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Show ; . TODAY'S i EDITORIAL v r No Punishment for Poverty Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, one of our great Democratic leaders and spokesmen, made an eloquent speech in the Senate on the Newburgh plan. He referred to it as a philosophy of punishment for poverty. Hack in the great depression we can remember of selfish people saying that we didn't really have an unemployment un-employment problem; it was just that people were too lazy to work. Nearly 200 years ago arch conservatives said of the destitute, "Let 'em eat cake." We have advanced a long way from such benighted thinking. But there are still too many people aroimd who are seking scapegoats and who find the destitute a good outlet for their frustrations. As Senator Humphrey has said, surely it must be clear that in our complicated industrial society no man's destiny is entirely in his own hands. It is not the fault of the unemployed West Virginia coal miner that gas and fuel oil have become the major source of American energy. It is not the fault of the middle aged machinist that his factory has become automated and half of its employees laid off. (Continued on Page Four) No Punishment for Poverty (Continued from Page One) There is a basic distinction between the philosophies of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. This distinction has validity in local and congressional as well as national elections. Both parties believe in the greatest good for the greatest number, but in general Republicans believe in bringing it about through gradualism and the "trickle down" method. Democrats believe that the greatest good for the greatest number should be expedited and implemented through use of the authority and resources of government. govern-ment. There is a fundamental political cleavage at all levels of government between those who are enthusiastically and boldly for people and those who are either anti-people or who are begrudging and reluctant in their approach to sound social welfare programs. Our problems cannot be solved just by old slogans of "self reliance," a favorite phrase of the conservative right. |