The destruction of poverty

Front matter

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Chapter II

AN ERA OF CONFIDENCE.— This is the other side of the question, but on close examination it does not come up to the expectations. Confidence is not yet sufficient security for a loan of money.

CHAPTER HI.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?— The chances are that if we do not begin doing something very soon we shall not have an opportunity to do anything.

E PLURIBUS UNUM.— We may be able to find something to comfort us behind this escutcheon.

Chapter VII

E PLURIBUS UNUM (Continued).— We are on the right track, but, to be sure, let us look further into it.

i CHAPTER VIII. i

COORDINATE BRANCHES OF GOVERN- MENT.— How "E Pluribus Unum" should operate and how it does not.

Chapter IX

INDEPENDENCE.— There are some things not within reach of Independence, but there are also some things that cannot be taken away from it.

Chapter X

THE CRIMES OF INTERMEDDLERS.— There are too many busybodies interfering with our affairs. It is possible to get rid of them if we set about it in earnest.

SYNOPSiS. 15

Chapter XI

THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE.— The indications are that the right of suffrage will eventually be limited to a select few and the public thereby relieved of its burden.

CHAPTER XH.

POLITICS. — Some of our singular ways of utilizing the right of suffrage.

CHAPTER XIIL

MONEY. — The "root of all evil" appears to be a necessity. That being the case, we ought to know something about it. We may read something of it in this chapter, but there is much food for thought concerning it also.

CHAPTER XIV.

MONEY (Continued). — Too much honesty in money matters is injurious. There is no objection to a man being honest, but honesty need not destroy common sense.

CHAPTER XV.

A FINANCIAL PROBLEM.— There is no reason why a financial policy, successful at one time, should not be successful at another time under the same circumstances.

CHAPTER XVL

LABOR. — An insight into the nature of labor and some facts connected with its character as a scapegoat.

CHAPTER XVH,

LABOR (Continued). — The connection between Labor and Money; how that connection is severed and the consequences thereof.

CHAPTER XVHL

LABOR (Continued). — TIerein many things it would be well for Labor to omit. Labor should look up, not down.

CHAPTER XIX.

LABOR (Concluded). — What will happen if Labor would act instead of talk.

CHAPTER XX.

CORPORATIONS, TRUSTS, SYNDICATES.— A dissection of this new Trinity which is apostolicizing the whole earth.

CHAPTER XXI.

STRIKES, BOYCOTTS, LOCKOUTS. — The merits of this Trinity as a competitive Apostle of the one mentioned in the last chapter.

SYNOPSIS. 17

CHAPTER XXII.

ARRANT LAW. — Some persons imagine everything to be law that is called law. They will learn different in this chapter. Sometimes the law is itself more of a crime than its violation.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THROWING THE TEA OVERBOARD.— It is time to prepare for a new Declaration of Independence.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CHARITY. — Some reasons going to show that American citizens are not objects of charity.

CHAPTER XXV.

EDUCATION. — Education is quite proper when in the right direction. Generally speaking, it is an unsuccessful attempt to measure different kinds of brains on the same pattern.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE RIGHT TO LIVE.— The resurrection of this fundamental but forgotten right. Also the removal of certain doubts as to its efficacy.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE GLORY pF THE KING.— "Divine Right" and "Public Good" seem to have bridged the gulf between them and to be now hobnobbing like old friends.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

MODERN MARTYRS.— Showing that there are others besides the Roman Emperors who can manufacture martyrs.

CHAPTER XXIX.

SABBATISM. — Liberty of conscience does not mean that some are at liberty to choke others into their way of thinking.

CHAPTER XXX.

VIRTUE AND VICE.— The rediscovery of the lost dividing line between them.

CHAPTER XXXI.

WEALTH AND POVERTY.— This chapter is both true and untrue, depending upon the way it is looked at.

CHAPTER XXXIL

PESSIMISM— OPTIMISM.— Extremes meet, hence both may be "Calamity howlers."

