Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1879)
THE WEST SHORE. April, 1879. OMETHIN'C AliuLi frUMPa Tin- tramp of Oregon is now sttract Ing considerable attention, and 1 few lines ibotll hill) arc therefore Seasonable at present With the exception of be ing "constitutionally tired," he li heal thy end sound in limb. There is no earthly excuse for him to be "tramp tag" in thin boasted laud of never failing crops, There are thousands of seres of unoo upied land yet in this Si. iic .iml neighboring territories which .ni he hail for I lie- taking, anil if these laxy, good-for-nothings, who an- ever looking foi work ami at the same time praying thai they shouldn't And It, will only ge( out of town, slop gUXXling whisk, ami not consume any more Chinese-made cigars, they would 1 become producers, and useful members of ( Oregon's busy in. aim. If Kearny, or any of his followers, i re ssked to explain the cause of MP inanj Idlers being about, thej would attribute m to the presence of Chinese; inn in n ,t remembered that In the Siut- rast uf the Rockies a grand arm) of usl mi, h penniless rovers ran hi- Ibund, and u here t Ihinamen do not oome in competition with white labor, tlui explanation does not solve the question, Improved mat hinery may justly be sccusod ol being one csuk ol the les sened demand tor labor, but such ma ehinerj would benefll even the poorest mm it he Would Ue himself in 11 po- siii.in to us,- it. There art, perhaps, many causes thai help to produce the condition existing among the iwarmi hi, loam the country in a pretended srauh for woik.bul tin- piimiple cause 1411, w illiont doubt, he found in the men themselves. Impwvidenoe, laiiuess, drunks neas and mlagakled ambition haadone and is doing gtora to make vagrants than nil the olhn , awta X'liihineil. China mea do not tramp. The) ride n milroaiU ami itaamboeJa, and pay their way, Yet, probably, not one-half of iIwmc la Dm sutc get Hasxi) employ, mem, .m, I even they, while employed, get about half what white lahoin , ., live shbjM lew Italians " Swiss, ,,, ii im.nisioiiuw tramping, and probablj Jew 11 .,,11,,.. arr as loarce as ben's teeth. In short, it la Mm that a snUer, in. diMrious, honest man, who has the hahit of hivhsg within his means, and is leady to ,i to woik at any job which I promises lair compensation for an hon est day's labor, even if it does some times soil his hands, is ever found among the gangs that infest the coun try. Rum shops, by poisoning the system so it is incnpahle of continued exertion, are the chief tramp-breeding establish ments. Parents, by encouraging idle ness, or at least in not compelling their children to do reasonable work, and by themselves living beyond their means, and Indulging their children in luxu ries they know their lirst future efforts cannot honestly supply, really educate them to become tramps. Ranting po litical demagogues are helping to re cruit the grand army of tramps by harangueing crowds of idlers upon the unequal distribution of wealth and pub lic patronage, making it appear that existing institutions are to blame for the evils of vagrancy, instead of laxlncss, Intemperance, ami Improvidence, Our schools and school teachers hold public station up to their pupils as the st valued prize to he won, instead of private worth, honest Industry, habits of economy, self-denial and self-respect, ami thereby increase the hordes of vagrants. As lasineSS increases, tramp ism grows popular. There is work enough to do if men are willing to do it. Mill these tramps do not want work, if sometimes forced to labor for a few days, they spend their earning! and what they can beg, for rum, and 1 1 11st to luck for food, The evil will Continue until the strong arm of the law and public sentiment enforce the vagrant laws and make every idler from choice go to work and earn his bread. Idleness is a curse; laziness is a disgrace; and want is the result of both. Sympathy for or assistance to an nih i is eru-mrragfng the evil that is to- lav the -icatest curse of the nation. Tkl I 1 1 ONOMY, The question is not how cheaply we can manage to keep soul and body to tfether, hut how we can bring both bod) .111.I soul to the highest condition "I v ItaMt and pnvv n . Tp live is something more than to exist. The questions are: How can we fad intellect and afTection, con icience, sympathy, ImsginarJon, rcver- erne, as well as the physical system: All pinching ami restricting of 'diet is injurious in the long run. The 1h-.ui man, the hran-hrcad man, I one meal a day man, the man who k'ks mousing around the world intent only on cheapness, never makes the scale of power kick the beam. He wastes more than he saves. He checks an income instead of stopping an outgo. The men who make the most ado over the petty prudences of life, and perpet ually obtrude their parsimoniousness upon public notice never amount to anything of account. Man wants all he can use, assimilate, organize, repro duce. The things that strengthen and bueautify his essential manhood, that enrich his sentiments and refine his sen sibilities, that ennoble intellect and en large the scope of his being and the horizon of his possibilities, belong to him of right, as the crown and purple belong to royalty. Every man ought to aspire and labor to live generously, and have a comfort ahle home, and surround himself and his family with everything that tends to increase his health and happiness and create an atmosphere of intelli gence and refinement, lleauty, ele gance, art, society and music are our birthrights. It is not a waste to spend what one has for things that foster a noble pride, heighten self-respect, beau tify the body, and cultivate the mind. It is a true economy that spends some thing for hooks and pictures, for occa sional glimpses of nature and innocent entertainments. QUACK MEDICINES. At a recent convention of pharma cists in England, was urged the impor tance of fixing some legal limits to the wholesale poisoning of the public by patent medicines. It was proposed that even if it be impossible altogether to suppress the reaction of dishonest quackery upon vulgar superstition, the venders of nostrums be compelled to divulge the composition of their wares, and prevented from publishing mis chievous and mendacious advertise ments concerning them. Among the examples cited, including sundry "hair restorers," which, in direct contradic tion to their advertised pretensions, con tain poisonous quantities of lead, the most glaring one is a largely certifica ted Sure Cure for Opium Habit," which is found on analysis to give two grains of morphine to the dose, re commended to be taken thrice a day. It is scarcely to lie expected that Amer ican apothecaries, most of whom de rive the larger portion of their income from the sale of these secret nostrums, will join in the crusade preached (by their British cousin; but it would be Well if the American public were taught that ninety-nine hundreths of the proprietary medicines which flood the market arc the products of nncdu catcd impostors, cither wholly inert or positively deleterious.