  We have previously stated that FOUR HOURS labor per day was enough for any one, and this would carry on the world's industry adequately and to prove this we give an excerpt from an article by the great English Divine—Rev. R. J. Campbell, his statistics prove that POVERTY IS UNNECESSARY and that wage earners can be paid enough to buy what they wish to make happiness—, pianos and other so-called luxuries, and automobiles could of course be substituted for pianos if their desires should require such. At the present price of automobiles they are within reach of the man who will give up drinking and using tobacco or other narcotics and I want to say that I believe riding in one of the new type steel bodied automobiles with a magneto ignition is a great health augmenter as these cars when running become charged with electricity and I quite often get a shock from one of my automobiles if I happen to touch part of my hand to the body of the car while the other part has hold of the side shift lever. This statical electricity has been proved Riding in a carriage or car will aid the circulation of the body fluids without waste of our own energy, the motions massage the body, the same as muscular action. Work is a benefit to us but how much do we need is a question,—a sick person can not work and a person's training and condition must regulate this,—too much work draws the vital force from the vital organs and mental work is absolutely injurious in sickness, the brain draws on the vitality to the detriment of the vital organs of the body, yet again the cultivated mind has a power to govern the base faculties which debilitate the body. Part of the English Divine's Article Which We Have Referred to:"One of the strangest paradoxes about this period of destructiveness through which we are passing is that there is very little dire poverty about. It has taught me a lesson, a lesson which probably the workers as a class are assimilating too, namely, that destitution and the degradation which so generously accompanies it could be got rid of in a month in time of peace if we were only in earnest to do it. "It is caused simply by an unfair distribution of wealth. We always knew that, but what we did not know was that it could be so speedily remedied. We thought it would take a long time even if the nation were willing to tackle the problem seriously, which it has not yet shown any anxiety to do. We were afraid of drastic experiments of a social nature, with the consequent displacement of capital, the shock given to that very delicate entity, the national credit, and so on. "Go more slowly, was the universal cry. Give us breathing space. These drastic changes one after the other—all in the direction "And we were wrong, the whole lot of us—Kaiser, German Bureau, British Tories, hesitant Liberals, landowners, bankers, manufacturers, shopkeepers, taxpayers generally, and probably the proletariat, too. It is nothing short of amazing. Here we are hurling our accumulated stores of wealth into hell, the hell of war, and the workers as a whole were never so well off. "We are able to pay, and we do pay, without complaining. We are doing it without suffering very greatly, without hearing the cry of hunger going up from our congested areas as it has too often done in time of peace, and without the slightest apprehension that we are drawing near to the end of our strength. "We shall be able to go on doing it for years if need be. The savings of the working classes have hardly yet been touched for national purposes, and if report speaks true there "'Three pounds a week, and no 'usband!' a lady engaged in munition work is credited with saying—'Wy, it's 'eaven!' There is humor in the sentiment, one must confess, though it was not complimentary to the absent husband. "We have withdrawn not less than four million men from productive occupations and set them to smash and kill instead. "Think of it! And then remember that those men have to be equipped and maintained somehow or other by the rest of us, and that most of them are the very pick of the country's early manhood. And we can afford to do it! We can do it, and in the process make an end of destitution for the time being and secure to wage-earners a higher standard of "Will the electors of Great Britain, rich and poor, try to digest that fact and grasp its implications? The logic of it is that we can if and when we choose get rid forever of the crying disgrace of starvation and misery at one end of the social scale and senseless ostentation at the other. "The thing is demonstrated now. "The army as it exists to-day is a fine all-around leveller. A good many artificial prejudices and social distinctions are being swept away by the power of actual daily comradeship in the face of death. These four million citizen soldiers have votes. How will they use them when they come home? "Let the lesson be driven well home. We can do all that is required if we want to do it. Behold the economic miracle of to-day, and consider what is possible to-morrow. There need never be another hungry mouth. No honest man ought to have to dread the loss of a job or to lower his self-respect by seeking the aid of the Poor law. "It is all