CHAPTER XXXIII.

INFALLIBILITY OF THE HINDSIGHT.— Showing why we know more this week than we thought we knew last week.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY.— A consolatory chapter for the hungry.

SYNOPSIS. 19

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE UPSHOT.— Being what a man has a right to be and to do ; what he might do if he would, can do if he will, and ought to do because he can.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

SEIZING TPIE OPPORTUNITIES.— In the general grab game going on, we must not let everything get away from us.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE ONLY WAY.— That there is "only one way" to destroy Poverty is proven by the fact that nobody has ever discovered any other way.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE ONLY WAY (Concluded).— The result of following /'the only way," will be the annihilation of Poverty, and the destruction of many other unbearable things.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

RUBBISH CLEARED AWAY.— The failure of experimicntal schemes should put us on our guard a2;ainst mere theories.

"•fa

CHAPTER XL.

CHEAP MONEY— DEAR MONEY.— To prevent the people from suffering through "cheap money" they are not permitted to have any kind.

CHAPTER XLI.

PERPETUATING PREJUDICE.— David said in 1 his haste, "All men are liars," but the reader will say the same thing after mature delibera- | tion.

CHAPTER XLIL I

THE BLISTER ON A WOODEN LEG.— The j reader is expected to draw his own "Moral" \ from this chapter. j

THE

DESTRUCTION OF POVERTY

Chapter I. A Period Of Unrest

There is something radically wrong with mankind.

Hunger, Dyspepsia, Conscience, and perhaps

Remorse, give us Insomnia.

"And the kings of the earth' and the great men, and the rich men, and the great captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

''And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb."

— Revelation vi., 15-16.

That a condition of unrest exists in the whole world is attested by statesmen, politicians, clergymen and editors. The man v/ho reads as he runs, wonders at it, but the man who stops to think, deems it less a matter of surprise that the world should be in a condition of restless fermentation than that the reason of it should be left to conjecture. It is a disease brought on by known causes which could not be quarantined against, aggravated by the application of too many remedies in the hands of too many contrary schools of political, spiritual and intellectual physicians, most of them quacks.

Had the present condition of things existed vv^hen men were supposed to be wallowing in the slough of debased ignorance and semi-civilization, the earth would have been upheaved by revolutions to reform that unpleasant condition, and either death or a cure sought by every remedy possible to mankind. As it is at present, the very unrest of the world is intensified by the confessed inability of man to relieve it.

Men are taught that they have certain inalienable rights which they are privileged to enjoy unmolested by others, and certain individuals are periodically selected to see that those rights are respected. But the protection afforded proves to be no protection, for the reason that those who make it their business on earth to perpetually invade the rights and privileges of others, are so numerous and powerful, as well as persuasive, that the persons selected to protect, have themselves fallen into the clutches of the wrongdoers, obeying their behests, because they know very well that by sturdily standing up for the rights of those whom they are bound to protect, they would lose their positions and means of livelihood. . So it is that mankind are pulling in contrary directions, and there are as many contrary directions as there are nations, guilds, cliques, cabals, corporations, officials, trusts, contractors, political parties and candidates for public jobs. The sum and substance of it all is, the g-overnment and the governed are not in accord.

It must not be understood that the government, or rather the governing class — for government of itself is an irresponsible myth — is dissatisfied, or is sufifering

from the epidemic of unrest; on the contrary, it is the "governed" that exhibit all the virulence of dissatisfaction. All this comes from the fact, which is gradually dawning upon their minds, that they are not "governed," but "plucked" for the benefit of the others. This revelation produces a restless feeling, all the more distressing when it is considered that there is no re^nedy.

If there be a remedy to relieve this confessed condition of unrest, where is it, what is it?

We have a multitude of quacks, charlatans, mountebanks, theologians, politicians, statesmen, cranks, short-haired women and long-haired men, newspaper editors, and all manner of bunco steerers, constantly applying remedies ad nauseam — that is, they make one sick — but the more they dabble with humanity, the worse it becomes, and the wonder is, not that men are restless, but that mankind are not moribund, as they are penniless through liberal payments for the medicaments furnished to kill instead of cure.

