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THE ATLANTIAN
7
About Park Benches
Is there a public park in your town, and does it con
tain benches bearing a legend to this effect: “These
benches are for the exclusive use of women and chil
dren?” ;|;g|
Offhand it seems to us that we can remember seeing
that legend on benches in about a thousand parks; and
we cannot remember ever having seen a solitary bench so
designated on which men and boys did not sit whenever
they felt like it.
We might take that legend as a symbol of city gov
ernment in the United States. The general idea, you see,
is to stick up a sign—or otherwise to publish a prohibi
tion—such as: “Men must not sit on these benches;” or,
“Gambling strictly forbidden in this town;” or, “Graft
positively not allowed.” And having stuck up the sign
the government puts its hands in its pockets and strolls
away, dismissing the matter from its mind.
Hence, naturally a good deal of public contempt for
government generally. That sort of city government—
the prevailing sort—reminds us of an old gentleman’s
description of a young gentleman in one of Henry James’
stories: “He’s a nice chap, but an inveterate liar.”
Next time you visit the park notice the benches.—
Ex.
The Westward March
The Civil War income tax was far heavier than any
that has been proposed since. In 1866 the rate was ten
per cent, on all incomes above five thousand dollars—
which produced less than thirty-five million dollars of
revenue in that year. If we are to believe the assessors’
returns, therefore, the aggregate of all incomes exceed
ing five thousand dollars was less than three hundred
and fifty million dollars—which would suggest a very
meager and pindling plutocracy in that happy time.
In 1871 an income tax of two and a half per cent, on
incomes above two thousand dollars produced only nine
teen million dollars of revenue. Of course the tax—not
being collected at the source—was outrageously evaded;
but there is no particular reason to suppose that it was
evaded in one section of the country more than in another,
and Senator Root pointed out that four States—Massa
chusetts, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania—
paid two-thirds of the total tax collected in the country,
New York alone paying over one-third of the entire tax.
It would be rash to conclude dogmatically that only
forty-two years ago two-thirds of all the incomes In the
United States in excess of two thousand dollars a year
were in the four States named; yet the income-tax re
turns show a condition of that complexion.
As an index to the distribution of wealth at present,
the income-tax returns under the new law will be worth
all the trouble it has taken to get the law passed.—Ex.
A Report on Wages
The Department of Labor has just published a re
port on wages, covering more than forty trades in thirty-
nine cities that contain two-fifths of the urban population
of the United States and approximately one-third of all
persons engaged in gainful pursuits, except agriculture.
These are the same cities covered by the department’s
reports heretofore published on the cost of living.
Unfortunately the department does not consolidate
its wage returns into a single index number, permitting
a summary comparison with the cost of living; but the
reports show that the retail cost of food of the kind and
quantity consumed in an average workman’s family ad
vanced by one-fourth from 1907 to 1912, and in only
one out of more than forty trades has the normal weekly
pay envelope increased that much.
The solitary exception is one of the poorest-paid
workers on the list—third hands in bakeries.
As to the better-paid workmen—such as carpenters,
gasfitters, marble-setters, painters, plasterers, plumbers,
stonemasons, structural-iron workers, granite-cutters,
machinists, stereotypers—wages have advanced from a
quarter to half as much as the cost of food.
Everywhere the race between wages and the cost
of living is nip and tuck—with nip getting rather the best
of it.—Ex.
Be a Foe to Fear—It Never Won
a Cause or a Battle Nor
Built a Railroad
Was anything ever done by one who was afraid?
Would Columbus have made his discovery of the
new world if he had been burdened with dark forebod
ings?
Would the gospel ever have been preached to the
remotest parts of the world if the missionary had feared
his mission?
Would there have been a United States if the signers
of the Declaration of Independence had feared for their
lives, as well they might?
Would the railroads have crossed the continent and
pierced the desert, and would our captains of industry
have had the courage of their convictions in building our
industries—the wonder of the world for size, output and
wages—if they had been timid while risking millions?
Was a battle ever won by a general who feared?
Is anvthing more noble than courage? Is anything more
childish than fear or anything sweeter than confidence
in an age of unrest, unreason, suspicion and disturbance?
Let us turn from the dismay swamps and lift up
our eyes to the hills. Let hope inspire and courage
strengthen and the battle will be won.
This is the lesson to teach the children in our schools,
to tell to the patient toiler at his work, to speak to the
anxious business man at his desk, to impress upon the
preacher in his pulpit and the counselor in the hall of
legislation.
And faint heart never won fair lady.—Ex.
The New Tariff
A new tariff has now become law. It is not going to
drive our manufacturers out of business, and it is not
going to enrich consumers. But, it is valuable neverthe
less, for it has demonstrated that the Democratic party
has at last learned the lesson that platform pledges mean
something which is a great gain, and secondarily the new
tariff is a measure of justice to the public who have long
been heavily taxed for the benefit not of the government
but of favored interests. Another fifty vears and the
world will be commencing to be really civilized, and then
all tariffs will be wiped off the books of all nations as
relics of barbarism.