nonsense to say that the problem of "After the debacle of 1871 France was apparently ground to powder, her manhood decimated, her trade ruined, her treasury empty, and an enormous indemnity to pay to her triumphant foe. She recovered so quickly and completely, to the surprise of everybody, that in 1875 Bismarck, like the bully he was, wanted to hit her again, and would have done so but for Queen Victoria and the British Government." I have shown how to rise above poverty even when the capitalists grind the worker down to a wage inadequate to his service, yet this is not a just condition, and when the war in Europe is over many workers will be back to their countries, to work. There may be lack of employment then, but let the FOUR HOURS per day schedule be put in operation and let the pay be proper and all will be well. Let the capitalist adjust himself to the fact that the worker is HIS BROTHER and that THEOCRATIC DEMOCRACY is God's Law. The air, the water and all necessities are one man's as much as another's. The Kaiser, King George or the President of France must drink the same water which his lowly brother has once drank and breathe the same air which he has breathed. A King has water brought to him—it may be that this water,—the very identical molecules, were once in the blood and body of a lowly tiller of the soil; he may have drank it, excreted it, it went to the river, to the ocean, then evaporated to the mountain top, and was again precipitated to the earth and leached into the King's well. The VOTERS HAVE THE POWER TO ADJUST THE LAW; if they belie themselves who is to blame? Let them institute the INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM AND THE RECALL OF JUDGES first, then make the proper laws to raise man to the social position where he belongs. It is well known that much of the poverty and misery of the world has been caused by ALCOHOL, and the use of narcotics is also The prohibition laws which have been instituted in Russia prove these statements to be correct and to show the wonderful prosperity which ensues from temperance. I give a statement from Russian Minister of Finance Bark. He says: "On the other hand, there is nothing illusory or specious about the Russians' prosperity. It rests upon the incontrovertible fact of the Russian people's increased earnings and savings. "When, a year ago, the savings banks showed a monthly increase of 50,000,000 rubles, it was regarded as phenomenal. But that was only the beginning. During the month of January the savings banks alone showed an increase in deposits of 120,000,000 rubles. This is accounted for principally by the growing thrift and economy of the peasants since the enforcement of prohibition, by their greater earning power and the higher wages they command. This marvellous prosperity makes Russia capable of raising large numbers of successful internal loans, and it is Blessings often come to us masquerading as evil; this terrible war has its benefits. While death must come to everyone sometime, it may be that we put too much stress on the fact that so many lives have been sent to the BETTER SHORE within such a short space of time, and it is best to believe in the axiom THAT WHAT IS—IS RIGHT. There probably will never be another war, and perhaps, it must be that this one is the lever to throw THE "DEVIL" into OBLIVION. The Germans have seen the revelations as well as the other belligerents. Here is what a writer in Berlin says: "On Tuesday and Friday there is no meat to be had. On Monday and Thursday the consumption of fats is forbidden. Some alcoholic drinks are forbidden to be sold after 9 o'clock at night. They are mostly liqueurs. "The enforced abstinence from meat on two days of the week has been accepted everywhere This item from Augustus Baech is illuminating and instructive. Grease is not a colloid; it does not absorb the gastric juice like a better organized element, and thus the stomach is irritated. There is a law of Nature by which the molecules affect matter; crystalline substances in solution are readily drawn into colloids. A system of symbols helps understanding in the matter—let us represent an acid by a perpendicular line, an alkali by a horizontal line, a crystal by a pyramid and a colloid by a globule; flat surfaces oppose round ones and a confusion of straight forces would produce a spiral force. There is a great law of HUMAN BROTHERHOOD, yes, more than that—a law of the brotherhood of all animal life. The hatred of the English, Germans and Russians in this flaming war of passion is wrong—let us remember St. Peter's vision of The reform of diet and habits will relieve the tension of malice, hatred and jealousy, the lessened rage of sexual passion will curtail the undue birth rate, the nations will not need to conquer more territory and the social conditions will be adjusted. How beautiful would it be to see all men living in peace, harmony, prosperity and happiness. Let us regain our reason and settle down to truth and common sense and have peace and correct understanding between individuals and nations. IT CAN BE DONE, and THIS WILL BE THE MILLENNIUM. Transcriber's Notes |
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