It is a glorious and wonderful sight, this pyrotechnic bombardment of the earth with the blessings of civilization and doses of "higher life!" The fond expectations of the advocates of the mysterious higher life are being fully realized, and men are becoming so saturated with its beatitudes that they submit to every exaction without a murmur.

The slave was contented once upon a time, but grew restless and his chains fretted his limbs when he learned that his condition was one of misery and that freedom was his God-given prerogative and inalienable right. Now, the slavery of freedom has become apparent through the very education forced upon him to assert that freedom, and having reached the end, the limit of human ingenuity in destroying human bien etre there is nothing for it, but to either lead him up to the pious sweetness of bearing his yoke with patience, or, in default of persuading him to accept it on the score of patriotism, to use force to crush him down again into his ancient wallow and keep him there, a condition all the more agonizing, as he has been educated to understand his helplessness.

So goes the world from one extreme to another. |

Back and forth swings the pendulum of humanity, j

from barbarism to civilization and a so-called higher |

life, then back again to barbarism. i

Men are not accustomed to inflict pain upon them- !

selves voluntarily, nor revel in that which is unpleas- I

ant, and they do not wallow in the gutter of unrest i

of their own volition. It is not limited to the poor, to I

those who lie down at night and wonder whether the ;

birds will bring them needed food on the mgrrow, for \

those, whose needs and wants are supplied without j

stint and unlimited are afflicted with the prevalent i

universal dissatisfaction. A dread of the future hangs I

over all, a shadowy something appalls us, and we turn j

into every by-path of life to find relief, but do not find : it. Later on men will call upon the mountains and

rocks to fall upon them and hide them. Is the vision ;

of John in Revelation becoming a reality? ]

There never was a time when" the- poor were not |

anxious, but now those who are not poor feel a morbid j

sensation in their bosoms, a feeling that all is not I

right, that there is something wrong. Most truly i

there is, and as the world moves on the something I

which is wrong will increase in magnitude until it will j

overwhelm all of us. '

Conscience is working in the hearts of men, and they \

do not recognize it. We know what our next door |

neighbor is doing; we know what he lacks and we i

know also that we can supply what he lacks without j

endangering our own comfort, but we hesitate to in- |

terfere, and finally decline altogether to aid him. The !

rankling thought, however, remains, we feel that we i

have erred, sinned, or at least we comprehend within ;

ourselves that we have done wrong, and we do other I

A PERIOD OF UNREST. 25

wrong acts to smother the first one. In spite of the social maxim: "Every one for himself and the Devil take the hindmost," our soul tells us that we have misconstrued our duty. But we go on in the same way, ever wishing but never doing. We weep, but amusement dries our tears. Opportunities come and go, and our conscience continues to gnaw in our breasts and we feel restless. Go sell all thou hast and give to the poor. A harsh command, and we think to find comfort in the fact that the poor we have always with us, forgetting that their very poverty is our ovv^n doing.

There are other and outside influences at work to destroy our peace of mind, and bring insomnia to our pillows. The dread of the future is injected into our veins, and causes a fever of horrid anticipation. We might be cured, but, alas! the multiplicity of remedies in the hands of quacks and charlatans. It is: "Here, Lord, there Lord," and he is nowhere.

We cannot find the .truth. jNIen tell us what truth is, and when we accept it, others tell us that it is untruth, so our minds wander aimlessly, and like drowning men we catch at opinion's straws, but continue to drown.

