Chapter 15 Economics - 10

However, if one were to design a dwelling-house, he should be a little astute as we New Englanders are, lest in the future he should find himself in a workshop, or in a labyrinth without a way out, or in a In a museum, or in an almshouse, or in a prison, or in a splendid mausoleum.Come to think of it, shade is not absolutely necessary.I have seen the Indians on the Penobscot River, just in this town, living in tents of thin cotton cloth, with the snow about a foot thick all around, and I think if the snow is thicker, it will be for them. They must be happier if it is out of the wind.The question of how to enable me to live honestly and be free to pursue my right pursuits troubled me more than it did now, for I had fortunately become rather insensible.I have often seen, by the railroad, a great wooden box six feet by three, in which workmen locked their tools for the night, and it occurred to me that every man who had a hard time could buy such a case for a dollar. A box, drilled a few holes, at least for the air, to live in when it rains and at night, close the lid, and then his soul is free, and he can love what he loves freely.It didn't seem so bad, and by no means a despicable approach.You can sit up all night without sleep as you like; when you get up and go out, there will be no big landlord or second landlord to stop you from asking for rent.How many a man dies of old age worrying about paying the rent for a bigger and grander trunk; and he wouldn't freeze to death in such a small one.I'm not kidding at all.The science of economics has been underestimated in various ways, but it cannot be taken lightly.The stout people, who have lived most of their lives in the open air, have built here a comfortable house, almost entirely of materials that Nature has readily prepared.Goggin, steward of the Indians of the Massachusetts Reclamation, wrote in 1674: "Their best pointed houses are roofed with bark, clean and fresh, compact and warm, and the bark is drying. which fell from the trees at the seasons, and were pressed into great sheets of rather heavy timber while the bark was still green. . . Warm, but not as fine as the former... I have seen some sixty feet, or a hundred feet long, and thirty feet wide.... I have often lived in their pointed houses, and found it comparable to the best English It’s as warm as a traditional house.” He went on to say that indoors are usually covered with intarsia mats on the floor and hung on the walls, and all kinds of utensils are readily available.And the Indians had progressed to the point where they could cut a hole in the roof, put a mat on it, switch it on and off with a rope, and control the ventilation.The first thing to note is that such a stilt house can be built at most one side of the sky, and can be dismantled and rebuilt in just a few hours. Every family has such a house, or occupies such a stilt house. a small room.

Every family in a state of savagery has one of the best good dwellings to satisfy their crude and simple wants; yet, I think, I say with tact when I say, though the birds of the air There are nests, foxes have lairs, savages have huts, yet only half the families in modern civilized society own houses.In great cities, where civilization is especially developed, the number of persons who own houses is but a very small fraction.Most people have to pay a certain amount of rent every year if they want shade from their bodies. In summer and winter, shade is indispensable, but this zu gold, which was enough for him to buy an Indian hut, is now at risk. He will be poor for as long as he lives in this world.I am not here comparing the advantages and disadvantages of renting and owning a house, but it is clear that the savage owns his house because it is cheap, while the civilized man usually rents it because he cannot afford it. Own a home.It was replied that the poor civilized man had a dwelling, as long as he paid the rent; and compared with the savage's shanty, is this house not like a royal palace?For a rent of twenty-five to a hundred dollars a year, country rates, he got spacious rooms improved through centuries of improvement, with clean paint and paper, a Rumford fireplace, a plastered interior. Walls, shutters, brass pumps, latches, spacious cellars, and many other things.However, what is going on?The civilized man who enjoys all this is usually called "poor," while the savage who does not have it lives in savage abundance.If civilization is a real improvement in the conditions of man--and I think this is quite true, though only the wise can improve their advantages--it must be shown that it does not improve The price builds better houses; the price is that part of life that is exchanged for things, either immediately or later.Ordinary houses in this area may cost 800 yuan a block. In order to save this amount of money frugally, I am afraid that it will take ten to fifteen years of life for a laborer, and he must have no family. ——This is calculated on the basis that each person’s labor is worth one yuan a day. If someone earns more, others will earn less—in this way, he usually has to spend most of his life to earn what he earns. A "pointed house".Assuming he still lives in a rented house, then he has only made a dubious choice between two bad things.Does the savage understand that, under such conditions, he would exchange his spire for a palace?

Some people may guess that owning such a surplus house is to prepare for a rainy day and prevent troubles before they happen. I think that for an individual, the advantage of doing so is that he can pay his funeral expenses.But people may not need to bury themselves.Here, however, is pointed out an important difference between civilized and savage man; a system of civilized life has been devised, no doubt for our benefit, which preserves the life of the race and enables it to Life is more perfect, but at a great sacrifice of personal life.I wish, however, to point out what sacrifices we are presently making to obtain this advantage, and to suggest that we can obtain much advantage without any sacrifice.You say that the poor poor are always with you, that the father has eaten sour grapes, and that the teeth of the children are sour. What is the meaning of these words?

"As I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer use this proverb in Israel." "Behold, all men are mine; as the father is mine, so the son is mine; the sinner shall die."