(From tho London Speaker.)
The great need of the age is philanthropy to the rich. Wo need a really vigorous and sympathetic system of missions and settlements to be established in the West End. It is not enough for tho person of limited means merely to think charitably of millionaires at Christmas, to bestow a word on them now and then, to support institutions designed for their improvement. Tnc real philanthropist must go down and live among those people. He must take tho rough-and-tumble of their gloomy, cynical and lawless life. He must not be put off by the exhibition of many grossnesses and vulgarities, of an ignorance which may tempt him to laughter and a discourtesy which may tempt him to tho great sin of contempt. Patiently, pliably and yet sieadfastly he must study and cultivate tho many gleams of good, the many germs of a certain wild honesty, which may be found in these people. Ho must concentrate his attention on the great problem of the rich, for this was, as I have said, what was done by Elijah . and tho great school of religious prophets, who, unlike the majority of philanthropists, were not snobs.
There are some shocking fools in tl is world, and the worst of it is that Heir folly is so frequently attended by the gravest consequences. As an instance : At a fancy dress ball at the Metropole Theatre, Berlin, I-lerr Von Bleichroeder, a y oung member of a well-known banking family, having become rather excited, lighted a cigarette with a bank-note for 1000 marks (£SO). Count Von Sc hoenborn Buchl.eim, an Attache of the Austrian Embassy, made some remark about the young man’s foolishness. High words were exchanged, and the men came to blows. The police had to interfere, and separated them after some difficulty. Herr Von Bleichroeder was found to he badly hurt about the eye. A duel will probably take place. Herr Von Bleichroeder was formerly an officer of the Reserve in the Guards.
A Chicago physiologist, Professor 1 Jacques Loeb, has been conducting experiments which it is claimed are a beginning of the unravelling of the mysteries of death. At the 11th anm’al meeting of the American Physiological Society held at the University of Chicago, Professor Loeb read a paper entitled, 1 ‘ On the Prolongation of Life of Unfertilised Eggs of the Sea Urchin by Potassium Cyanide.” lie maintained that deatli was not a negative process, a simple breakingdown of the tissue, but an active agent born with the birth oE the egg, and destined if not checked to gam the upper hand of the life instinct and (.png about its extinction. He announced that lie had been able to check this death tendency in the eggs of the sea urchin, and he added, “This means nothing less than that on a minute scale the secret of eternal life is in the power of mankind,” An aged Athenian professor, now lywng in retirement on a pension, has become a convert from Christianity to tlie religion of his classic ancestors. He has transformed a room into a temple, lias set up two statues of Juno and Mercury, before which lie sings and prays, and has erected an altar on which lie now and then offers up sacrifices, is now under medical treatment for mental derangement to which his relatives attribute his spiritual vagaries. The awards of higher wages have simply lessened the purchasing power of the sovereign. Twenty shillings will not go any further in the support of a family to-day than sixteen shillings would have gone three or four years' ago. Therefore, in what respect, in regard to wages, are the working classes better off now than they were before the Arbitration Act ,came into force ? It is impossible to force the rate ot wages upwards without also forcing up the cost of production, and, with the cost of living increased, the whole system re-acts on the working man, whose earnings all go for tlie purchase of the necessaries of life. There is one respect, however, in which the working man is worse off under the new system. Tlie increased cost of production, as tlie consequence of his fictitious higher wage, enables tlie cheaply.produced imported article to compete successfully in the local market with his manufactures. Therefore, local industry no longer pays at the higher cost, and his work is gradually being filched away from him by the foreign producer. Tlie boot trade is a case in point. Where is the advantage of higher wages to the boot operative, when his- employment is being, taken from him, and the cost of living is being enormously increased ? Surely he is worse off now Ilian lie was five years ago. However, given reasonable time, tlie new system will eventually -id.iust itself to .•ure.mmeances in a manner that will startle tlie v-.-rkinir mm. Higher wages in every trade m°ans increased cost of production and higher prices for every article of daily use and consumption. The purchasing price of the sovereign is lowered. What does it avail a working man whose wages are advanced to £5 per week ii tiiat £5 will not buy as much as £2 10s would hat bought previously ? And witii the £5 wage, let it always be remembered that it is cheaper to import goods than to manufacture them in the colony, and this means the doom of local industry.— Observer.
A special attraction in the country for this evening will be the Makauri School Concert.
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Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 357, 6 March 1902, Page 4
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917Untitled Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 357, 6 March 1902, Page 4
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