The rain falls upon the just and upon the unjust; churches, synagogues, religious assemblies, and the innocent are struck by lightning and swept away by storms, while the man of dreadful oaths enacts the role of Ajax with impunity. When the Lord's w^ork does not agree with ours, it becomes the Devil's work. Children war with each other but unite to defraud their parents; parents scofr at and mock those they brought into the v/orld; husbands and wives jangle, and fret at the holy bonds which they once accepted with pleasure, and, unable to bear any more of each other, break loose in an explosion of scandal; our courts of justice teem with cases of wholesale and retail robberies, extortions and wrongs, perpetrated and permitted under the rule of preponderance of evidence. Millions devoted to charity are withheld from the victim with pressing needs, until she swallows poison and hurries before the face of God to accuse the Pharisees that sent her there. The enforced statutory amalgamation of men and women, with its mountain of bitter fruits, seductions, debaucheries, infanticides and suicides, has turned into a river of sewage that is overflowing its banks. The concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, the business of the world controlled by syndicates, the compression of money into a value beyond the reach of the impoverished, the centralization of power, authority, government, and the apotheosis of the perpetual officeholder give rise to anxious thoughts.

All these things and their outgrowths have brought upon the world a sensation of anxiety, of unrest. The man with a small wage chafes at his chain of bondage because he sees nothing beyond, neither for himself nor for his children; and in the souls and consciences of those who brought about this condition, there is a feeling that to attain it the damnation of the people was too high a price, it is beginning to react upon them, and so they are restless.

We have put our hands to the plow and cannot look back, and whether for evil or good, for wrong or right, we travel the furrow helpless, not even a general election can help us. It is undertaking too large a contract to strike for the rights of all mankind, when the rights of American citizens ought to be the sole objects of our solicitude. By wandering away into other fields while our own are lying fallow, we are adding so much unnecessary weight to our burdens that the strain of supporting it begins to chafe.

It is evident that the kings of the earth are trembling on their thrones, and that their heads lie uneasy beneath their crowns, but we do not read that their subjects are uneasy or trembUng on that account.

A PERIOD OF UNREST. 2^

They are apathetic, indifferent, for their status is fixed, the divine right hangs over them hke a pall, and it is of no consequence whether one or another king rules over them, they are helpless and beyond the means of redressing their wrongs. They are beginning to realize that the pomp of royalty is maintained by the blood of the people, pressed out of them as is wine from the grapes in a wine press. Occasionally their blood ferments like the other expressed juice, and the fermentation produces anarchy. So the kings tremble, but they continue to press out the life blood of their subjects, and with it keep their royal robes up to the proper standard of color. The dagger of an assassin reaches the heart of a noble-hearted queen, who is made the victim of the wrongs inflicted by others. "The assassin originates in the filth of the gutters, is of a slimy, degraded parentage." Well, who dug those gutters and filled them with filth? Who maintains the disgraceful parentage that produces vile assassins? Is not the life of a vagrant as valuable to him as that of a king? Is not the life of the poor crushed out to maintain kings in splendor? Wherefore, then, should not the lives of kings be sacrificed to give the poor bread? We pity and regret, but why should we sympathize? We have naught in common with efifete systems, and if they would avoid trembling, let them consider the people as something more than victims fit only for oppression.

What are the thoughts of the starving subjects of a royal despot, when they read that the venerable Pontiff of Rome has been able to accumulate during his short pontificate a private fortune of twenty millions of dollars? Do the}^ rejoice at his good fortune, or do they grind their teeth in impotent rage at their own miseries? It is not envy nor is it jealousy that makes them rebel, it is want. If, therefore, the man of God lays up to himself treasures of earth, what do not do those who know no God but their own vanity?

