ting you
to realize the terrible shortcomings of our industrial system at its
best, in normal times. I want to have you consider the state of
affairs in times that are called "prosperous" by the politicians, the
preachers, the economists, the statisticians and the editors of our
newspapers. I am not concerned, here and now, with the _exceptional_
distress of such periods as the present, but with the ordinary,
normal, chronic misery and distress; the poverty that is always so
terribly prevalent.

Do you remember the talk about the "great and unexampled prosperity"
in which you indulged during the latter part of 1904 and the following
year? Of course you do. Everybody was talking about prosperity, and a
stranger visiting the United States might have concluded that we were
a nation of congenital optimists. Yet, it was precisely at that time,
in the very midst of our loud boasting about prosperity, that Robert
Hunter challenged the national brain and conscience with the
statement that there were at lease ten million persons in poverty in
the United States. If you have not read Mr. Hunter's book, Jonathan, I
advise you to get it and read it. You will find in it plenty of food
for serious thought. It is called _Poverty_, and you can get a copy at
the public library. From time to time I am going to suggest that you
read various books which I believe you will find useful. "Reading
maketh a full man," provided that the reading is seriously and wisely
done. Good books relating to the problems you have to face as a worker
are far better for reading than the yellow newspapers or the sporting
prints, my friend.

When they first read Mr. Hunter's startling statement that there were
ten million persons in the United States in poverty, many people
thought that he must be a sensationalist of the worst type. It could
not be true, they thought. But when they read the startling array of
facts upon which that estimate was based they modified their opinion.
It is significant, I think, that there has been no very serious
criticism of the estimate made by any reputable authority.

Do you know, Jonathan, that in New York of all the persons who die one
in every ten dies a pauper and is buried in Potter's Field? It is a
pity that we have not statistics upon this point covering most of our
cities, including your own city of Pittsburg. If we had, I should ask
you to try an experiment. I should ask you to give up one of your
Saturday afternoons,