two
or three servants In his private EN-
ploy, If we count the seconds. min
utes. or hours thousands devote to him.
farmer waits on himself good
deal. | saw a statement lately that
there are thirty million persons in this
country earning their living from the
production of food supplies, as against
fifty million earning their living from
supplying the various wants of the
farmers. So even every farmer has
two servants TO feed and pay, and
fuss with because they do not earn
their money.
These servants we all have are
Working Men so much heard about;
J particularly in connection with twelve
million of them being out of jobs at
present.
1t is charged against writer's that
there are very few good ones. For
nine hundred years. from the time
when Augustine wrote his "City Of
God" until Dante wrote the "Divine
Comedy" not single writer appeared
in Europe whom any person reads to-
day or should read.
The fallow period was longer. so far
as | am concerned. have been
reader many years without seeing a
copy of Augustines "City of Cod" or
hearing anyone mention it. So far as
Dante's Divine Comedy" is concerned,
know what II is about, and have tried
to read 1t. and failed.
There is excuse for Shakespeare; he
is an unidentified genius no one has neg
lected to appreciate l have heard the
commonest men quote him all my life.
as he wrote about real things real men
can understand and may benefit from,
but millions of his imitators deserve
the fire. The ancients burned worth
less books: If the present winter Is a
hard one we might initiate them. and
use our worthless books for heating
and cooking instead of more useful
corn.
am of the opinion that lawyers,
! Judges and courthouses combined make
| <
probably rank highest as the class pro-
ducing our smartest average men, but
they have built up system that has
become very burdensome, and In most
cases unnecessarily so. The system is
specially mischievous in that 1t en-
courages and cultivates our natural
habit of quarreling.
Is there any remedy? | once found
one. man said | had damaged his
adjoining lot with building ] was
erecting. thought he was unreason.
able. and made this proposition to him:
We would ask the Judge of the district
conrt during the noon hour to walk
over the ground. 1 would present my
side of the case In five minutes: my
neighbor to do the same. He agreed,
and the in 'ge walked over the ground
with us as proposed. The Judge said
! that in his Judgment there was no
cause of action. We thanked him !;
and a case that might have cost thou
sands of dollars. much III feeling and
loss of time, was settled In FIVE min
utes.
The Judge was good man; he Ia
ter became chief justice of the Su-
preme court of Kansas.
Formerly the great effort of men and
women was to attain wealth, distinc-
ton, education, gentility, usefulness;
now it is to get notoriety In the news
papers.
Writers are doing unusually bold
things now; | note that one makes
fun of that old sob about what q boy
learns at his mothers knee That is
one of the sob stories 1 have always
respected.
Everyone admires children who are
respectful TO parents. And II
NAV be added that parents to whom
such respect is shown have much to
do with It: children are always impa.
tient with weak parents.
People have so many natural trou.
bles they cannot possibly get rid of
that the greatest crime is congress
imposing troubles on them totally IN.
necessary.
wave of lynchings sweeping over
this country of ours would not be
as disgraceful as the present wave
of crimes of violence; law and order
have been attacked with steel and pow
der. but good citizens do nothing but
rattle wooden swords.