Anarchy, in the United States, is not even surmisable. We are all anarchists, for we pull down and build up to our heart's content. We make the laws and change them as we will. Every election is an upheaval, a revolution, ofttimes a bloody riot. We change, reform, alter, subvert, remodel the government according to our fancies. We never get it just right, so we keep on eternally taking it apart, patching and repairing it. We abuse, villify, calumniate, destroy our rulers with impunity, for we put them over us and we can pull them down again if dissatisfied with them. They toady to us, tickle our vanity, pander to our wishes, buy us with beer and promises, all to continue in the job of ruling us. Wliat more can anarchy do or have? We need no daggers or bombs, the ballot is our weapon, hence, we smile at the red fiag and wonder why the kings tremble when it waves in the breeze. Our unrest is not on account of our system, for vv^e are the people. Our fear is the other way — we are afraid of the kings and we do the trembling, lest they destroy our system and our privileges. With us it is the king who is an anarchist, for he is subverting our system and forging upon our lim.bs the chains of financial slavery. Our kings are known by their bank accounts, and not by their pomp, fuss and feathers. Their dirone is incorporated according to law, and we car.Uot pull it down; if we did, it would fall upon and crush us also. We need our kings and they need us, and when that truth is brought clearly to our understanding there will be no unrest here.

CHAPTER n.

AN ERA OF CONFIDENCE.

This is the other side of the question, but on close examination it does not come up to the expectations. Confidence is not yet sufficient security for a loan of money.

"Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole."

— St. Matthew ix., 22.

It matters not who makes the statement, nor when or where it is made^ it is a fact that: The era of confidence has not yet arrived. Indeed it is so far ofi that it has becorrie part of .the mythical millennium. But confidence is a good shibboleth, and serves to fill many a coffer that would be empty if the word were taken at its true meaning. The fact is, those who make the greatest outcry about confidence are the ones who prevent its return.

Suppose confidence should actually exist? Then the world would be honest, for, when all is said, the question of confidence is one of honesty or dishonesty, whether that confidence relate to religion, law, politics or finance. There never was a period in the history of the earth when all men vv^ere honest; there was always more or less roguery, cheating, deception, double deahng and the like. In those not-quite-sobad-as-our days, it m.ay be said that there were some dishonest men; now^ we are proud to say: "There are some honest men." Mark the shade of difference. The situation resembles a chemical substitution, or metalepsis. Here is the formula:

Honesty Dishonesty.

Dishonesty Honesty.

The radical "honesty" of the first term follows its affinity ''honesty" in the second place of the second term, which is the condition of the formula in these fin-de-siecle days, which leaves "dishonesty" as the radical. Thus, when acetate of lead and sulphate of zinc are compounded, the mixture becomes acetate of zinc by metalepsis, the sulphur and lead falling to the bottom of the jar in an insoluble compound, useless for any practical purpose. Thus it is that dishonesty has drawn to itself all the other assimilable elements, and becomes the dominant radical, whereas honesty is the useless powder at the bottom.

Let us see whether or not this is true ;

There was certainly a time when the line between honesty and dishonesty was sharply defined, and an easily recognized barrier up to which men could march boldly and make mouths at the other side without danger of falling over. But, to-day, not only the line, but its location is lost and there is no modern surveyor who can re-locate it even if he were permitted to do so. True, attempts are made, but the road traveled is extremely zigzag, and, owing to a diversity of opinions, it is impossible to lay a straight line. There are so many questions of personal interest involved, such a variety of unpleasant results liable to ensue, that men have become indisposed to accept them when adverse to their interests.

One test, however, which seems to be accepted by common consent is in the adjudication of a court, or the verdict of a jury; yet, even then, those fori are rejected as untrustv/orthy, when grave questions are

AN ERA OF CONFIDENCE. 31

involved, and arbitration resorted to in the place thereof. Wherefore, if a man be acquitted by the verdict of a jury, the decision of a court, or that of arbitrators, he is honest, but if otherwise, he is manifestly dishonest. So great, however, is the general lack of confidence that it requires the ultimate finding of a court of last resort to determine a man's moral condition. We are doing everything by law, and the forum conscientiae is abolished, even in courts of equity which are bound down by the rigid rules of law. This is the condition we have been brought to, a condition in which moral doctrine weighs not a feather in our affairs, but the operation of human law is made the sole test. We have rendered to Caesar, but we have forgotten God. We are not dishonest, because a court, jury or board of arbitrators so determine, but in case of a new trial or reversal on appeal the honest man again becomes dishonest and vice versa. All of which is pure metalepsis.

