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Speaker 1: Poverty. Many of the greatest men through all ages have

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abandoned riches and adopted poverty to better enable them to

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accomplish their lofty purposes. Why then, is poverty regarded as

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such a terrible evil? Why is it that this poverty,

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which these great men regard as a blessing and adopt

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as a bride, should be looked upon by the bulk

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of mankind as a scour, riche, and a plague. The

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answer is plain. In one case, the poverty is associated

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with a nobility of mind which not only takes from

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it all appearances of evil, but which lifts it up

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and makes it appear good and beautiful, makes it seem

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more attractive and more to be desired than riches an honor,

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so much so that, seeing the dignity and happiness of

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the noble mendicant, thousands imitate him by adopting his mode

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of life. In the other case, the poverty of our

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great city associated with everything that is mean and repulsive,

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with swearing, drunkenness, filth, laziness, dishonesty, and crime. What then,

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is the primary evil? Is it poverty or is it sin?

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The answer is inevitable. It is sin. Remove sin from poverty,

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and its sting is gone. It has ceased to be

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the gigantic evil that it appeared, and can even be

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turned to good and noble ends. Confucius held up one

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of his poor disciples as an example of lofty virtue

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to his richer pupils. Yet although he was so poor

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that he had to live on rice and water, and

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had no better shelter than a hovel, he uttered no complaint.

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Where this poverty would have made other men discontented and miserable,

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he did not allow his equanimity to be disturbed. Poverty

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cannot undermine a noble character, but it can set it

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off to a better advantage. The virtues of this man

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shown all the brighter for being set in poverty, like

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resplendent jewels set in a contrasting background. It is common

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with social reformers to regard poverty as the cause of

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the sins with which it is associated. Yet the same

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reformers refer to immoralities of the rich as being caused

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by their riches. Where there is a cause, its effect

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will appear. And where affluence the cause of immorality and

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poverty the cause of degradation, then every rich man would

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become immortal, and every poor man would come to degradation.

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An evil doer will commit evil under any circumstances, whether

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he be rich or poor, or midway between the two conditions.

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A right doer will do right howsoever he be placed.

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Extreme circumstances may help to bring out the evil which

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is already there, awaiting its opportunity, but they can not

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cause the evil, cannot create it. Discontent with one's financial

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condition is not the same as poverty. Many people regard

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themselves as poor whose income runs into several hundreds and

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in some cases several thousands of pounds a year. Combined

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with light responsibilities, they imagine their affliction to be poverty.

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Their real trouble is covetuousness. They are not made unhappy

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by poverty, but by a thirst for riches. Poverty is

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more often in the mind than in the purse. So

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long as a man thirst for more money, he will

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regard himself as poor, and in that sense he is poor.

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For covetuousness is poverty of mind. A miser may be

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a millionaire, but he is as poor as when he

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was penniless. On the other hand, the trouble with so

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many who are living in indigence and degradation, is that

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they are satisfied with their condition. To be living in dirt, disorder, laziness,

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in Swinish, self indulgence, reveling in foul thoughts, foul words,

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and unclean surroundings, and to be satisfied with one's self

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is deplorable. Here again, poverty resolves itself into a mental condition,

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and its solution as a problem is to be looked

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for in the improvement of the individual from within, rather

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than of his outward condition. Let a man be made

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clean and alert from within, and he will no longer

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be content with dirt and degradation. Without having put his

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mind in order. He will then put his house in order. Indeed,

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both he and others will know that he has put

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himself right by the fact that he has put his

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immediate surroundings right. His altered heart shows in his altered life.

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There are, of course, those who are neither self deceived

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nor self degraded, and yet are poor. Many such are

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satisfied to remain poor. They are contented, industrious, and happy,

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and desire nothing else. But those among them who are

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dissatisfied and are ambitious for better surroundings and greater scope,

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should and usually do, use their poverty as a spur

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to the exercise of their talents and energies. By self

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improvement and attention to duty, they can rise into the fuller,

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more responsible life which they desire. Devotion to duty is

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indeed not only the way out of poverty, which is

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regarded as restrictive. It is also the royal road to affluence, influence,

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and lasting joy, even to perfection itself. When understood in

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its deepest sense, it is seen to be related to

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all that is best and noblest in life. It includes energy, industry,

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concentrated attention to the business of one's life, singleness of purpose,

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courage and faithfulness, determination and self reliance, and that self

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abdignation which is the key to all real greatness. A

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singularly successful man was once asked, what is the secret

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to your success? And he replied, getting up at six

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o'clock in the morning and minding my own business. Success, honor,

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and influence always come to him who diligently attends to

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the business of his life and religiously avoids interfering with

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the duties of others. It may here be urged, and

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is usually so urged that the majority of those who

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are in poverty, for instance, the mill and factory workers,

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have not the time or opportunity to give themselves to

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any special work. This is a mistake. Time and opportunity

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are always at hand, are with everybody at all times.

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Those of the poor above men mentioned, those who are

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content to remain where they are, can always be diligent

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in their factory labor, and sober and happy in their homes.

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But those of them who feel that they could better

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fill another sphere can prepare for it by educating themselves

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in their spare time. The hard worked poor are above

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all the people who need to economize their time and energies.

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And the youth who wishes to rise out of such

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poverty must at the outset put aside the foolish and

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wasteful indulgences of alcohol, tobacco, sexual vice, late hours at

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music halls, clubs, and gaming parties, and must give his

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evenings to the improvement of his mind in that course

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of education which is necessary to his advancement. By this method,

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numbers of the most influential men throughout history, some of

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them among the greatest, have raised themselves from the commonest

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poverty A fact which proves that the time of necessity

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is the hour of opportunity, and not, as is so

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often imagined and declared, the destruction of opportunity. That the

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deeper the poverty, the greater is the incentive to action

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in those who are dissatisfied with themselves and are bent

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upon achievement. Poverty is an evil, or it is not,

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according to the character and the condition of mind of

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the one that is in poverty. Wealth is an evil

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or it is not. In the same manner, Tolstoy chafed

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under his wealthy circumstances. To him, they were a great evil.

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He longed for poverty as the cavechuous long for wealth. Vice, however,

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is always an evil, for it both degrades the individual

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who commits it and is a menace to society. A

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logical and profound study of poverty will always bring us

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back to the individual and to the human heart. When

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our social reformers condemned vice as they now condemn the rich,

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when they are eager to abolish wrong living, as they

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are now to abolish low wages, we may look for

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the diminution in that form of degraded poverty, which is

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one of the dark spots on our civilization. Before such

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poverty disappears altogether, the human heart will have undergone, during

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the process of evolution, a radical change. When that heart

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is purged from covetuousness and selfishness, when drunkenness, impurity, indolence,

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and self indulgence are driven forever from the earth, then

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poverty and riches will be known no more, and every

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man will perform his duties with a joy so full

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and deep as is yet excepted a few whose hearts

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are already pure unknown to men, and all will eat

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of the fruit of their labor in sublime self respect

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and perfect peace.