I saw other young men who
received seventy-five or one hundred dollars per month from the
Government, who were in debt at the end of every month. I saw men
who but a few months previous were members of Congress, then
without employment and in poverty. Among a large class there
seemed to be a dependence upon the Government for every
conceivable thing. The members of this class had little ambition
to create a position for themselves, but wanted the Federal
officials to create one for them. How many times I wished them,
and have often wished since, that by some power of magic I might
remove the great bulk of these people into the county districts
and plant them upon the soil, upon the solid and never deceptive
foundation of Mother Nature, where all nations and races that
have ever succeeded have gotten their start,--a start that at
first may be slow and toilsome, but one that nevertheless is
real.
In Washington I saw girls whose mothers were earning their living
by laundrying. These girls were taught by their mothers, in
rather a crude way it is true, the industry of laundrying. Later,
these girls entered the public schools and remained there perhaps
six or eight years. When the public school course was finally
finished, they wanted more costly dresses, more costly hats and
shoes.
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