This is no laughing matter, on the contrary it is of grave importance to ascertain the cause of the present universal lack of confidence. With the cause hidden, there can be ho remedy applied, no blister put upon it to restore it to its normal condition. All are fishing for it, so let us follow suit and drop our lines in the same puddle, perhaps we can hook our fish by bobbing for it, or at least "snag" it.

It requires more than the acquisition of wealth by a few citizens to establish an era of confidence and belief in prosperity. The man who has not acquired anything possesses a different opinion about the matter, and the man who loses becomes a confirmed pessimist and a calamity howler. That the balance of trade with Europe is two or three hundred millions of dollars in our favor, or that our wheat crop is the most enormous the country ever saw, is not the standard that justifies the man out of work in throwing up his hat and hurrahing for prosperity, as some of our financial wiseacres expect him to do, there is not and cannot be any general welfare where there is private destitution. To be fair, it should be said that the dissatisfaction of a few citizens and their inability to make both ends meet, or their failure to borrow money to tide them over in some scheme, does not indicate a lack of confidence, any more than the success of a few individuals creates confidence. A few failures do not indicate universal ruin, nor does one swallow make a summer.

The banks are overflowing with gold. Well, what is that to me? I am out of work and cannot therefore get any gold. So far as I am concerned, it may as well not be there. If there were very little money in the banks I should feel more encouraged, for my common sense would tell me that it is in circulation, invested, and that I stand a chance of earning -some.

It is often heralded in the newspapers: "Millions of coin coming here to pay for our enormous wheat crop. Farmers are rejoicing." Shortly afterwards the same papers shout: "Banks overflowing with money." Where does the farmers' jubilation come in? What connection is there between him and the millions and the overflowing banks? He can get the money out just like anyone else, if he has any there, but he has not. Farmers sell their Wheat for cash, they do not and can not wait for any returns from Europe, any more than labor waits for its wages until the employer has sold the product of his labor, or a baker waits for his money for bread until it has benefited the consumer. AH of this money belongs to the speculators. It does not add a baubee's worth to prosperity, nor relieve the farmer from next interest day or next year's taxes. He does not get ahead any more than does the laborer. If this money were his, as newspaper editors imagine, he would be ahead, but the facts are that he is always behind. A stranger, unaccustomed to our absurd fabrications, would imagine

AN ERA OF CONFIDENCE. 33

from the hulabaloo over these periodical showers of gold, that our laborers and farmers are receiving princely incomes, whereas in truth and in fact they are all living from hand to miouth.

All this hubbub about confidence and prosperity is a dream, a mere fancy, a fabrication manufactured out of whole cloth, like the fictitious rating of a merchant anxious to obtain a loan by false pretenses. When labor is regarded as money, and when we read that every man able to work can find work and is working at living wages, then will be the time to hurrah for prosperity. The writer, in several successive years, has stood in the midst of six hundred miles of cornfields that were left standing as not worth the gathering. This, too, when corn was high on the Atlantic seaboard and in Europe, and when the newspapers were shouting "prosperity, lucky farmers," and other balderdash. The farmers could not get enough for their corn to pay for the plucking, so it went to waste. Again, he has seen thousands upon thousands of acres of good wheat, under like circumstances, cut for hay, enabling the lucky farmer to get back the price of the seed out of a 'crop he could not have sold for that, although the whole world was howling ''prosperity," and "millions of money" were coming over, and the banks were stuffed full of it. Prosperity and confidence cannot be manufactured out of wind, and there is too much poverty, too much starvation, to create confidence in newspaper or political prosperity. The mere possession of money is not prosperity, nor does it create it; a miser is not prosperous, but a laborer who has work and no money may be both prosperous and have confidence, for he knows that pay day will come. The beauty of virtue makes it lovable for its own sake, and it may be said that confidence begets confidence, but it does not produce work or wages, nor furnish bread and meat. Like all other beautiful sentiments in poetry, it is Impractical. It is giving a man a