MUST THE MIDDLE CLASSES GO?

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 41, 12 November 1918, Page 7

MUST THE MIDDLE CLASSES GO?

—9— — ■ AN ENGLISH WRITER'S VIEW. '

Tho time has como for many things— particularly for tho payment of the iiv como tax. -.All about us we witness the struggles of the professional man to keep his head above water (writes Sidney K. Merivalo in the "Sunday Pic'torial"). For, him there have been no' excess profits. People did not ask him to address juries more frequently because.we ore at war; publishers did not'offer him enhanced fees; dealers did not hasten- to purchaso his pictures. If ho 'wero a doctor perchance the army wanted him, and his practico went immediately to the dogs. . :

This man had sons at a public school when Armageddon came, and had saved ft little money for his old age. He lived in a-decent suburb and rodo first-class to his office or studio. His amusements wore few, and his extravaganco golf; As ho lived, so lived in the main all our middle classes—the backbone of tho country, tho broad baso for every Chancellor's whip. Paying in tho - bulk best part of our taxes, these people supplied us also with tho beet part of our morals. For them there was a sanctity of home life indeed; nor were they ever permitted, to forget that their neighbours could see through their drawn blinds. ; Now wo are told that this great middlo class must go. "Professional men and their neighbours are warned that-they must be prepared to alter entirely the ancient way of their lives. Tho people who talk in this way evidently tnko it for granted that the professional or business man will fall cheerfully "-Mo the jiew scliemo of things, and that no.word of protest will-escape him.- Ho.will get out of his house "liko, 'a shot, 'send- his daughters to a registry office.or the stage door; place his sons in a board, school, and buy standard suits at fifty-seven shillings a time. And all-tho time he is doing this he will still bo working feverishly to pay tho Government the best part of his earnings, and to live in a stylo which is loathsome lo him. My own view is that tho professional and business man will do nothing of the kind. I think he will argue that wo are fighting as much for posterity as'for. ourselves, and that it should bear some of our burdens. He-may even ask,, with O'Connell, what has posterity done, for us? Yes, he will 'ask that,, awl with justice. The Government, it is true, can drive hi in from his home and can reduce his. children to beggary but it cannot make him work like it slave.

If henceforth he must live, say,- uyon a standard of .£3OO a year, why earn more? Why waste his physical ■• substance in- an effort which 'is.unnecessary? Whv produce books and piotures for which \others are to collect the royalties? You cannot make him produce them. He would laugh in your face if you talked of this kiuil of industrial conscription. Let him earn his ,£3OO -. a year and the small tax "upon it; and henceforth tho best part of bis time is his own. Ho becomes an idler at 51. whereas he had not intended to resign until he was 65.

Here are the prospects of a pleasant life. Our man will move to some country cottage and London will know him no more. He will fish and golf and do just that minimum of work which is necessary. Tho temptaliou would bo great, ami few of ai;tistic temperament could resist it. , FIGHTING FOP. HAPPINESS. When ytm get into a frame of mind that makes life seem one tiresome duty after another, with no pleasure in it; when ill-health seems to tako,-all the joys out. of life and you worry over things that aro really not worth woiu-jv ing about, then your nervous system is becoming exhaust'ed and you are approaching neurasthenia. Your happiness is worth fighting 'for, and red blood is your best ally. It is a hopeless task to try to restore your health while your blood is deficient in quantity or quality. For building up the blood there is one remedy that has been a household word for a generation—Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People. They tone up the entiro system, help make tho blood rich and red, strengthen tho nerves, increase the appetite, put colour in tho. cheeks and lips, and drive away that unnatural feeling. Further information on the tonic treatment of "Diseases of the. Nervous System" is contained in a useful booklet which will bo sent free to any applicant by the Dr. Williams' Mc-dicino Co.. Box 8-15, G.P.0., Wellington. Your own chemist or storekeeper sells Dr. Williams' Pink Pills, or they will bo mailed, post paid, on receipt of price, 3s. per box, six boxes 16s. (id.

Under tho new high BlcepinKcar business, on most, of the American railroads has decreased 25 per cent.'