Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1935-01-17
THE DOLE:
An Experiment In Asphyxiatlon
(By JOHN A. STAHLBERG)

To anyone who has studied human
nature and its ways there Is appall-
ing significance In the fact that In
our country today nearly twenty
millions OF human being must exist
In the knowledge that they cannot
support themselves. Humiliation fla
vors the food they eat, and hovers
like a sickening odor about the
clothing they wear. Even the milk
they give their babies Is tainted by
the gross roulness OF Ostentatious
public charity. Each grudging dol
lar that they receive, each dime that
they spend as they are told to spend
1t, is paid for with a certain loss of
self-respect, a certain weakening OF
the spiritual fiber, a certain mental
and moral disintegration. Charity
may be an uplifting and %ennobling
experience for the giver Though
even that is a little doubtful,) but 1t
certainly does not uplift or ennoble
the recipient. II 1t continues over
any considerable period it can end
only by utterly destroying whatever
human dignity he may possess.
Therefore the dole must go.
No doubt there are people who
have already become accustomed to
having their incomes, their expendi-
lures, and almost their digestive pro-
cesses, determined for them by some
stupid old maid in some stuffy old
Office,-pe0ple who would resent be
Ing asked to go out and earn a liv-
ing. They are lost. They are the
noc,,otG1c 10 this pr1ln ovnorfpo0nf
In spiritual as~phyxiation. The only
thing to do with them Is to give
them decent care until they are waf-
ted to the sweet by and by. But
what about the rest OF us? Are not
some OF us worth saving?
| daresay that at least eighteen
millions, OF the twenty or more who
will be on the dole before spring, are
eager enough for a chance to pay
their way SO that II the dole were
definitely discontinued tomorrow af-
ternoon they would say farewell to
It with shouts Of Joy and a hearty
kick In the pants. For each individ-
ual among these millions, as well as
for myself, say to all who are In
authority, real or imagined, from
Hicktown to Washington and back
again: In Gods name, give US work
to do! We do not want to be sup
ported, we cannot endure much
more of this relief" 1t has ire
lieved" us already OF too much OF
what is best In us! Away with It!
Stick 1t in the sewer. pack 1t off to
hell, do precisely what you like with
It, but give us WORK! We want to
earn our living, we want to eat
bread untainted by the awful smell
OF charity,-hOnest bread,-bread un-
spoiled by anything worse than the
sweat OF our brows. We want to JUS
tify our existence, we want to pro
duce, we want to build! Some OF us
even use a more ambitious term, and
say that we want to create; but
whatever term we use 1t means that
we are eager to leave oldmaidishness
to the old maids, parasitism to the
parasites. barrenness to the barren
in body and mind! We want to en-
able the Almighty to look down on
us without blushing for what He
created!
We have heard a great deal about
I0fOlutlOA III iCSCht yCoAo ahOce ~
from professional blowhards and
~blatherskites. But there Is such a
thing as being driven to rebellion.
Usually, in my wrestles with the
typewriter, | confine myself to the
present and the past; but just here
l shall venture upon prophecy. l
predict that If the present situation
continues there WILL be revolution,
and 1t will NOT be a revolution OF
blowhards and blatherskites. This
revolution, when 1t comes, will be a
revolt Of ordinary everyday decency
against the threat of ~degeneracy,
and against imported Continental
European notions OF authority. 1t
will be engineered by the sort OF
people who have thus far refrained
from talking much about revolution.
1t will be led by men Of tense and
courage and determination, and 1t
will take all our amiable Cbunglers
and chairwarming incompetents,
from Canada to the Gulf and from
Cape Cod to the Golden Gate, and
put them where they car inflict no
further harm and humiliation upon