Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1880 — The Charity of Extravagance. [ARTICLE]

The Charity of Extravagance.

Whenever the laboring men are out of employment they begin to hate the rich. They feel that the dwellers m palaces, the riders in carriages, the wearers of broadcloth, silk and velvet, have in some way been robbing them. As a matter of fact the palace-builders are the friends of labor. The best form of charity is extravagance. When you give a man money, when you toss him a coin, although you get nothing, the man loses his manhood. To help others to help themselves is the only real charity. Whenever I see a splendid home,* a palace, a magnificent pile, I think of the thousands who were fed, of the women and children clothed, of the firesides made happy. A rich man, living up to his privileges, having the best house, the best furniture, the best horses, the finest grounds, the most beautiful flowers, the best clothes, the best food, the best pictures, and all the books that he can afford, is a perpetual blessing. The prodigality of the rich is the providence of the poor. The extravagance of wealth makes it possible for the poor to save. The rich .man who lives according to his means, who is extravagant in the best and highest sense, is not the enemy of labor. The miser who lives in a hovel, wears rags and hoards his gold, is a perpetual curse. He is like one who dams a river at its source. The moment hard times come the cry of economy is raised. The press, the platform and the pulpit unite in recommending economy to the rich. In consequence of this cry, the man of wealth discharges servants, sells his horses, allows his carriage to become a hen-roost, and, after taking employment and food from as many as he can, congratulates himself that he has done his part toward restoring prosperity to the country. [From the Bay City Tribune.] Dr. A. A. Pratt, of this city, says: St. Jacobs Oil is splendid. All to whom I have sold it pronounce it the best medicine for rheumatism and pain they ever used.