Evening star., 1939-01-15


board And out of that salary they had to
buy all their clothes and every other thing
that they needed
Many great men we're born out of such
great tribulation" because perhaps they had
the driving power of poverty
There we're no free schools" then. My
father had to pay tuition for me and for my
sister, and we walked three miles through the
mud to log cabin where one lady taught
everything from B C's to Latin. never
knew what an overcoat or umbrella was.
Compare this with all the modern comforts
and convenences in our magnificent public
school buildings today, with free textbooks
and an automobile bus calling at.the door at
public expense to take children to and from
the school!
But why keep on? The differences went all
through the social and economic strata in
those days there was real depression.
Now we are all "gong to the poorhouse in
automobiles - The more we have, the more
we complain. 1t takes prosperity to make
communists.
When l was in my teens, did the hardest
year S work that any man could ever do, seek
ing to get money to 60 to college; and at the
end of the year when had paid all my bills
l had exactly ST. 46 left for my twelve months
OF labor.
Hard years? Yes. But those were the most
valuable years of my life. Those early days
gave me physical constitution that makes
me young in my sixties. Life is strangely COM
pensative. My struggles made me love work
and made up my mind to become indepen-
dent in my old age.
l asked thirteen year old boy the other
day, How much is mans salary" and he
promptly answered. What he saves. There
is hope for this generation when thirteen
year old boy can give an answer like that.
But what is the matter with America? Is it
lack of money or manhood? Do we need less
load or more horse? Is our trouble within or
without Look without - and what do We
see? Better homes, better streets. better roads,
bigger and better Libraries. more schools and
better advantages in all grades of education.
more and better equipped hospitals. an in
creased number of charitable institutions and
organizations. more educated people, more
amusements and sports, more luxury. and in
short, more of everything than ever before
in the history of our country. So the trouble
must be within. If we could only get our
selves in hand. and not act like lot of
spoiled. pampered children. we should soon
put this country where it ought to be-
We need self-imposed discipline and regard
for the rights of every man. We are trying to
build men through their bellies rather than
through their brains. What man is. is far
more important than what he has. and we
need to work on ourselves.
If we want to build structures that will
stand the storms of life, we must put our
sweat into the mortar.
We cannot buy our way out of this depres-
sion, we have got to work it out
You know the old story of the woman who
thought money was everything: when she was
advised to take her daughter out of college
because the girl Lacked capacity" the
mother retorted, Give it to her - will pay
for it."
1t may be a good thing to have what money
can buy, but it is a tragedy beyond expression
to fail to have what money cannot buy.
After ALL character makes coin; coin doesn't
make character You will never fill the pantry
by cultvating vicious appetite: and you can
never destroy a person who learns self-control.